New internal hd been sought, Does it have to be the same brand & specs

[arda21]

Hi Forum,

I have DP35DP Intel motherboard, I have been using my desktop for almost 3 years now.

I am now going thru some serious update, and since it's been 2+ years I haven't followed up with new tech and new specs. I just want to be sure before I start spending any dough on anything. I currently have 3 internal hard drives, with Seagate brand. I have been searching for different options and I am thinking to get a new 1 TB internal hard drive, my main question is that;

1-Do I have to match the new internal hd's brand with existing ones? in other words Do I have to purchase a new Seagate hd in my case? or can I go with lets say completely different brand like WD?

2-second thing is in the manual of the motherboard, it writes "The Desktop Board supports six Serial ATA channels (3.0 Gb/s) via ICH9R, connecting one device per channel. One channel is configured as an eSATA channel." I am assuming this 3.0 Gb/s spec is the only thing I need to make sure it matches with the new internal hd? or Do I have to match also things like cache size (some has 32mb, some 64mb I saw)

3-in general if you can enlighten me in the things I need to make sure not to have any problems with my existing hard drives, I would appreciate,

Thank you for your time in advance,

Arda

ps. I dont know if it matters, but just in case I have & plan to continue using Windows 7 64 bit Professional.

 

[sminlal]

You can purchase any SATA drive from any manufacturer. It doesn't matter what the cache size is. It doesn't matter if it's a 3Gbit/sec drive or a 6Gbit/sec drive - all SATA ports and drives are designed to auto-negotiate the fastest speed common to both the port and the drive.

Basically, there's very little to worry about other than:

- do you have space inside the case to mount the drive?
- do you have a spare SATA power cable to plug into the drive?
- does your power supply have enough spare power to run the drive?

...and of course you'll also need a SATA data cable to connect the drive to the motherboard.

 

[arda21]

sminlal - Thank you for your quick answer. very clear, and to the point.
I am assuming I will take care of the additional data issue.

one more additional question since you brought up; about the power supply, how should I calculate an additional 1tb internal HD's power intake, I do remember having a very decent power supply unit in the desktop, but I will check its max voltage.

 

[sminlal]

The power supply isn't too likely to be a problem, but if you want to be sure you can use a power load calculator such as this one: http://www.antec.outervision.com/

(I found that by Googling "Power supply calculator")

You need to make sure that your power supply can supply at least as many watts as the calculation indicates (voltage is not an issue).

 

[arda21]

thank u again!