AWM

I have no idea how I found this forum a year ago. I know it was not for tech issues of anykind. That being said, I don't really know alot oabout PCs.

My intention is to either install and additonal harddrive on here, or switch the one I have for a bigger one. Can I just add another? That would seem easiest. If I can't how do I get all this info from this drive to the next?

Secondly I want to upgrade my RAM, I have 64 megs now, but I want to max it out if possible.

Is there some specific info I can give you nice people and then you can tell me if it's possible or not. The Ram for instance, I have installed it before, that's no problem, but how do I know what kind I need exactly to upgrade. My friends PC had to have all P133 Dimms I think. . . . ???

Help me Obie Wan Kenobie, You're my only hope. . . . .

ironchef

Well hi there, fella.

Upgrading your PC is fun and exciting. Both upgrades you mentioned should be relatively easy.

For the RAM, I get lost with all the different numbers that are available. Check your motherboard manual if you still have it, that should tell what and how many to use. Then find a deal!

For the HDD, the easiest to do would be to simply add a second drive. You'll have to check how your current drives are configured so that you place this drive on the right channel and the proper mode (slave/master).

Once you have it in place and BIOS sees it, you simply need to partition it and and format it. if you're planning on making this your primary drive (good idea if it's faster than your current drive) it'd be very simple to make two partitions -- 1 for the future operating system, occupying about 6 gigs or so, and 2 for your data and apps.

Now you simply copy over evrything from your current drive to the second partition on the new drive. When you've backed up everything, you can remove the old guy, throw the new one in place, and install your OS in the first partition. Piece of cake!

Just don't format the old drive 'til you know everything works properly

Good luck, and keep us updated.

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yippiekiyeh

First things first,

If you can give a run down on what kind of computer you have either A. Brand and model number (if it is made by a well known computer company) or B. The components that you have (motherboard/harddrive/ram/CPU).

Be as descriptive as possible, (how "old" is the computer, what kind of OS you are running right now, how you connect to the internet).

Many times when people (of average computing ability) say they want a 'faster' computer, what they really mean is that they want to be able to connect to the internet much faster.

This is a good start.

AWM

Well, I'm a spur shopper, if that's the correct term. I was in Best Buy and saw a harddrive so I picked it up. The stud who I asked for help basically told me to get "this" one, follow the instructions and I should have no problem.

So here I am. I'll try to list my specs and perhaps you can give me a push in the right direction. Or for that matter if this harddrive will even work with this PC.

I have a gateway, PIII, 500mhz system. I run Win98. I have a whopping 64 megs of ram. 20 gig harddrive already. And I connect to the Net with Cable.

Other specs? Heck if I know. . . .I know it's not your place to have to walk me through it, I can look elsewhere, but I have always had tremendous success with the helpful people here.

Oh, the harddrive I bought is a western digital, , ultra ATA/100

Interneal, IDE

It says I need an IDE interface (40-pin connector)
Ultra ATA copable system. You got me there.

GraingerGuy

For the RAM ironchef is right, you are going to need to consult your manuel for the amount that your system can handle.


Don't worry, your system will be capable of running this hard drive. And there should be a cable in the box of your hard drive. If not, you can always put it on the same cable that your current hard drive is on.

If you don't know what master and slave are here is the explantion:

There should be jumpers on the back of your hard drive. These set your hard drive to be either "master" or "slave". The way you set it is going to be in the instructions that came on the box and maybe on the hard drive itself. The hard drive you have in there right now is set as "master". So you can set the one you have now as "slave"

__________________
potato gun + marshmallow gun = FLAMING MARSHMALLOWS OF DOOM!!!!!
-Welfareloser
4/13/05

Time to switch to AMD now I guess... (just kidding... )
-Darkfury
5/23/05

I don't think this'll stop anything though - the better you idiot-proof a system, the more impressive the idiot becomes.
-ShawnLee
5/30/08

AWM

Well frineds. I did it! I'm sorta proud of myself. = )

It was fairly easy too. I did want to relate how it almost ****ed me over though. After I installed it and ran the installiation, and diagnostics, it said my drive as working fine. Then I went into Windows Explorer and tried to open the drive, what I though they labeled drive F. After all, "F" was the new letter in my eXplorer. Well, everytime I clicked F, it said, Drive is inaccesable of unavailable. I tried to save something to there, same thing. So I went to tech support, no help there, tried calling there tech support, closed. So then I took the pc apart again, attached the cables in a different way, and started over.

Same thing kept happening. I opend the PC again rechecked everything and was on the brink of giving up. Well, then lightning struck in here, and I checked all my drives, CDWR, C Drive, CDROM, Floppy, ect ect. What it did was rename my cdwr drive to "F" and it took my CDWR's letter. LOl, all that work for nothing it was right the first time i installed it. Thanks for your thoughtfulness in helping me out!

Paymaster

One thing to note is that while your motherboard can certainly handle an ATA 100 hard drive, it may not be running it at that speed. Based on the age of your system, you may have an ATA 66 drive controller.

So, it is still a good upgrade, but you may not be getting your money's worth out of it.

Anyone here know a good way of determining what the drive controller is capable of? (Even if AWM doesn't care, I'm a bit curious...)