5400 to 7200 HD speed

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 27 Oct 2003 2:17 pm

I've got an older computer(pentiumII 300) that I would like to put a larger hard drive in. My original drive is a 8 gig eide running at 5400 rpm. Am I going to have a compatability problem trying to use a 7200 drive or should I try to find a larger 5400 somewhere? Thanks, Larry

Tommy Minniear · Post by **Tommy Minniear** » 27 Oct 2003 9:16 pm

Larry, A 7200 rpm EIDE drive will work and make your computer much faster.

Tommy Minniear

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 28 Oct 2003 2:13 am

True, Larry -- the faster spin on the new drive should only be an improvement. Your machine's BIOS, though, may be outdated enough that *it* might pose problems.

You may have to PARTITION a larger drive in order to have access to the entire drive space. Some older BIOS' could only accept drives (or partitions) up to 2GB or 8GB.
--Everett

Larry Clark · Post by **Larry Clark** » 28 Oct 2003 1:39 pm

Right you are Everett, Got an e-mail back from the tech folks at Hewlett Packard. They said an 8 gig is the largest drive my computer will recognize. Guess I'll just forget about and wait till it's time to replace the whole thing. Thanks guys
You can close this one up.

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 28 Oct 2003 11:25 pm

Larry-- NO, NO, NO!!! You don't have to "forget it" at all. 'Partitioning' a large drive is quite easy, especially when initially installing and setting the drive up. The programs/tools to do the job are already a part of the operating system so you don't require anything special.

Partitioning just divides a large drive into smaller chunks and fools the system into thinking each chunk is a separate drive. So, instead of one 24Gig C: drive, you might configure it to be drives C:, D:, E: with each being only 8Gig in size.

If you need help, just ask. --Everett[This message was edited by Everett Cox on 28 October 2003 at 11:26 PM.]

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 31 Oct 2003 1:00 pm

The newer "ATA133 7200RPM" drives will NOT work in older machines directly !! Due to the older BIOS not being able to handle the newer ATA 133 protocal,You will have to install a daughter card that intercepts all calls to the drive. Basically what it does is it latches onto the on-board BIOS functions and redirects them through the new code so that it tricks the machine into seeing a BIOS capable of larger drives.
Also.... You MUST use the newer 50 pin cable supplied with the drive. There is NO improvements in data transfer if the original/older 25 pin data cables are use. While you will have a larger capacity drive,the transfer rate will still be the same slow rate as the original. To most folks, this isn't a noticeable problem,but to others, it slows down the data transfer process far too much to be accepted.

The card sells for about $40.00 at most computers stores.

Been there..... Done that..... have the card

[This message was edited by Bill Crook on 31 October 2003 at 03:06 PM.]