Need help deciding on a new hard drive.

[Marc4]

Hello,

I have upgraded pretty much everything in my pc but my hard drive. I currently have a 5.01 maxtor HD, same one that I have had for the past 4 years. Since everyone is making fun of me, and they say my computer would be so much better off with a new HD, i'm gonna buy one.

I currently have a abit bx6 rev2 board, which supports dma33. Was wondering what you guys think I should get. Maxtor seems to not give me any problems, but I don't know what dma speed or RPM speed I should get. If my MB only supports dma 33, is that going to be a problem? Or can I get some kind of adapter to be able to run a really fast HD?

Thanks for you help.

Here is my current system. Anyone have any ideas on what else I should upgrade?

abit bx6 rev 2.0
P3- 600 @ 702 mhz
128 megs ram
GeForce DDR 32 meg vid card
maxtor 5.01 HD
sound blaster Live! X-Gamer
win 98

 

[JellyBaby]

Storage Review has oodles of good HD info:
Storage Review
The latest 7200 rpm drives from IBM, Maxtor and Quantum are quite good. I personally recommend the IBM 75GXP series. You only have ATA/33 so you won't get max. performance from these new drives but they'll still be noticeably faster.

 

[Henry Kuo]

well, since your mobo only supports ata33, you will not be able to benefit from ata66 or ata100. however, usually drives with ata66 and ata100 will have a better rpm as well as disk density size.

faster ratational speed and higher density will definitely give you a boost in performance. so if i were you, i would still go for ata100 drive like IBM 75GXP, since it is at 7200rpm, and it has a higher density than the 34GXP.

 

[Marc4]

http://store.yahoo.com/mediashuttle/ibm15eid8572.html

does this look like a good offer?

First time looking for hd's, so I really don't know what to look for.

Will this work fine with my pc?

What's the difference between SCSI and EIDE.

I'm so confused........so many questions.

 

[Henry Kuo]

well, to me that's a fair price. you can always check prices on www.pricewatch.com keep in mind the prices there are somtimes skewed coz' of shipping and handling. but you can have a big picture of what prices you targetting at.

there is a utility on IBM's homepage where you can switch your hdd to be ata33/66/100. so you can always use that utility to down shift your drive to ata33 if you want.

in short. EIDE and SCSI are two diff system. usually you will need to have a SCSI controller card before you can use any SCSI devices. most likely (not always) your maxtor now is EIDE.

 

[Marc4]

so basically I should just install the drive, and if it acts up, go to the web site and get the file to disable it? Or should I just disable the minute I install it?

 

[Barny]

I'd go for the IBM Deskstar 75GXP. Currently best available IMO.
It's faster than your ATA/33 motherboard controller, but will work.
You could also buy an IDE controller card if you have an available slot. They come in ATA/33, ATA/66, and ATA/100 versions.
SCSI is the best choice for performance though. If you're considering buying an IDE controller you might want to also look at SCSI. SCSI is faster but more expensive than IDE.

 

[Marc4]

IDE controller card?

 

[Barny]

Yes, check out the Promise web site http://www.promise.com for starters. There are other manufacturers and I don't know which is recommended. I have an ATA/100 controller in my motherboard so I don't need one.
They're for folks like you that want to use the faster devices without buying a new MB.

 

[Marc4]

http://www.microx-press.com/online/...hhgestjbog&dept_id=4600&sku=CTRPR107C

so this would work? I have an empty pci slot. Is this something that I would want to do? Or should I say, is it worth it?

 

[Marc4]

I've already purchased the IBM 15.3 gig EIDE 7200rpm 75GXP. Just want to make sure these would work together, and would be worth spending an extra few bucks.

Thanks for all your help

 

[Barny]

You could search through these forum walls and find a few lively discussions about this. I think it would definitely be worth getting at least an ATA/66 card. The biggest debates are whether ATA/100 is worth it.
The IBM 75GXP is the fastest IDE drive right now. It can transfer data at a sustained rate of 37MB/sec. The ATA/33 controller runs at 33MB/sec so you'd be bottlenecked by the controller. The ATA/66 runs at 66MB/sec and the ATA/100 at 100MB/sec. The debates are whether you really get any performance improvement between 66 and 100 with a device that can only transfer at 37MB/s. Some insist you do, others say its not something you'd be able to detect.
I'd personally go ahead and get the 100 (only a few $$ more) and maximize my potential. Eventually, there'll be a drive that will run faster than 66MB/sec and you'd be ready.

 

[cavingjan]

To chime in on the cheap end, Sam's Club has a 20 Gig 7200 rpm drive that I bought before they dropped the price again. It's only $60.
WD ATA66 drive deal
I haven't had any problems with it on a Ultra33 controller.

 

[Rigoletto]

IBM all the way! Best rep. Their 7200 high density drives are fast, quiet, super.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

Own a Maxtor Diamonmax 40+ of yester-month. Performs quickly and quietly. I'd recommend Maxtor. IBM makes the best drives supposedly.

 

[AMB]

I would recommend either IBM, or the new Maxtor DM 45+, I do not think that an extra controller card is worth it, but if you do want to, there was an article in the Forum about three days ago, on how to convert a U/DMA 66 Promise controller to an U/DMA 100

 

[urbantechie]

Another vote for IBM. I also really like Quantums.

 

[Mem]

Go for IBM yet again.