New life for an old computer?

[Tsaico]

I have an old p200, with 32 megs of ram. I would like to get a pci ide card/ raid card and put large drives on it. I would be using it as a file server to store mp3's movies etc. Is this a practical solution for these again parts or just toss it out and start over?

 

[Mitzi]

If you only want to use it as a file server, I don't see any reason why a P200 wouldn't be sufficient.

I guess your biggest problem is ensuring your BIOS supports hard drives over 8Gb. Perhaps you'll need a BIOS update, if one is available.

 

[Tsaico]

If I got one of those PCI IDE controllers, would that enable me to get over that barrier? or am I trapped no matter what?

 

[Derango]

Nope, its a BIOS limitation. Some drives come with software that lets you get around that problem though, although I don't know which.

 

[NICKCARTER]

If you use a pci ide card/controler i think you don`t have the problem with the bios/onboard controler.
Your new controler has its own limitation......

 

[jt63]

NICKCARTER's right, the PCI IDE controller should have its own bios. I put one in my old Packard Bell to overcome its 540MB limit, I wanted to put in whopping 850MB drive (back in '95).

 

[AluminumStudios]

I have a Pentium 200 with 64 megs/RAM doing just what you want to do without any problems. I'm not running raid, but I am running large drives in it. I actually use Western Digital's BIOS overlay software to get past the 8 gig limit. I use my Pentium 200 for sharing my DSL connection (via Win2K connection sharing) and file serving. It is connected to my other system via 100 meg ethernet.

RAID isn't neccessary since any decent drive will outrun 100 meg ethernet. I don't like IDE RAID because if one of the two drives in a RAID 0 goes you loose EVERYTHING. It halves reliablitly. So unless you want to pool all of your capacity onto one drive letter, I personally would skip the RAID. An add-on IDE or IDE RAID controller will fix your 8 gig limit though.

 

[Tsaico]

ool, I really just want to store massive amount of files... raid really won't me too much of a good choice really. I just want a couple 60 gb or so drives... that should be enough.. OT, but can I run win2k with 32 megs of RAM?

 

[erub]

I used to have a 27 GB Maxtor in my Dell (P200 MMX) with no problems. I heard that there may have been a 32 GB drive (although overlay software may allow you to use it)

 

[Mavrick007]

<< ool, I really just want to store massive amount of files... raid really won't me too much of a good choice really. I just want a couple 60 gb or so drives... that should be enough.. OT, but can I run win2k with 32 megs of RAM? >>



Hehe I wouldn't advise using 32Megs of ram with Win2k. Try 64 minimum and 128Megs or more would be the best bet, especially on a p200. They tried to tell me at work that someone had Win2k on my p166/32megs ram POS, I laughed at them. I would just run Win98SE or ME for running your movies cause you don't need anything specific to network your window boxes.

 

[oldfart]

A PCI IDE card will overcome a HD size limit. No mobo BIOS upadate or drive overlay is needed.