I want to replace one of the disk drives in my old PC (from 8GB to 80GB!).

My old drive's IDE, and most of the ones I've been looking at are listed as 'IDE/Ultra ATA/133'.

Will I have any problems?

David

No, any of them will be fine. They will run as fast as your PC will cope with. Just don't get a (latest greatest) SATA drive.

How do you plan to "replace" it? ie get all your programs and stuff off and onto the new drive, this could be a bigger problem.....

No problems there - I'm just about to do a new install of Mandriva Linux, and thought it would be a good idea to have a bit more space. I'll use the old drive as swap space, once I know that all is well with the new one.

cheers,
David

You've got it sussed then
I often get asked about "copying" evrything to a new drive, if only it were that simple.
Cheers

I ship all my files (pictures, documents, etc) off to the Windows drive (it's dual-boot), then ship 'em back once the new operating system is loaded.

rgds,
David

BTW: I just got 250GB for £72 at PC World (special offer). That's cheaper than Dabs, and no P&P.
Now then, who's going to tell me that they could have got the same for £3.50?


[Edited on 29/12/05 by David Jenkins]

Word of caution how old is your old PC --- some older PCs don't have a BIOS that allows big drives.

Although the new drive will work with any old IDE cable if the motherboard is is ATA100 or ATA133 capable makes sure you use an 80 conductor IDE cable -- this gives much faster data transfers.

Should be OK (I hope...). It's not too antique.

cheers,
David

Buggerit...

Checked the BIOS, upgraded it, found out that it'll only cope with 64GByte max.

At least PC World gave me a refund without whingeing... Got to shop around for a suitable disk now...

Thanks to britishtrident for the advance warning - saved me a heap of money.

rgds,
David