Quote:
Originally posted by GT40FIED
Problem is, there aren't any Best Buys or Circuit City's down here. I'm pretty much relying off of online retailers. There's a WalMart....but like hell I'm buying any PC products from them. My PC was OEM with only 80GB of HDD space, so a 160GB drive would quadruple the storage capacity. The problem is that $160 doesn't fit well into my financial plan. I can get an OEM 250GB drive for a lot less...but I don't think it would come with instructions. The memory will have to wait for now. I haven't taken a good look at my board in quite some time. I'll have to open the tower up to install the HDD and I'll have a better idea of what I'm working with. Fucking hell...computers are a pain in the ass.
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Yeah, a pain in the ass if you don't have a bestbuy or circuitcity, I was going to tell you that bestbuy is running a rebate deal starting today: a 160gb westerndigital drive for $80 after rebates ($120 before rebates).
EDIT: bestbuys rebates work online! check this out:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....cat33200050001
EDIT (again): holy crap! circuitcity.com is even better! same drive for $60:
http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catO...ategorylist.do
man, if those were SATA drives I would nab one up today! (they are EIDE, which is what you need...lucky!)
OEM will probably be okay, as you can find instructions online. And besides that, installing a drive is easy:
1. It will come in an antistatic bag, and hopefully some foam support in the box. Take the drive out of the bag, and set it on top of the bag for now.
2. Unplug your computer and open your case and determine where you are going to install the drive. According to your system specs, it looks like the only spot will be the external bay either above or below the floppy drive. It's called an external bay because it is has a bezel cover in front of it, so you could put a 3.5" device in there, like a ZIP drive or something. You won't be removing the plastic bezel cover in this case.
**Before touching anything inside the computer, discharge any static electricity buildup by touching the power supply, or the metal sides of the case. Don't scuff around on the carpet while working.**
3. You will need to make sure you have an IDE ribbon cable connector that can reach your installation location, as well as a power connector. The IDE cable may require some rerouting, as you already have 3 devices (the maximum is 4). IF compaq was smart, your two optical drives will be on the same cable (also called same channel), and your current hard drive is on the end of the other cable. This should allow you to use the second connector (in the middle of the ribbon cable) for your new drive.
4. I'm going to mention this, but I don't know if I believe it. When it comes to your power connector, try to use a plug from a circuit that is powering other drives, and NOT a fan. I've HEARD that when a drive spins up, it can cause a surge, which frys fans (and apparently cold cathode inverters, ask me how I know...)
5. Again, if compaq was smart, they would have already set your current hard drive to be MASTER. There are jumper settings on every drive; MASTER, SLAVE, and CABLE SELECT. I don't trust cable select, though I've heard it works great. You'll need to check and see what the current drive is set to. Sometimes they don't set the jumpers at all, which is fine when the drive is by itself. It won't play nice if there is another drive, though. You may to remove the drive to see what it is set to. There should be a diagram and/or label on the drive showing the possible settings.
6. You'll be setting your new drive to SLAVE. just refer to the diagram or label and jump the proper pins. (There is a tiny plastic piece with metal inside. You place this piece over the two pins labeled slave. Usually it is two pins vertically below the letter 'S'. You'll see.
7. Now you are ready to install the drive. If you can remove the drive cage, do it. You'll need access to both sides of the cage to properly secure your new drive. This may mean unplugging things, so it may be a good idea to label things so you remember how to put them back. Slide the drive in the cage so that you can secure it with two screws on each side. If you don't secure BOTH sides, vibration becomes an issue.
8. Reinstall the cage and be sure to plug all your drives in, data and power. Don't put the case back together yet until you know everything is okay.
9. Plug the computer back in and turn it on. If you can view the POST screen (Power On Self Test) then you will see four drives listed (it will say something like WDC1600JD if you have an IDE 160 GB western digital drive). If all you see is the pretty compaq splash screen, just wait for WinXP to boot, and you should see the new drive in My Computer.
10. Formatting a drive in Windows XP is easy, assuming you have PRO and not HOME. Under PRO, just go to control panel, administrative tools, computer management. From there, click on disk management in the left-hand list, and it will show your unformatted drive. right click on the drive and click format. It will format in the background, but I wouldn't try to multitask anything. play solitaire.
11. If step 10 went okay, go ahead and close up your case, and pat yourself on the back.
**If you're still worried about not having instructions, here are the instructions that would come with any drive you buy:
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001001.pdf
print it out, and there you go.
and I found this link by accident for memory specifically for your system. Infineon is a decent brand. those prices aren't too bad.
http://www.memoryx.net/compres6350u.html