Category: Geeks r Us
Ok so I’m looking for a new hard drive for my dell Dimension 4600 the one I have now is 38.something something, looking for maybe around 200 gb, and not sure if one can use just any hard drive o and I would like to get an internal one I think?
the hard drive i have now is pretty full and guess that's why i've been having some of the problems i'be been having so thought i would ask hear before taking it someware. thanks you zoners are great
Perhaps your best bet would be to buy an internal hard drive, but then use it in an external hard drive caddy. A couple of reasons for saying this. Firstly, although I personally have no experience with Del computers, I have heard from others that they're very proprietary meaning that you may have an extremely difficult time putting a new hard drive into the machine. The other big benefit to using a hard drive and caddy is that you can then take the hard drive around with you if you should so need. It's kind of handy for transfering large volumes of stuff round from place to place if that's ever something that you have to do.
I'm sure all the authorities will come on now and give you much better suggestions and advice than this but, it is at least something to think about.
Harp AKA Dan.
Also I should have added in that last post that I currently have a 200 gig IDE internal hard drive and an external caddy to use it with and was able to pick the lot up for $65 so, provided you're willing to shop around a bit and wait for deals, it can be done reasonably cheaply.
i agree with harp. plus make sure you know what kind of connections your computer has for a hard drive, that is very important.
I would agree also if you want the portibillity. Excellent suggestions. As far as the actual drive I have always been happy with Western Digital. Had a CGate and it crashed although there scsi drives are excellent and not having used the Sata drive I can't speak to that. I have an IDE drive and WD has always been excellent.
Ok some things to think about, thanks. Now for some questions, umm what port would be better to use and not sure about this maybe a stupid question but can you run programs from the external hard drive? Like jaws for instance, on other words say I take the external hard drive to a computer that does not have jaws, can I use it?, not really worried about portability thinking about getting a Inspiron E1705 would like some feed back about this too please, again thanks...
I echo the centiments of other that a USB hard drive is a better way to go. Even if you upgrade your computer, with an internal hard drive you need to get it out (not sure you can do that without sighted help, or lot of training, you do not want to mess too much with computer components) and fit it in the new one. Some computer towers/cases are pretty small and have very few PCI slots after the USB revolution so you might not even have space for your drive in the new box. Much easier to get a usb drive, hook it up and be in business instantly. (I've always used USB rather than FireWire, USB 2.0 was the fastest but I think Firewire standard has been updated and is now ridiculously fast, but I'm not sure how much that has been adapted).
I'm very impressed with the Fantom Titanium drives. Buy.com is selling the 250gb for $109 (possibly $89, they used to have a mail-in rebate) and a 500gb one for $189. They also have WD MyBook for around $109 I think 250gb. WD are good but, personally, I've found Fantom faster. My WD drive sometimes "falls asleepo" or disappears from my Windows Explorer if I leave the computer on overnight and I have to restart the machine to get it back on there.
I've had bad experience with Maxtor OneTouch (crashed with 250gb of stuff on it) and my friend had problems with SeaGate so I pretty much agree with the Woof man here.
I haven't run programs off of the external drive, I just keep them on my c drive and move all data to an external drives (your basic set of programs only takes up a few gigs and if you have an 80gb or 120gb internal drive I don't ever see the need for you to run programs externally unless you want them to be mobile).
I don't think there is an isssue with it though, unless there's some sort of issues with authorization. Jaws, for instqance, I'd much rather just run of a thumb drive/usb drive.
Best of luck with stuff.
cheers
-B
I hear that dell sodders their parts in, is this true?
Troy
Troy, I have heard this as well. aparently, and I don't know if this is all dell machines but the power supplies are intagrated in to the mother board making it impossible to replace them. Power goes whole board has to be replaced. that is why I won't buy Dell.
well, I've replaced a dell hd before and it wasn't that hard. You must know what you're doing though. So if you don't really want to muck with all that, portable is the way to go. Get yourself an IDE drive and inclosure. I recommend USB since it's a bit more popular. To your other question, you can't run JAWS from an external hd unless you download the thumb drive version.
personally, i would choose sata instead of ide. it is faster and the cables are smaller.
Ok so again thanks, seeing that I only have a 38 gb hard drive I’m thinking I should just get a 80 gb and put the rest of the money into a Inspiron 9400/E1705 from dell that i been thinking about getting for when i'm moble then maybe in the future if I need it I’ll get a external drive for more storage, again thanks for the great feed back.