Do all additional hard drives work on all computers?

[killerjedininja]

Hey guys, I am going to replace or add an additional hard drive to my existing one and I am wondering if I should be looking for a certain type of hard drive or if any of them will do the job.
Thanks

 

[kitty500cat]

what is the make and model of your computer?

 

[protecterstouch]

Short answer to this is no, not all drives may work with your system. First thing you need to do is open up your computer and see what kind of connector is on the back of your current hard disk drive. You also need to make sure you check the jumper setting on the back of it to make sure the old drive is setup as a "master" drive. Your new one you will need to set the jumper to slave. If you don't know what a jumper is just look at the back of your drive for a little rectangle on top of about six pins. After you have the jumper figured out check if the drive is an IDE or Sata you can check Wikipedia to see what these connectors look like.

 

[killerjedininja]

it is an emachine T2642.
I believe it is an IDE connector. It is similar to the top image in this picture:
http://www.spywaredrguide.com/VirtualDr/images/sata-ide_lg.jpg

 

[hughva]

Both PATA and SATA are IDE.
Your drive is a PATA, and they are readily available at places like Tiger Direct.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

Your drive is a PATA, and they are readily available at places like Tiger Direct.

Yes at newegg, they would be listed under Ultra ATA100.

 

[killerjedininja]

Ok. Thanks