How do I know the Port Connectors for

[homesoldbyaliso]

I am sorry if I am adding this thread to the wrong place but I so need you help. I need to change my hard drive and I do not want to spend a lot of money because it is a very old desktop. Can you tell me what the conection is for a 0X439 HARD DRIVE, 60GB, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), 1N, 7.2K, WD-XL40. I do not know a lot about computers. Thank you

 

[raybay]

You need to tell us the brand and model, as well as operating system and memory.
Then you need to explain what you mean by "...Can you tell me what the connection is for a 0X439 Hard Drive..."
IDE just means you use an IDE cable to connect, so that is the connection, but for a 60 GB drive, you will want to change to EIDE cable... 80 conductor, 40 connector... although your computer will not care. You need to be sure your jumper on the hard drive is on Master, not CS, if indeed it is an OLD computer.

 

[homesoldbyaliso]

Help.

Thank you for the fast reply. It is a dell and the serv tag is: B92F531. I have not made any changes to it. I ordered a Hard Drive from tiger direct but it was the wrong one. So can you help me. When I spoke to dell tec they told me that I had a dead spot on my hard drive and I needed a new one.

 

[raybay]

Replacement would be the next step. The computer was built in July of 2003... Optical drives are amazingly fragile anyway... A replacement optical drive can be found at Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Best Buy, and many other sites for $29 or with DVD copy for $49.95. I suggest you try LG, Samsung, Plextor, Pioneer, or Yamaha. Avoid Sony, HP, LaCie, HST, and other unrelable brands.
You can buy the hard drive at a number of sites. Your current brand and model is a Western Digital 60 Gigabyte ATA-100 IDE Drive. You can get an 80 or 120 GB Seagate ATA or PATA drive for $60, or a 250 GB Seagate for less than $100 at www.zipzoomfly.com, www.directron.com, or many other sites. Seagates have a 5 year warranty, but if you get a raw drive in a thick plastic bag, you will need to download the software for the setup from www.seagate.com.
This is relatively easy to do.

 

[raybay]

Be sure you use a new EIDE drive cable. They are flat, and have 80 conductors and 40 connectors. Some of the Dell 8300 machines used the older 40 conductor cable. A replacement cable will cost you between $3.95 and$9.00 depending on where you get it. They are also called EIDE cables or ATA-133 cables.