Low on Free Space!

Yep

Ever used a USB flash disk or a floppy? Its kinda like that - you'll see the drive under My Computer and you can do anything you could minus being able to boot from it by itslef, since your main hdd has the OS on it.

Actualy, you'd get HDD1=74.4GB and then HDD2=320GB on My Computer, so it will act as two seperate hdds, but your total if you add them up would be 394GB

Keep em coming . You start learning things when you ask....

This utility may help you with setting up your HDD inside Windows..
Seagate Disc Wizard

Thanks! I didn't even notice there was a second page, haha. So sorry for the late reply.

Last question, what do you mean "being able to boot from it by itself"?

Well, if you try to boot a hdd without any sort of OS (linux, Windows, Mac, DOS etc) you wouldnt get very far.. However, if you put an OS on that drive then you can start using the pc to its full advantage. But if you arleady have an active (already installed) OS then you can just make the secondary hdd purely as a storage device for inputing and retrieving data, just like you would do to a USB flash drive type of thing...

Oh... I'm still really confused. How do you boot the HDD without the entire computer? Whenever I turn on my computer, I press the power button on the computer case. Is that what you're talking about? :dead:

He's talking about with the rest of the computer. :giddy:

'Booting' refers to Bootstrapping - which simplified - is the process of starting one program to pass control to a more complex program. This can apply to various areas of computing.

When you first turn on your computer, it is usually referred to as booting the computer. The computer's processor executes a program called BIOS which runs POST. Arguably, it's main function is to discover devices (Hard drives, optical drives etc...) which can load an Operating System (OS) such as Windows. Once your BIOS finds a device capable of loading an OS, it attempts to run another program called an MBR ('Master Boot Record') which is always located at the very beginning of your drive media. The location of this program is usually referred to as the 'boot sector'. The MBR contains a program which executes a 'boot loader'. The MBR also contains your partition information. The MBR then directs the computer to the preferred boot loader, which is the program that will 'boot' your OS.

Alright! A major thanks to all of you who helped me!

By the way, does anybody watch anime?

Thats what we're here for Have fun!

Yes, although thats a topic for the "Meeting Spot" forum..

LAST questions. While searching for internal hard drives, I came upon Ultra ATA/100 and Ultra ATA/133. What exactly is the difference between these?

Also, why do hard drives cost more in a store? Some examples:

Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat33200050001&id=1069302880231

Circuit City
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Seag...35114/catOid/-12976/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

CompUSA
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...00&product_code=335866&Pn=300GB_Hard_Drive#ts

Lastly, I just want to be 100% sure, that http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148139 is compatible with my Dell Dimension 4550 and Windows XP, before I make this purchase. To be on the safe side, I don't need to do anything beforehand, right? Like updating BIOS and all that, until some problems occur after I get the HDD, right?

I was also wondering why this 320GB drive is so cheap. I've browsed some drives with lower GB, but are about the same price, such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148061.

ATA 100 and ATA 133 run almost the same speed they move almost the same amount of data. ATA moves 33% more. Now the SATA 150 moves about 20% more data. The 133 sometimes have larger cache from 8MB to 16MB also called PATA. If you have a MOBO that is ATA 100 then get ATA 100 HDDs. If it's a ATA 133 then get HDDs rated at that level. Really doesn't matter you can put in ATAT 133 in ATA 100.

Bestbuy is expensive so it's not really the best buy after all. Do your homework. I really buy my drives at Office Stores like Stapes they get better deals on MAXTORs. Also note that Office Depot will match any stores prices too. Compusa has some sales when it does are also cheap.

100 is slower than 133. The highest Ultra ATA (IDE) drives run at 133.

The shops could be just selling Retail boxes of HDDs, instead of just the drive by itself. Think of it - a product just sold as is (with warranty of course) without any accessory is definatly going to be cheaper than one with a pretty box, suspended (foam) packaging and got gizmo's that you may or may not need...

I always figured large mass retailers sold everything at rip-off prices, your best bet for cheap computer parts(that aren't cheap in quality) would usually be a specialized store, newegg has a very good reputation(although they don't ship to canada ).

That HDD is definitely going to be compatible with your motherboard. However, as it was said; it is OEM, so it doesn't come with any cables, however your dell MIGHT have some expansion cables, the IDE cable definitely, the 4 pin power connector you may have to buy a splitter for(they're about 5 bucks at a local comp shop).

You're best bet is Newegg. BestBuy, CompUSA and Circuit City don't cater to the the true tech enthusiast.

www.newegg.com
Segate 200GB starts at $78 with $6 shipping and possibly no tax depending on where you live.

Seagate 320GB starts at $99, free shipping and possibly no tax.

Thanks again for all the help and support, everybody! I was wondering, is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144237 more worth it? Since it is ATA133, but it has 20GB less than the Seagate one. Is a ATA100 and ATA133 having that big a difference? The $5 difference is no big deal, but is ATA133 more valuable than 20GB?

Also, should I get a service net replacement plan?

Absolutely not. The interface is technically faster, but mechanically, the drive itself is not. Sadly, current hard drives (Even SATA) don't come close to saturating the throughput ATA-133 offers, and still shy of even ATA-100.

It would be a little like a road with a 130mph speed limit, but your car only registers 60mph. Even if the speed limit were 100mph, it wouldn't really make a difference.

And just to mention it, even though it is hardly worth considering, drives do occasionally 'burst' data. This is where ATA-133 might be useful, but the performance it offers for typical and even unusual use is negligable.

If you get a seagate, they usually have a 5-year warranty. In this case, no. Most other drives have a 3-year warranty which I would consider plenty. If you buy a drive with a 1 year warranty, you may want to consider buying the extended service agreement... However, you might want to compare the extra money it costs against how much it would cost to get the same size or even bigger drive with a longer warranty from the manufacturer. Storage is very cheap these days and the difference of 50-100GB is often just 20 to 30 dollars.

Alright! I went ahead and bought the Seagate Barracuda, without a plan. I'll post here when it arrives on how things go. :stickout:

Thanks for all the advice and support! Wish me luck! :angel:

Dont worry about plans for seagate.. like Rick said, they already have 5 yrs Return To Base warranty.. and too tell you the truth its damn fast.. From me in Australia to international shipping to Seagate USA (to get replacement drive) then back here took about less than 2 weeks.. or maybe it was 1 i forget.. free shipping too..

2 weeks isn't that fast... but since it's international shipping, I guess you could say that. I'm guessing it'll take less than a week for shipping in the states. :blush:

Jinkies! I had a dream last night and God asked me: "If you install a program which requires Windows XP, do you install it on your new HDD (Doesn't have Windows XP) or old HDD (Has Windows XP), or does it not matter?"

Thanks! :giddy:

Well thats entirely up to you. If you prefer everything in one place, then keep them all with your OS drive.

Although a technique some of us use is to partition our primary hdd, one side being windows the other for programs etc, so in an event of a reformat its slightly faster to get things running and keep some of settings without much loss etc. But the drawback of this is you have to clean up and maintain your hdd more constantly, to get rid off orphaned folders/files, and some programs do install themselves on the default c:/ drive..

But seeing as you already have a working system, i would suggest strongly against it right now (partitioning the OS drive) unless you have the time and patience to reinstall everything.. Of course, if you do wish to partition your new drive, you can do, since there is still nothing there..

Just make sure you keep all your data on the new one, so its safe incase of a major system problem..