Adding a New Drive to an Older Computer
Q: My computer came with a 3 GB hard drive. I added a 20 GB unit but my computer can only recognize 8 GB. What's should I do to rectify the problem?
A: You should visit the website of the drive manufacturer. They usually have a "frequently asked questions" area that describes this issue in detail and why it occurs. It is sometimes fixable with a jumper setting and a piece of software supplied by the drive manufacturer. (Maxtor, for example, uses software called "MaxBlast" to address the issue.) The root cause is your computer's BIOS. You can sometimes (but not very often, actually) upgrade the BIOS to fix the problem. To do this, visit the motherboard manufacturer's web site or contact your computer manufacturer. If these free options do not work, you will need to add a hard drive controller compatible with large drives to your system. This will typically cost you C$35-$80 and take up one PCI slot in your PC. Another option is to replace the machine's motherboard -- typically a more expensive and far more complex proposition.
Most retail-packaged hard drives come with a utility designed to overcome older BIOS limitations. These utilities are typically also downloadable from the drive manufacturers' website. Newer Western Digital hard drives, for example, come with a Data Lifeguard EZ-Install floppy which overcomes the 8.4 GB, 2.1 GB and 528 MB BIOS limitations of older BIOSes. It also partitions and formats, copies system files and copies existing hard drives.
Maxtor's web site, meanwhile, provides owners of its drives all the information they need to solve this problem. Here's a snip...
Document #30004 in the "Common Questions and Answers" area (http://www.maxtor.com/technology/q&a/index.html) says:
http://www.maxtor.com/technology/q&a/30004.html#Q4
What do I do if my system BIOS does not support the capacity of my hard drive?
There are three possible answers to this question:
[end of document]
....use the MaxBlast (version 9.10M and higher) or MaxBlast Plus (version 1.20 and higher) installation software to complete the installation.
---other areas of the Maxtor site provide additional info on the above topics #2 and #3.
Upgrading
Q: I don't really know a lot about how computers work but I do know when they don't work.
I have been having problems with my hard drive. Sometimes it will crash when I try to start the computer. (I leave the computer on now in fear of losing everything). If I replace - upgrade - my HD, I will lose all the information/programs that I now have. Right? So when I back up my computer on to the tape am I also backing up the actual program or just the files, i.e., will I have to re-load Windows 95, etc?
A: In general, we'd recommend that you let an expert technician look at your system if something serious seems to be wrong, as it does with your system. Sometimes, a simple change of a BIOS setting or a driver update can fix these problems.
As for how to keep all your hard drive data, there are programs that can automatically transfer all your data over to a new drive. DriveCopy, from Power Quest (www.powerquest.com) is a good, inexpensive example. I'd also recommend using a disk repair program (even "scandisk" will do) to fix up any problems before they become serious and cause data loss.
DriveCopy is an easy to use utility for copying your old drive to your new drive. With a few simple steps your old hard drive is automatically copied to your new one without losing a single preference, setting or byte of data. A newer utility from the same company, called DriveImage 2.0, can also save the entire contents of a drive to Jaz, Zip or SyQuest drives, or restore individual files from a drive "image" file. We've been really pleased with all the utilities from PowerQuest (it is also responsible for the best partitioning utility we've used, Partition Magic).
Details at http://www.powerquest.com/product/dc/index.htm
Q: I have a PC, into which I have just installed a second hard drive. Although Win95 is the main OS, I have partitioned the disk into a number of drives, onto one of which I would like to install DOS. The installation procedure is proving difficult, however, as DOS seems to want to load onto the first hard drive and wipe out all existing files and partitions in the process. Is what I am attempting impossible? Will Win95 not share disk space with DOS? Will DOS not share? My reason for wanting the two operating systems centers on a desire to load my old DOS games onto our new computer. I do, however, wish also to load Windows NT onto another partition at a later date, in order that my wife may practice at home with the server OS used in her office. Can you suggest a way to load DOS onto a partition on our second hard disk without compromising the first, and also advise whether I will encounter similar problems with NT?
A: A program called System Commander will do what you want. It is from V Communications, at 408-296-4224.
System Commander runs before DOS, so it can boot your choice of OS. Note however, that most PC based operating systems are written in a manner that assumes they will be installed and booted from drive C. This limitation cannot be overcome by System Commander (which must be installed in the primary partition of drive C). However, if the operating system allows it, System Commander can boot it from another drive. OS/2 version 2.x, Warp, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Linux allow installation and booting from and drive and even allow booting from any logical drive in an extended partition.
Q: Are 5400 rpm drives more reliable than 7200 rpm drives?
A: Not necessarily, although we've seen following several research reports that suggest a problem with many cheaper 7200 drives.
Here's a trio of reports that suggest IDE hard drive technology may be hitting the wall:
SharkyExtreme: There's Something About Hard Drives - Excess noise, heat, and failures drive a small but growing number of users to heresy -- rejecting the latest 7,200-rpm models for humdrum 5,400-rpm hard disks.
Sysopt.com: Are Hard Times Coming For Hard Drive Owners?
Hardware Central: Vince Freeman explores the market reaction to the problems encountered by some newer high-speed IDE drives as they try to increase performance and are running into quality and useful life concerns.
On the other hand, many of the owners of stores we've talked to say they've sold a lot more 5400 rpm drives over the years, so they actually see more 5400-rpm drive returns. Almost everybody agrees that the newest generation of drives with hydraulic bearings (e.g., all drives currently coming out of Maxtor factories, or Seagate's Barracuda IV, to name a few) are more reliable -- and likely to avoid the bearing failures that have plagued some earlier drive owners.
More info on PC upgrades is available at PC Buyer's Guide's upgrades page.
For further reading:
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