Which hard drive?

A

alfonzo

New Member
Alright,

I am trying to purchase a hard drive for an old Windows NT System that will be replacing the old one.

I am trying to find just a standard IDE hard drive but I cannot find one that doesn't have either Ultra-ATA, EIDE or some other newer invention.

1st of all I really don't know what the differences are, except I now about the serial ATA's, and that won't work.

How could I tell by just looking at a hard drive whether it is a IDE or something else?

Also, where is a good place to buy computer parts from?

Lastly, would an EIDE hard drive work in a machine running an IDE hard drive, if that was the case?

Thanks alot
 
P

PC eye

banned
EIDE and IDE are the exact same thing for the most part. If the system is too old however you may not be seeing the now standard two drive cable but the old 3 drive type. Since you are not familiar with the typical ide drive an installation guide with photos will show just how an ide drive looks. http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm

In the guide there you can see the large difference of plugging the standard grey colored flat ribbon 40pin/80conductor type connector seen on the end or middle where the drive's jumper is set to master, slave, or even cable select according to which connector is used. Sata drives simply see the thin wide 15pin plug for power and the 7pin plug on the data cable like seen in the photos here.





The typical 4wire molex type used for optical drives plugs into ide hard drives as well.



The standard ATA 100/133 flat ribbon cable can seen in the photo in the article on configuration and cabling of ide drives. http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/conf_Cable.htm
 
A

alfonzo

New Member
thanks alot, just to be sure.

If my hard drive connectors look like the hard drive in your first link, then I have an IDE/EIDE connector and a ATA 100 ribbon connector.
 
P

PC eye

banned
You'll know just by seeing the much wider opening with two long rows of pins over what you would see typically seen on a sata drive. You can't miss the difference for the data cable.

One thing to note that Sata I type drives also saw use of a four pin molex plug for power like your typical cd or dvd drive as well as the 15pin flat standard for the Sata II type now commonly used. When buying a new board retail you will still find the flat ribbon type ide data cable tossed in along with the thinner red colored for sata.

There are also round instead of flat cables for ide drives some being crap while some are high quality and will last longer then your new build. Antec typically known for supplies sold in retail stores along with seeing their own line of pc cases also sees a high quality dual nylon wrapped plaid or UV while round cable.

Note the shipping costs $14.95 with the suggested retail price being the same while some places carry them for $9.99. For one optical still being ide and slaving an ide HD in for data recovery I found that one out when ordering 4 online for this and maybe the next build. You can see what they look like at http://www.dvhardware.net/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=31
 
A

alfonzo

New Member
I am going to be getting a new drive for a Windows NT system.

Will how can I find out whether the mobo is an ATA/33, ATA/66 or an ATA/100?
Also, if I got a more advanced hard drive, would it affect the machine at all in the long run?
 
P

PC eye

banned
EIDE drives out now will simply drop right in on an older system. The one problem you are likely to come across however is a limited bios not being able to see the newer larger capacity drives now available.

Being that the OS is Windows NT 3.1 or 4.0? that sounds like you may either need a bios bypass overlay which means you can't simply reformat the drive without reinstalling that again first or enabling the LBA(Logical Block Addressing) option in the bios itself.

The ATA 33/66/100/133 standard mainly applies to ide not sata drives. With either the option for a separate addon controller card if the board is too old like a decade or so. Each drive manufacturer will have an installation guide either included with the drive if bought retail or simply by visiting their support site.

One example of this is for installing a drive made by Western Digital with the online guide for the sata type in pdf format where you will likely need to install adobe reader when prompted if not already on there. http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2079-001042.pdf

For WD ide drives review the guide for that at http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001001.pdf Pay attention to page #12 if the drive you end up going with isn't seen by the bios provided you end up with an ide model. Seagate or another brand will have their own guides to follow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top