Need Hard Drive Size Advice

J

JohnGo

New Member
The hard drive has failed and I am about to replace the original HD (40gb eide) in my friends's hp a210e tower (w/2gb ram).

I find that I can buy a new 80gb hd for about the same price as a new 40gb. Could someone tell me if doubling the hd capacity would overload or harm any components in any way or have any detrimental effects on the computer?

Thank You for your help!
 
You are talking about Hard Drives right?

By replacing the hard drive, it doesn't harm or affect any components on the computer. It simply just let you add more storage space. As for hard drive, what are you looking for; HDD or SSD?
 
Assuming you're using NTFS (or something similar), HDD Size is not something that can "overload" the rest of the computer.
However, the "interface" is important.
The mainstream interface now, is SATA. If your friend was using a 40GB HDD, chances are he is using a very old computer which doesn't support the SATA interface.
Carry the old HDD along when you go shopping for a new, and make sure the new drive has the same interface as the old.
And 40/80 GB for a HDD is no longer the standard, even for the lowest end PCs. The minimum you should go for, is 160GB/ 320GB.
Like the previous post said, if it's an SSD (solid state, no moving disks), the standard capacity would generally be lesser than a HDD (because of higher price per GB). But even then 40GB/ 80 GB should not be something you want to purchase. The minimum should be 160GB.
 
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It is NTSF and an old type IDE Hard drive. It's a 2003 system but it suits his needs quite well. His only uses it for email, write a few invoices, and maybe surf a little bit.

Another concern I had was that his old HD is 5/8" thick and the replacements are usually 1" thick. I have fitted a disabled 1" thick HD in the hole but there seems to be enough space.

I thank you for both replies. I can take that information and get him going.
 
Thanks for your reply and the information you provided. I received a 120gb replacement HD yesterday and will install it soon.

Last week I loaded up and installed a 40gb HD for him to operate on temporarily. Since it has just about all his software and programs on it, I am thinking about attempting a clone. Do I put the new HD in the slave position on the computer to clone? I have a Belkin easy transfer cable (but no software) but it has USB plugs on each end, Seems like it would be for tranfer from computer to computer. Also it says "for Windows Vista". I am working with WinXP pro.
 
yes, be sure the 2nd drive has the jumper on the slave position. you will need cloning software to clone the drive to the new drive. you cant just copy the files from one drive to another and expect windows to boot. after using "cloning software", you will then need to remove the 40 gig master hard drive, switch the new drive which is in "slave" mode, over to "master". power up, and you should be good to go.
 
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