Maximum HD Size for 700XL?

I appreciate both replies. I've been looking at the WD 320GB for $90.99
from NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144392

but I'll have to give the 500GB Maxtor some thought. The 160GB Seagate
looks like a great bargain (and I am in the U.S.) but it's not quite big
enough to effectively replace and upgrade my almost full 120GB.

Agree about the backup - that's why I have 2 external HD's (one onsite, one
offsite) which I update either daily, or weekly (respectively).

--
Don
Nature, Wildlife & Landscape Photography
http://www.dlcphoto.com



"Postman Delivers" wrote in message
...
PC-Tech explained :
If your in the US OfficeMax has good deals on drives. A few weeks ago
they had a 160 GB Segate for $59.00 no rebate instant saveings. The
Segates have 5 year warranty. I know warranty can't cover lost files.
thats why its good to backup.

Add a hundred to that and get a 500 GB Maxtor
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4551327

Or spend $75 for a 250 GB Seagate and free 3 day shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148111

Remember when hard drives cost more than an arm and a leg?

JR the postman

Hi Don,

Whatever HDD option you choose, I would update the BIOS anyway. I
purchased a 700XL in April 2002, (P4 2200MHZ, one of the last with
the white case) and have been using it for Digital Audio Production
(recording, mixing & mastering) for the last 4 and a half years
with STELLAR results, I have to say it's the highest quality, most
stable system I have ever used, along the way, I have considerably
upgraded this system, all my HDD's are 15K, Seagate Cheetah SCSI
drives. When I first replaced the main drive with a SCSI, I could not
boot until I updated the BIOS, the new BIOS does solve other issues as
well. These computers represent Gateway's finest, when they truly
stood head & shoulders above other PC makers.

All The Best, Jasper

"JRS2200" wrote in message

Hi Don,

Whatever HDD option you choose, I would update the BIOS anyway. I
purchased a 700XL in April 2002, (P4 2200MHZ, one of the last with
the white case) and have been using it for Digital Audio Production
(recording, mixing & mastering) for the last 4 and a half years
with STELLAR results, I have to say it's the highest quality, most
stable system I have ever used, along the way, I have considerably
upgraded this system, all my HDD's are 15K, Seagate Cheetah SCSI
drives. When I first replaced the main drive with a SCSI, I could not
boot until I updated the BIOS, the new BIOS does solve other issues as
well. These computers represent Gateway's finest, when they truly
stood head & shoulders above other PC makers.

I take it you never installed the latest greatest driver, firmware
and/or BIOS and things rather went downhill very quickly? As after you
get burned over and over again, you learn to become leery about fixing
things that ain't broke.

--
Bill

BillW50wrote:
"JRS2200" wrote in message

Hi Don,

Whatever HDD option you choose, I would update the BIOS anyway. I
purchased a 700XL in April 2002, (P4 2200MHZ, one of the last with
the white case) and have been using it for Digital Audio Production
(recording, mixing & mastering) for the last 4 and a half years
with STELLAR results, I have to say it's the highest quality, most
stable system I have ever used, along the way, I have considerably
upgraded this system, all my HDD's are 15K, Seagate Cheetah SCSI
drives. When I first replaced the main drive with a SCSI, I could
not
boot until I updated the BIOS, the new BIOS does solve other issues
as
well. These computers represent Gateway's finest, when they truly
stood head & shoulders above other PC makers.

I take it you never installed the latest greatest driver, firmware
and/or BIOS and things rather went downhill very quickly? As after you

get burned over and over again, you learn to become leery about fixing

things that ain't broke.

--
Bill[/quote:64a58a7bd4]


On the contrary Bill,

If you do extensive research, and wait to see how others fared
with "the latest and the greatest" , then pick and choose
carefully what to install before you dive in head first, (like I do)
things tend to work better, oh, they will occasionally go awry, but
it's up to the individual to make that choice. But I Find it
interesting how you were so quick to jump to the conclusion that I am
so naive about this, never the less, I stand firmly behind my
statement!


Cheers, Jasper

"JRS2200" wrote in message

BillW50wrote:
"JRS2200" wrote in message

Hi Don,

Whatever HDD option you choose, I would update the BIOS anyway.
I purchased a 700XL in April 2002, (P4 2200MHZ, one of the last
with the white case) and have been using it for Digital Audio
Production (recording, mixing & mastering) for the last 4 and a
half years with STELLAR results, I have to say it's the highest
quality, most stable system I have ever used, along the way, I
have considerably upgraded this system, all my HDD's are 15K,
Seagate Cheetah SCSI drives. When I first replaced the main
drive with a SCSI, I could not boot until I updated the BIOS,
the new BIOS does solve other issues as well. These computers
represent Gateway's finest, when they truly stood head &
shoulders above other PC makers.

I take it you never installed the latest greatest driver,
firmware and/or BIOS and things rather went downhill very
quickly? As after you get burned over and over again, you learn
to become leery about fixing things that ain't broke.

Bill[/quote:64a58a7bd4]

On the contrary Bill, If you do extensive research, and wait to
see how others fared with "the latest and the greatest" , then
pick and choose carefully what to install before you dive in
head first, (like I do) things tend to work better,

Extensive research gives one insight, but even the research can be very
wrong or misleading. As for the most trouble updates, I sometimes had to
use bits in pieces of different versions to get the computer running
right. And almost no research tells you anything about this at all for
example.

oh, they will occasionally go awry, but it's up to the
individual to make that choice. But I Find it interesting how
you were so quick to jump to the conclusion that I am so naive
about this, never the less, I stand firmly behind my statement!

You stand firmly about upgrading a BIOS (with no signs that you even
need too) and fully know the advice that you are giving someone may
leave their laptop totally useless? Not good!

--
Bill

Your last statement perfectly underscores my point regarding research!
A 700XL is a DESKTOP Bill, NOT, a laptop!!!!! Obviously You do not
own one, I, on the other hand DO, and the BIOS update helped my
system in multiple ways, yet caused no problems ! That's what I call
research!


Jasper,

P.S. Don, good luck & use your OWN judgement!

"JRS2200" wrote in message

Your last statement perfectly underscores my point regarding research!
A 700XL is a DESKTOP Bill, NOT, a laptop!!!!! Obviously You do not
own one, I, on the other hand DO, and the BIOS update helped my
system in multiple ways, yet caused no problems ! That's what I call
research!


Jasper,

P.S. Don, good luck & use your OWN judgement!

Same applies to a desktop. Why bicker over details which doesn't make a
hill of beans? This tactic is often called smoke and mirrors. Fixing
things that ain't broken will sometimes make things worse instead of
better. And that is the truth! And is fine advice to follow. And
supported by many experts as well.

--
Bill

BillW50 proclaimed:

"JRS2200" wrote in message


Your last statement perfectly underscores my point regarding research!
A 700XL is a DESKTOP Bill, NOT, a laptop!!!!! Obviously You do not
own one, I, on the other hand DO, and the BIOS update helped my
system in multiple ways, yet caused no problems ! That's what I call
research!


Jasper,

P.S. Don, good luck & use your OWN judgement!


Same applies to a desktop. Why bicker over details which doesn't make a
hill of beans? This tactic is often called smoke and mirrors. Fixing
things that ain't broken will sometimes make things worse instead of
better. And that is the truth! And is fine advice to follow. And
supported by many experts as well.

Perhaps. Frequently software/firmware updates introduce new "features"
as they cure the ones they were intended for. However, with over 30
years of both engineering and customer support at the very highest
levels of several rather remarkable companies, the overall quality of
any particular product tends to move upward in a curve rather similar to
a sloped sawtooth, with bigger drops as entirely new major updates are
released [or new product families] and minor droops with bigger patches.
Why bicker over the details? Perhaps because one poster is reasonably
familiar with the particular platform and upgrade and another is just
waving their hands in the air and making unsupportable claims.

My two cents: Rarely, rarely, rarely have I seen an OEM BIOS offer any
substantial improvement to features or add any features, whether maximum hard
disk supported or some other desirable item. Nearly all of the BIOS upgrades
correct defects and malfunctions found in the product. I've been at this game
of working a lot with motherboards and systems going back to the time when BIOS
chips were not even upgradable, because they were EEPROMs instead of flash
memory.

So, to do a BIOS upgrade or not?

1. Does the upgrade fix any problem which has been encountered and should be
avoided? If so, upgrade.
2. Is the user reasonably familiar with BIOS upgrade procedures, or able to
follow the instructions in a BIOS upgrade document very carefully? If so,
upgrade.
3. Is the weather outside bad, i.e. high winds, a hurricane, thunderstorm,
blizzard or similar? If so, hold off the upgrade, because you don't want to
lose electricity in the midst of an upgrade.
4. If the computer is a notebook, make sure that the AC adapter is plugged into
wall current.

Also note that many manufacturers provide extremely sketchy explanations of what
was fixed or added via a new BIOS version, so one may not know exactly why a
BIOS upgrade was released. As a rule, Intel documents BIOS upgrades for its
motherboards extremely well. IBM did so for the BIOSes in its branded
computers. Beyond these two, there is a steep falloff in quality and quantity
of documentation for a BIOS upgrade.

Finally, way back when in Pentium days, there were a couple of third-party
companies (Unicore in Massachusetts and the one in Oklahoma) who sold BIOS
upgrades that overcame shortcomings in the original BIOS.

And... if it ain't broke don't try to fix it... Ben Myers

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:58:30 -0700, Lon wrote:

BillW50 proclaimed:

"JRS2200" wrote in message


Your last statement perfectly underscores my point regarding research!
A 700XL is a DESKTOP Bill, NOT, a laptop!!!!! Obviously You do not
own one, I, on the other hand DO, and the BIOS update helped my
system in multiple ways, yet caused no problems ! That's what I call
research!


Jasper,

P.S. Don, good luck & use your OWN judgement!


Same applies to a desktop. Why bicker over details which doesn't make a
hill of beans? This tactic is often called smoke and mirrors. Fixing
things that ain't broken will sometimes make things worse instead of
better. And that is the truth! And is fine advice to follow. And
supported by many experts as well.

Perhaps. Frequently software/firmware updates introduce new "features"
as they cure the ones they were intended for. However, with over 30
years of both engineering and customer support at the very highest
levels of several rather remarkable companies, the overall quality of
any particular product tends to move upward in a curve rather similar to
a sloped sawtooth, with bigger drops as entirely new major updates are
released [or new product families] and minor droops with bigger patches.
Why bicker over the details? Perhaps because one poster is reasonably
familiar with the particular platform and upgrade and another is just
waving their hands in the air and making unsupportable claims.