Deskpro EP hard disk replacement

"Pat" schreef in bericht
news:M%__c.118319$9d6.59675@attbi_s54...
Is there anyway I can tell (say, by looking at the bios name) how large I
could go?

Also, there are quite a few different drive manufacturers (Western
Digital,
Seagate, Quantum, Maxtor, Samsung, etc.). Any recommendations on who's
better (or who to avoid)?

Thanks again. -Pat
I can not reply to your initial message, for some reason it is not on my
ISP's server. I have read the other replies with your initial message quoted

First some info about my system. I think it resembles yours.
I have a compaq EP/EB series, 300 MHz celeron, original biosdate 25 of july
1998, updated by me to 18 august 1999, rom-family 686T1, systemboardrevision
01. All this info is in the bios info-screen.The pc had a 4.3 gig western
digital hd.

I replaced the hd with a 120 gig western digital hd, _without_ using
disktools or overlays. The bios _dislays_ it as 120 minus 64 = 56 gig, but
the hd is _handled_ as 120 gig!
(Please ignore my reply of sept 6th, where I made an incorrect statement
about this, if all went OK the message of sept 6th has been cancelled)

Use microsofts new fdisk to avoid confusion.
Maybe fdisk'íng the hd is only succesfull as primary master, I don't
remember. In that case: prepare a bootfloppy which has also the
fdisk-program on it. But after installation the drive works fine as
prim-master, prim-slave, sec-master. sec-slave.

Grtz,

TR

Uh, uh. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a drive manufacturer to keep tabs
on the BIOS hard drive limits for perhaps thousands of different BIOSes. A
drive manufacturer may have anecdotal information about a specific BIOS, but
nothing comprehensive. A drive manufacturer will also tell you that you can
always use their drive overlay software, which fakes out the Windows operating
system regarding hard drive geometry and makes extremely difficult the recovery
of data from the hard drive in the event of some major problem. (I had a
client's system here last week with drive overlay software, and getting the data
off of the failing drive was as much fun as a root canal.)

If the original poster buys a 40GB or larger hard drive and finds that the HPaq
BIOS won't accept it, the best option is then to buy and install a 3rd party
ATA/IDE controller with its own BIOS to overcome the original BIOS limitations.

... Ben Myers

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:56:31 -0400, "Howard Kaikow" wrote:

Best way to confirm is to call the tech support for the drive manufacturer.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"Pat" wrote in message
news:gX7%c.14352$vy.10821@attbi_s52...
I don't mind buying something new. I just wasn't sure if a new drive
would
work in my old computer. But based on the responses I've received, I'm
starting to think it will as long as the capacity isn't too large.

Thanks for the response. -Pat



"Howard Kaikow" wrote in message
...
Don't buy a hard drive on ebay.
You have no way of knowing the condition of the drive and you get no
warranty.

Check for best prices at www.pricegrabber.com.
Good prices usually at www.provantage.com, www.buy.com, etc.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"Pat" wrote in message
news:TTR_c.113477$9d6.20992@attbi_s54...
The hard disk on my DeskPro EP (300Mhz Celeron) died and I would like
to
replace it. I'll probably look for something off of eBay, but I'm not
sure
what to look for in terms of specs. The original drive was 4.3GB,
although
I wouldn't mind something larger. Would any 4.3 GB drive work? Could
I
put
in a larger size without any problems? Any advice would be greatly
appreciated (this is my first time through this).

Thanks for the help. -Pat

I have been reading carefully this thread, as I have a similar
problem. I posted it before, but here it goes again. Please give me
your comments, namelly in item n# 1.

I have a 5wv235 (serial # 8047FPP410C9 )Presario 700 MHz AMD Duron,
with the original
10GB Hard Drive. I updated recently to windows XP- SP1 ( the original
operating system was windows ME not sure. Never upgraded the
BIOS because apparently no-one is available for windows XP. Current
Bios date: 10/12/00. I would like to add another Hard Drive.
1- What is the biggest capacity Hard Disk I can put in this computer?
Which disks should I avoid?
2- Are there any software updates I must do before adding that new
Hard Disk?
The Compaq/HP site has none BIOS upgrade to windows XP, but I found
BIOS upgrades to windows ME and 2000 that are more recent than the
one I have. Should I upgrade using these?

Thaks in advance
Vuela


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message ...
Uh, uh. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a drive manufacturer to keep tabs
on the BIOS hard drive limits for perhaps thousands of different BIOSes. A
drive manufacturer may have anecdotal information about a specific BIOS, but
nothing comprehensive. A drive manufacturer will also tell you that you can
always use their drive overlay software, which fakes out the Windows operating
system regarding hard drive geometry and makes extremely difficult the recovery
of data from the hard drive in the event of some major problem. (I had a
client's system here last week with drive overlay software, and getting the data
off of the failing drive was as much fun as a root canal.)

If the original poster buys a 40GB or larger hard drive and finds that the HPaq
BIOS won't accept it, the best option is then to buy and install a 3rd party
ATA/IDE controller with its own BIOS to overcome the original BIOS limitations.

... Ben Myers

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:56:31 -0400, "Howard Kaikow" wrote:

Best way to confirm is to call the tech support for the drive manufacturer.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"Pat" wrote in message
news:gX7%c.14352$vy.10821@attbi_s52...
I don't mind buying something new. I just wasn't sure if a new drive
would
work in my old computer. But based on the responses I've received, I'm
starting to think it will as long as the capacity isn't too large.

Thanks for the response. -Pat



"Howard Kaikow" wrote in message
...
Don't buy a hard drive on ebay.
You have no way of knowing the condition of the drive and you get no
warranty.

Check for best prices at www.pricegrabber.com.
Good prices usually at www.provantage.com, www.buy.com, etc.

--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.
"Pat" wrote in message
news:TTR_c.113477$9d6.20992@attbi_s54...
The hard disk on my DeskPro EP (300Mhz Celeron) died and I would like
to
replace it. I'll probably look for something off of eBay, but I'm not
sure
what to look for in terms of specs. The original drive was 4.3GB,
although
I wouldn't mind something larger. Would any 4.3 GB drive work? Could
I
put
in a larger size without any problems? Any advice would be greatly
appreciated (this is my first time through this).

Thanks for the help. -Pat