New hard drive

I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A small
drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine.

I was thinking of an internal one, but will consider external also. Am I
limited by my configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get?
What do I need to look for?

Thanks, Dee

I'm starting to forget this stuff. For sure, the GP6-400 will handle up to
32GB. Whether it handles up to 132GB is what I do not recall.

The USB support on this box is 1.1, so an external USB drive would run slower
and it would need to have its own external power source. Or you could install a
USB 2.0 card and drivers to run at greater speeds with the USB 2.0 bus supplying
power to the drive.

Finally, Windows 98FE imposes a limit on drive partition sizes. Again, I
forget the exact number, but maybe 32GB?? ... Ben Myers

On 30 Apr 2005 09:51:51 -0400, Dee wrote:

I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A small
drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine.

I was thinking of an internal one, but will consider external also. Am I
limited by my configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get?
What do I need to look for?

Thanks, Dee

Dee wrote:
I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A small
drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine.

I was thinking of an internal one, but will consider external also. Am I
limited by my configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get?
What do I need to look for?

Thanks, Dee

That PC will take up to 120 GB hard drives. We have one at work
(running WinXP) and it has a 120 GB in it working just fine.

If you go with a large HD with Win98, this site could be useful.

http://www.hexff.com/w98_hd.php

Anything 120G or smaller from any manufacturer other than Maxtor will do
fine.

You do not want an external drive unless you have installed a USB 2.0
controller - the onboard USB 1.1 and therefore too slow to use with a
hard drive.



Dee wrote:
I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A small
drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine.

I was thinking of an internal one, but will consider external also. Am I
limited by my configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get?
What do I need to look for?

Thanks, Dee

Ed, why do you have a problem with Maxtor? I have 2 Maxtor drives in my
computer and they are the quietest and so far most reliable drives I've ever
had.
Plus I work for a company that supplies Maxtor, Seagate, WD and others with
suspension assemblies. Just interested in your opinion.

Jim


"Edward J. Neth" wrote in message
m...
Anything 120G or smaller from any manufacturer other than Maxtor will do
fine.

You do not want an external drive unless you have installed a USB 2.0
controller - the onboard USB 1.1 and therefore too slow to use with a hard
drive.



Dee wrote:
I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A
small drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine. I was thinking of an
internal one, but will consider external also. Am I limited by my
configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get? What do I need
to look for? Thanks, Dee

Poor relaibility? ... Ben Myers

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 20:23:19 -0500, "Jim" wrote:

Ed, why do you have a problem with Maxtor? I have 2 Maxtor drives in my
computer and they are the quietest and so far most reliable drives I've ever
had.
Plus I work for a company that supplies Maxtor, Seagate, WD and others with
suspension assemblies. Just interested in your opinion.

Jim


"Edward J. Neth" wrote in message
om...
Anything 120G or smaller from any manufacturer other than Maxtor will do
fine.

You do not want an external drive unless you have installed a USB 2.0
controller - the onboard USB 1.1 and therefore too slow to use with a hard
drive.



Dee wrote:
I have a GP6-400 with a Powerleap processor running Win 98 First Edition.
The hard drive is the original Western Digital 8.4-GB Ultra ATA/66. I'd
like to get another hard drive and transfer everything over to it. A
small drive (20 or 40 GB) would suit me fine. I was thinking of an
internal one, but will consider external also. Am I limited by my
configuration as to what type or size of drive I can get? What do I need
to look for? Thanks, Dee

Maxtor has been having major reliability issues of late. Dell actually
dropped the DiamondMax Plus 8 and 9 models because they were failing in
large numbers. The 160 and 250 G SATA and EIDE drives are also
horrendous in reliability - I've seen dozens of them fail now in newer
Dell systems.

The other issue is whether Maxtor will be around much longer. They were
forced to write off millions in funds committed to producing 2.5" drives
- that is a very, very bad sign that they were forced to drop plans to
enter what it one of the few major growth/profit markets in the industry.

This has happened to them before - Hyundai stepped in as a white knight
and salvaged them several years ago - but it doesn't look like that's
going to happen this time, and with Hitachi and Samsung having very deep
pockets, and Seagate and Western Digital executing their strategies so
well - it may just be Maxtor gets squeezed out this time.

Some of the newer Maxtor drives are turning out as bad as the Deskstars
that forced the last player to drop out of the market - IBM.


Jim wrote:
Ed, why do you have a problem with Maxtor? I have 2 Maxtor drives in my
computer and they are the quietest and so far most reliable drives I've ever
had.
Plus I work for a company that supplies Maxtor, Seagate, WD and others with
suspension assemblies. Just interested in your opinion.

Thanks for all the replies, guys!

Another question - I'm looking at the WD 40GB (WD400BBRTL) for $80 or maybe
the WD 80GB for $90. Would either of these drives work in a new computer
also?

Thanks again, Dee

The 40GB drive is way overpriced. Either would be fine in a newer computer,
too... Ben Myers

On 2 May 2005 09:04:40 -0400, Dee wrote:

Thanks for all the replies, guys!

Another question - I'm looking at the WD 40GB (WD400BBRTL) for $80 or maybe
the WD 80GB for $90. Would either of these drives work in a new computer
also?

Thanks again, Dee

Dee,
Check http://www.dealcatcher.com/ and
http://tomshardware.bizrate.com/buy/...cat_id--4.html

Office Max has a WD 160GB for $69.99 after rebate.
Best Buy has a Segate 120GB for $49.99 after rebate.

I picked up a WD 120GB last week from CompUSA for $40.00 for my old
Gateway and a Promise ultra133TX2 PCI to ATA Controller card from ebay
for $18.00. Note: the WD only had a 1 year warranty, while Segates have
a 5 year warranty.


The newer computers are using Serial-ATA HDDs, Im not sure if
ultra/133/100/66 ATA HDD's are backwards compatable in newer computers.
You could always go with a new Serial ATA HDD and a Promise Serial ATA
controler card for your older Gateway....

Brad


Dee wrote:
Thanks for all the replies, guys!

Another question - I'm looking at the WD 40GB (WD400BBRTL) for $80 or maybe
the WD 80GB for $90. Would either of these drives work in a new computer
also?

Thanks again, Dee