Internal Hard Drive

OK i know i said last time i asked stupid questions in here was not going to do anything to my computer ever again, but i sorta changed my mind. Now the thing is this.

I have an external hard drive for all my music, pics etc and that is really good but i keep finding my main hard drive keeps getting clogged with games, porn, vids and photos (photos get backed up on the Ext HD). The trouble is i really want my back up files on the ext HD so i can keep them away from the PC in case of fire, theft or fuck up. So i was wondering can i add another hard drive inside the boxy thing and is it easy or should i just get another ext HD and run it like i am the other one? Also would that make the PC quicker with just essential stuff on my C drive and would i be able to move the "my Documents" stuff over?

Any help as always will be paid with reps and titties.

Adding another hard drive is a fairly simple process. Generally speaking, out of the box computers have a HDD connected via a cable with a second plug attached to add one more HDD along wth a mount to allow it. New HDD's usually will tell you if they come with the mounting hardware and in my experience I can't say I ever purchased one with out it. Further they usually give you a pretty good step by step on how to install it.

The new HDD will come with a software disk that you run to set it up on the computer and to allow formatting to your desired file system. Once the drive is configured and assigned a drive name it is simply a matter of drag and drop from the one drive to the other.

To move your "My Documents" folder to the new drive do this:

1.Click Start, and then point to My Documents.2.Right-click My Documents, and then click Properties.3.Click the Target tab.4.In the Target box, do one of the following:•Type the path to the folder location that you want, and then click OK. For example, D:\My Stuff.

If the folder does not exist, the Create Message dialog box is displayed. Click Yes to create the folder, and then click OK.

-or-•Click Move, click the folder in which to store your documents, and then click OK twice.

If you need to create a new folder, click Make New Folder. Type a name for the folder, and then click OK twice.5.In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents to the new location, or click No to leave your documents in the original location.

See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147 for more info.

As for your question on whether the computer will run quicker is two part. Generally the biggest factor in speeding up a computer without adding processor speed is to increase you main memory (RAM). As you use your computer it will pull files from the HDD to main memory to be used. The more memory you have the more it can store, and as such your computer speed improves. There is an upper limit to how much memory you can use however depending on the OS. I believe the maximum memory that XP can use is just under 4 Gig. anything over this will not be recognized by the operating system.

There is a speed decrease in file access times from the HDD as you load it up with files because it takes longer to find the info as it needs it. This is supposedly improved by defragging your HDD on a regular basis.

Hope this helped.

I would go for another external drive. Not that its hard to put in an internal drive but the price these days are about the same, and you dont have to hazzle with the opening of youre computer and this and that.

I have started to use external disks myself, and i find that very easy and simple.

When it comes to speed, an internal will be faster, but the external disks are also getting very fast these days so i will not call that a big issue.

And just to add to the point when it comes to RAM, the 32 bit OS can only handle 3 gb of ram. I have 4 gb myself, and it took a long time before I understood why I could only find 3 in both XP and Vista.... so its a well hidden secret that to really put in alot of RAM you need a 64 bit OS!

well it depends what ports you use.

usb will be slow, esata will be about just as fast as a internal.

I say get internal, should be cheaper, faster, and be less clutter.

The only two reasons to get external: dont have room for a other internal (or will void warranty) or you want to transport the HDD around.

stu,

Long time no hear from! My two cents. Internal HD's are not difficult to install and staybrights description is pretty good. But there are a few other considerations. The first would be the size of your power supply. How many watts is it? Its probably 350 or 400 watts so you shouldn't have any problems. But if its a 250 or 300 watt you could experience a few problems thus have to buy a larger power supply.

Second, is your current HD IDE or SATA? If its IDE you'll have to make sure one HD is the primary and the second is the slave. If its SATA, I don't think that matters anymore (but I could be wrong on that).

If you just got lost with that, probably best to get another external. What I would do though is build your own. I have a couple of Masscool cases with Seagate SATA drives inside. The first one you make will take you a little time but it really is simple. Should take you no more than about a half hour. It will take you longer to find the stuff and go get it.

Good luck!

Mindido makes some very good points, often neglected. If you really want speed consider a raid array, its not that complicated if you "wiki " or google it. If you do opt for external see if your mboard supports firewire and use that instead of usb and go for a drive speed of 7200rpm.

If ever you start using RAID, make sure to use empty HD's to start with. DO NOT USE HD's with data on them, you'll loose it. Because of Initialisation

Skin said:

Mindido makes some very good points, often neglected. If you really want speed consider a raid array, its not that complicated if you "wiki " or google it. If you do opt for external see if your mboard supports firewire and use that instead of usb and go for a drive speed of 7200rpm.

Click to expand...

Whats with the massive bump for just that comment?

Raid arrays can be bad. For one you need to purchase a good raid array hardware (hundreds of dollars) for only little bit improvement.

Sure they can save your ass (ex raid 5) if only one goes down.... but I have seen raid arrays go to the shits without any HDD errors. I have also seen a single HDD fail in raid 5 causing all data to be lost after it was not able to re-build the array (and this was on a business server with expensive hardware)

Yeah, in the case of RAID it's just better and easier for people who aren't familiar with it to just backup on an external.

I think Best Buy is going to have a 250GB external Western Digital somewhere around $100 this coming Sunday!

That might be a good option! lol