Disk choice

Dave · Jan 8, 2004

After a recent hard drive failure I am in the market for a new disk. I
am currently running XP off my "data" disk, an IBM 80gig drive. System
is AMD XP2500+@32000, Abit AN7 MB, 512MB, XP home.

I would like to add a second drive to the machine since IBM drives
don't have the best reputation for reliability and I like to backup
documents onto a second disk just in case.

I have 3 basic options:

1. Large IDE drive such as "Western Digital Caviar 200GB Special
Edition 8MB Cache)" costing about 125UKpounds. The worry with this is
XP support for "large" (>128GB) drives when I need to reinstall the OS
since my version of XP CD is pre SP1.

2. Small IDE drive such as "Samsung SP1203N 120GB" for 70UKpounds.
Easy, cheap will stop me accumulating so much rubbish on my HD.

3. Buy a "Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB Serial ATA 10000RPM" for
95UKpounds. This will be fastest and to be honest will have all the
space I really need. It has a 5 year warranty so should be reliable
which is really important to me as my data is valuable to me. How easy
is it to get XP to install on a SATA drive. I got a floppy disk with
drivers but opted for no floppy drive on my new system. The abit
website has 2 versions of the drivers:

SiliconImage 3112A SATA Driver Released Date: 2003-12-11
Revision 1.0.0.28
For Windows 9x / Me / 2000 / XP
Note: The BIOS version should coincide with the proper driver version.
BIOS V4.2.1.2 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.2.0.0 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.1.5.0 => Driver v1.0.0.22

SiliconImage 3112A SATA Driver (Floppy) Released Date: 2003-12-11
Revision 1.0.0.28
For Windows 9x / Me / 2000 / XP

The floppy disk contains driver files that can be used to pre-install
the RAID driver during the F6 portion of WindowsXP setup.

Note: The BIOS version should coincide with the proper driver version.
BIOS V4.2.1.2 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.2.0.0 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.1.5.0 => Driver v1.0.0.22

Do I need a floppy to get this going or can I burn drivers to a cd??

Also I hear problems about delicate power connectors and incomplete
firmware with this drive any of these rumours true??

Thanks in advance.

Rod Speed · Jan 8, 2004

After a recent hard drive failure I am in the market for a new disk.
I am currently running XP off my "data" disk, an IBM 80gig drive.
System is AMD XP2500+@32000, Abit AN7 MB, 512MB, XP home.

I would like to add a second drive to the machine since
IBM drives don't have the best reputation for reliability and
I like to backup documents onto a second disk just in case.

I have 3 basic options:

1. Large IDE drive such as "Western Digital Caviar 200GB Special
Edition 8MB Cache)" costing about 125UKpounds. The worry with
this is XP support for "large" (>128GB) drives when I need to
reinstall the OS since my version of XP CD is pre SP1.

2. Small IDE drive such as "Samsung SP1203N 120GB" for 70UKpounds.
Easy, cheap will stop me accumulating so much rubbish on my HD.

3. Buy a "Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB Serial ATA 10000RPM"
for 95UKpounds. This will be fastest

Maybe. Plenty are rather disappointed with this drive.

and to be honest will have all the space I really need.
It has a 5 year warranty so should be reliable which
is really important to me as my data is valuable to me.

The warranty is completely irrelevant to how valuable
the data is. The data thats irreplaceable should be
backed up to CDs regardless of the hard drive used.

How easy is it to get XP to install on a SATA drive.

Easy enough, just put the drivers on the floppy and
tell XP to load them very early in the install when it
says to hit F6 if you want to load disk drivers.

I got a floppy disk with drivers but opted
for no floppy drive on my new system.

Costs peanuts to add one now.

The abit website has 2 versions of the drivers:

SiliconImage 3112A SATA Driver Released Date: 2003-12-11
Revision 1.0.0.28
For Windows 9x / Me / 2000 / XP
Note: The BIOS version should coincide with the proper driver version.
BIOS V4.2.1.2 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.2.0.0 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.1.5.0 => Driver v1.0.0.22

SiliconImage 3112A SATA Driver (Floppy) Released Date: 2003-12-11
Revision 1.0.0.28
For Windows 9x / Me / 2000 / XP

The floppy disk contains driver files that can be used to pre-install
the RAID driver during the F6 portion of WindowsXP setup.

Note: The BIOS version should coincide with the proper driver version.
BIOS V4.2.1.2 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.2.0.0 => Driver v1.0.0.28
BIOS V4.1.5.0 => Driver v1.0.0.22

Do I need a floppy to get this going

Not need, but it is the easiest approach.

or can I burn drivers to a cd??

Yes, but you can slipsteam SP1 to your XP CD if you
are prepared to go this route and get a big drive too.

Also I hear problems about delicate power connectors
and incomplete firmware with this drive any of these rumours true??

It is a relatively new drive design, so thats basically true.

I think its such lousy value that I wouldnt buy one myself.

Wayne Youngman · Jan 9, 2004

After a recent hard drive failure I am in the market for a new disk. I
am currently running XP off my "data" disk, an IBM 80gig drive. System
is AMD XP2500+@32000, Abit AN7 MB, 512MB, XP home.

I would like to add a second drive to the machine since IBM drives
don't have the best reputation for reliability and I like to backup
documents onto a second disk just in case.

Hi,
I am in a similar situation, however My old drive is still working fine,
just I have now too much data to fit onto it (25GB+). The prices on hard
disks are very good atm so I been considering my options. I do run a 240GB
SATA RAID-0 set-up as my system drive, works well, no problems with loose
cables or anything (Secure-Connect!), but I am not happy to leave my real
important data on RAID-0 so I am now considering RAID-1 as well.

Your mobo has a SATA (RAID-0/1) controller right? so it would be good to use
it. RAID-0 is pretty cool but it's benefits aren't that noticeable in
*everyday* use, it's more specialist, however RAID-1 has a more *broad*
appeal to any computer enthusiast, and it benefits would prove *useful* to
everyone.

If you wanted to get yourself the fastest disk experience (in day to day
use) then I would recommend the WD-Raptor 36GB (10,000rpm - 8MB) and connect
it to SATA 1, or if you are a rich bugger than 2 x Raptors set-up in RAID-0.
But I think you main concern is *Data Security* right?

1) Buy 2 x SATA HDDs and set them up as RAID-1, store all your DATA on this
(My Documents, etc) and then use your IBM connected to the IDE channel as
your *Boot/System* disk.

This idea involves spending some quids, but at the end of the day you will
sleep better knowing all your Data is safe from disk failure.

For me, as I already have bought and am using 2 x 120GB WD disks and set
them up on the SATA channel as RAID-0, I have now added a Promise ATA/100
RAID card to my 2nd PC with the intention of buying 2 x IDE disks and
setting them up as RAID-1.

Lol did you see the offer at Overclockers.co.uk this week?
www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_This_Week_Only_25.html

160GB IDE hard disk £76.38, lol that's a bargain, I'm just a bit wary of
MAXTOR
--
Wayne ][

Barton (AQXEA) XP2500+ @ 2.2GHz (10x220) - 1.75vCore
CoolerMaster Aero 7 Lite - 3,200rpm
ABIT NF7-S v2.0 (BIOS d20)
512MB Dual TwiSTER PC3500 @ DDR440 1:1 (9,3,3,2.0 - 2.7v)
Sapphire Atlantis 9800 - 3.3ns Samsung (325/290 Default)
WD-SE 240GB (2x120GB) SATA RAID-0 (NTFS - 16k Stripe)
Antec SX630II Mini-Tower Case Inc 300w PSU
2 x CoolerMaster 80mm Blue Neon Fans
WinXP PRO inc. SP1
nVidia Unified v3.13
Cat 3.7 - DX9.0b

Dave · Jan 9, 2004

1) Buy 2 x SATA HDDs and set them up as RAID-1, store all your DATA on this
(My Documents, etc) and then use your IBM connected to the IDE channel as
your *Boot/System* disk.

This idea involves spending some quids, but at the end of the day you will
sleep better knowing all your Data is safe from disk failure.

I agree with you here. I have decided to get a couple of SATA 160GB
drives and set them up as a RAID1 array. With this much space I'll use
them for a fresh OS install and all my data - found a useful guide
here which lets you install XP and serial ATA and motherboard drivers
etc. all from the XP install disk:
(http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8892)

I'll use my current 80GB drive to store music and movies - all of
which is replaceable. After all I know if I set up the IDE drive as C:
the wife and kid would save important stuff to it and I might forget
from time to time - safer to have C: as the redundant array.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Disk choice

Dave

Rod Speed

Wayne Youngman

Dave