Old PC & 500 GB Hard Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carter
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Carter

Will a 500 GB EIDE hard drive (Maxtor Ultra-133) work in a Dell
OptiPlex GX110? I'm assuming the old BIOS may be unable to recognize
it.

TIA
 
Carter said:
Will a 500 GB EIDE hard drive (Maxtor Ultra-133) work in a Dell
OptiPlex GX110? I'm assuming the old BIOS may be unable to recognize
it.

TIA
Click to expand...

Yes. I strongly recommend a ultra133 IDE controller card to accomplish
this. I also suggest a BIOS upgrade from support.dell.com.

Is this a micro-desktop, or the full tower. the GX 110 ships in both
forms. If it's the Micro desktop, there may be issues in actually
installing a card.
 
Carter said:
Will a 500 GB EIDE hard drive (Maxtor Ultra-133) work in a Dell
OptiPlex GX110? I'm assuming the old BIOS may be unable to recognize
it.
Click to expand...

There's a utility at www.48bitlba.com that can tell you. If your BIOS
lacks 48-bit LBA support, you'll need either a software overlay or,
much better, a PCI card IDE controller.
 
It is a full tower and I do indeed have a ultra 133 controller in my
main desktop, so I'm straight. Thanks!

And thanks for that 48 bit proggie link.
 
DaveW said:
It will NOT be recognized by that older BIOS.
Click to expand...

Will too. Revilsion A08 and higher. (current is A09)

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...t=1&vercnt=7&formatcnt=2&libid=1&fileid=36985

<begin quote>

The following changes have been made to the A07 BIOS to create A08:

1. ESCD is cleared when asset tag PASS:xx/xx changes.

2. Added ability to turn the USB controller on and off in setup.

3. Updated selectable boot capability. When a device is removed
its place in the boot list is saved in case it is ever readded.

4. Updated some CPU microcodes.

5. Added BBS calling interface to SMBIOS.

6. During NVRAM updates the reset and power buttons are now disabled.

7. Added support for 48-bit LBA disk drives.

8. System now beeps when CTRL-ALT-F10, or F12 is pressed

9. Fixed a few potential Plug & Play configuration errors.

10. Added a fix to allow certain cards (PERC/3) to work properly.

11. IRQ 12 is now reserved.

<end quote>
 
thanks everyone...

now, will i get better performance by using the ATA/133 controller
card? cuz i'm assuming the connecting PCI bus may be too old too. I
just want to get the max transfer speed over the network/ethernet (10 -
12 MBps)
 
Carter said:
thanks everyone...

now, will i get better performance by using the ATA/133 controller
card? cuz i'm assuming the connecting PCI bus may be too old too. I
just want to get the max transfer speed over the network/ethernet (10 -
12 MBps)
Click to expand...

You will do MUCH better with a ultra 133 controller, those old dells
support only ultra 33.

Your ethernet speed is a different subject.

If you're on a 10Base network, that's the speed you're gonna get. I
seem to remember that the built in NIC is 100 base on these. But you
can put a 100base card in if you got one. But it the switching
equipment is only 10Base, there's no benefit to a 100 base. card.
 
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