WD 160Gb Drive

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John McGaw

bwesley7 said:
I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD 160Gb
7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being cleared
out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed in
an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?

Thanks,

Bart
Click to expand...
My only question would be whether your hardware would be capable of seeing
the whole drive -- doing so would require support in the BIOS as well as an
OS with 48-bit LBA support. Other than that it sounds like a great deal to
me.
 
My only question would be whether your hardware would be capable of
seeing the whole drive -- doing so would require support in the BIOS
as well as an OS with 48-bit LBA support. Other than that it sounds
like a great deal to me.
Click to expand...

You also will need WinXP SP1 to recognize drives over 137 gigs.

Tom
 
I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD 160Gb
7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being cleared
out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed in
an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?

Thanks,

Bart
 
Hmmm... I think that's a killer, since the system in question runs Win98,
and I have no interest in upgrading that.

Thanks,

Bart
 
bwesley7 said:
Hmmm... I think that's a killer, since the system in question runs Win98,
and I have no interest in upgrading that.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you should buy a 120Gb drive instead.

Also, the main killer of hard-drives is temperature,
especially 7200rpm drives. If you don't have good
cooling in the case, go with a 5400rpm drive. Almost as
fast, but runs a good bit quieter and cooler.
 
bwesley7 said:
Hmmm... I think that's a killer, since the system in question runs
Win98, and I have no interest in upgrading that.

Thanks,

Bart
Click to expand...


If you must use Windows 98, buy a hard drive of 120GB or smaller. Only
Windows XP SP1, Windows 2003 Server, and Windows 2000 SP3 support hard
drives larger than 137GB.
 
Hmmm... I think that's a killer, since the system in question runs Win98,
and I have no interest in upgrading that.

Thanks,
Click to expand...


The limit other than the hardware BIOS is a software issue with
Win98.You can partition the 160 gig drive into partitions less than
137 or use the updated Fdisk,
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mrscary/fdisk.htm
Not sure if this defeats the 137 gig barrier
If your BIOS does not support the new size you can buy a PCI add-on
controller card that will.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+ATA+133+pci+controller+card
or,
http://tinyurl.com/22jfj
HTH :)


Bart
Click to expand...



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: I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
: drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD 160Gb
: 7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
: I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being cleared
: out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed in
: an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?
:
: Thanks,
:
: Bart
:
:
:

Sounds great but is it an 8meg buffer? That doesn't make a difference
if you are using it for storage anyway. But some applications it does,
which I'm not sure, maybe playing back video files.
 
: : > I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
: > drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD
160Gb
: > 7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
: > I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being
cleared
: > out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed
in
: > an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?
: >
: > Thanks,
: >
: > Bart
: >
: My only question would be whether your hardware would be capable of seeing
: the whole drive -- doing so would require support in the BIOS as well as
an
: OS with 48-bit LBA support. Other than that it sounds like a great deal to
: me.
: --
: John McGaw
: [Knoxville, TN, USA]
: http://johnmcgaw.com
:
:

Aren't there overlay programs? And can't he partition the drive into
useable size?
 
: Hmmm... I think that's a killer, since the system in question runs Win98,
: and I have no interest in upgrading that.
:
: Thanks,
:
: Bart
:
: : > : >
: > > : > >> I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention
: > >> was drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a
: > >> WD 160Gb 7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100
: > >> mail-in rebate). I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model
: > >> that is being cleared out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back
: > >> since it would be installed in an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of
: > >> problems with this drive?
: > >>
: > >> Thanks,
: > >>
: > >> Bart
: > >>
: > > My only question would be whether your hardware would be capable of
: > > seeing the whole drive -- doing so would require support in the BIOS
: > > as well as an OS with 48-bit LBA support. Other than that it sounds
: > > like a great deal to me.
: >
: > You also will need WinXP SP1 to recognize drives over 137 gigs.
: >
: > Tom
:
:

Can't you partition the drive into two smaller sizes useable by 98?
You should think about XP though. It is quite a bit better than 98
or ME. I've been using Windows since 3.1 and XP is something,
almost as good as the Apple OS from 5 years ago.
 
My only question would be whether your hardware would be capable of seeing
the whole drive -- doing so would require support in the BIOS as well as an
OS with 48-bit LBA support. Other than that it sounds like a great deal to
me.
Click to expand...

Which OS(s) are supporting 48-bit LBA?
 
bwesley7 said:
I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD 160Gb
7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being cleared
out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed in
an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?
Click to expand...


Keep shopping because any rebates advertised by Comp(?)USA are usually very
difficult to get in the stated time frame.

That $100 rebate is actually 2 rebates ($30 and $70) so double the paperwork
and maybe double the trouble.

If you decide to get the drive ensure you make COPIES of everything you send
to the rebate processing company (Parago, in this case).

Good luck.


--
callsignviper


The truth is out there. You just have to look in the right places and ask
the right questions.
 
I've been planning to replace an aging 20Gb Maxtor, so my attention was
drawn by an ad in our morning paper where the local CompUSA has a WD 160Gb
7200 rpm drive for net $60 ( $180 - $20 discount - $100 mail-in rebate).
I'm assuming that this is probably last-year's model that is being cleared
out, but that's not necessarily a draw-back since it would be installed in
an old 800MHz system. Anybody know of problems with this drive?

Thanks,

Bart
Click to expand...

It's the latest drive. I bought the 200G Seagate from them for net $99
($199 - $30 instant rebate - $70 mail in rebate). I've also see them
selling SATA drives with similar deals. Best Buy has been doing the same
thing, bought a $120G WD from them for net $60 (that involved two
different mail in rebates that had to be sent to two different addresses).
If you actually submit the rebate forms this is the cheapest way to buy a
drive, it might even be below cost. They are making their profit from
people who don't send in the rebate forms, that's why they make it so
inconveinient.
 
If you upgrade to Linux you won't have any problems seeing the whole
drive. If you really want to stay with Win98 then you'll need a Promise
controller, you can find one on the web for $20, it will cost you $50 at
CompUSA. A Promise Ultra 100 or 133 supports 48 bit addressing even in
Windoze systems.
 
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