This article on adding an extra hard drive is from the Walt Mossberg column of the WSJ, 6/15/00.
Adding a New Hard Drive
To Your PC Can Be Easy
By LEE GOMES
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"HARD DRIVES ARE LIKE the starter homes that young families buy. Before too long they've outgrown them and are looking for more space. The six gigabyte drive that once seemed unimaginably capacious is quickly filling up with MP3s and all. But like your first home, you might have grown attached to the whole system and just want to add on.
As luck would have it, it's easy to add a second hard drive to your computer. What's more, once it's installed, there's a neat trick to make it -- and the rest of your PC -- operate more quietly. An intermediate user equipped with a screwdriver and an hour or two of fiddling-around time ought to be able to get the job done.
Many Web sites sell drives. But if you're more comfortable shopping in retail stores, one leading drive maker, Maxtor, has the biggest presence there. Along with the drive itself, Maxtor also packs an easy to understand instruction sheet as well as other necessities, like mounting brackets.
Thanks to continuing improvements in disk-drive technology, prices are astonishingly low compared to even just a few months ago. For $300, you can buy a 60 gigabyte Maxtor drive, which can hold close to 1,500 CDs "ripped" into MP3s. And it keeps getting better: By early next year, the same $300 will get you more than 100 gigabytes of storage.
IN YOUR SHOPPING, you'll be confronted with the usual alphabet soup of technical acronyms. Buy the less-expensive IDE drive, not a SCSI one for higher-end performers, and ignore the many references you'll see to "ATA," since that involves a compatibility issue over which you have no control. You may have to decide between a 5,400 revolutions per minute drive and a faster-working 7,200 rpm or even 10,000 rpm drive. While more speed is always good, the 5,400 rpm model will be zippy enough for most people; it is also many times faster than what you'll need for MP3s. In terms of capacity, trust me, you'll end up disappointed if you don't get the biggest drive you can.
Most desktop PCs have an extra internal bay that will house the second drive. (The few exceptions include newer "legacy free" computers and similar specialized devices.) The flat, gray cable that you have connecting the drive to the motherboard probably has an empty socket to connect to your new drive.
There are a few things to watch once the cover of your PC is removed. Make sure the second drive is set up to be a "slave," or secondary, drive, as determined by the jumpers at the back of the unit, and make sure the data and power cables are plugged in properly.
The one curve ball you may face involves your computer's BIOS, a built-in configuration setting that might not be able to "see" a drive bigger than 8 gigabytes. To mend this, visit the Web site of your PC (or motherboard) maker and download, for free, the latest BIOS, along with the software you need to "flash" it. You may also need to change the start-up settings on your PC to have it look for both a "master" and "slave" drive whenever you turn it on.
When you're done, and have Windows up and running again, you'll have to format the new drive. With that done, the contents of your existing C drive will still be there, but you'll also see a new D drive you can start loading up with goodies. You'll also be able to transfer files between the two drives. When you finally upgrade to a new PC, you'll be able to take your second drive, and all its files, and pop it into your new machine.
THINGS ARE MUCH the same in the Macintosh world, at least if you own a G4 machine. The iMac, though, doesn't have room for a second internal drive, meaning you have to add one via the iMac's external connections, like USB or Fireware. Unfortunately, these drives are either more expensive, or slower, or both.
The downside to adding a second drive is that you double the volume of the high-pitched whine coming out of your PC. You may not notice it in your office, above the hum of the air conditioning and fluorescent lights, but at home, it can get annoying pretty fast. Newer PCs tend to run a lot quieter, but older machines sure make their presence known.
Meet the SilentDrive, a $35 box that encloses your drive and cuts much of its noise while also dissipating heat. It's made by Molex Inc., and is available online from New England Digital Computers, at www.nedcomp.com (nedcomp.com), or from www.quietpc.com (quietpc.com), a British site that ships internationally.
Molex says the drive will work with all inch-high 5,400 rpm drives, but cautions against using it with the hotter-running 7,200 rpm models. But Seagate, a drive maker, said it tested most of its 7,200 rpm models with the SilentDrive and had no problems.
As for results: I have a gaggle of hard drives in my home machine, owing to many work-related files. My PC could rouse my two cats sleeping three rooms away. With the SilentDrives installed, the drive noise was reduced to a gentle hum. There is still a whir from the CPU fan, but there is a product for that, too. More adventurous noise-sensitive owners may want to check into noise-abating power supplies and case fans.
With the right set-up, you will be able to quiet things down to the point where you will once again be able to hear yourself swear at your home computer." |
