Adding second hard drive questions

Can anyone give me fairly good explanation of what information I need to purchase and install a second hard drive? And where to look for the information too.. My hubby is looking to put a 250 GB in our Dell and I don't have a clue where to start. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00GHz
Processor Speed 1.95 GHz
Memory (RAM) 256 MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP 1
System Model: DIM4500
BIOS Version: Intel Corp. A03

 

I think the first question is, can you add a second hard drive to your system? Are you familar with the components inside of a pc?

 

What components do you mean? theres a lot of stuff in there..

 

Yes, you can. Here is Dell's page for adding hardware to your computer: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4500/replace.htm#1101572
Just click on 'Adding a second hard drive' at the top of the page.

 

Thank you! That's very helpful. Do you know where I can find the tough info I need like bios compatibility etc.. Is that an issue?

 

I really would like to know what information i need to take with me to the store to ensure I only have to make one trip. (living in the boonies sucks.. fyi) What do I need to give the geek at the store to make sure he brings me the right stuff?

 

here's a guide on installing a HDD:

http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/HardDrive_Prep.htm

 

With a harddrive I have never heard of one not being "incampatable". They are fairly generic. The major differences really are the speed (5400, 7200 rpm) and storage. (Few other things but I'm trying to make this quick ) You'll want the 7200 rpm speed and the storage is up to you. Then plug it in as the slave drive and boot you comp. You might have to format it (make sure its not your C drive!!!) but I believe you system should walk you through it or there might be a disk that comes with the drive. Please come back and ask if you are unsure at that point and someone will help you.

hope it helps
Destructo

 

I'm trying to find info on BIOS, if it will support a 250GB hard drive or if you need updates, ect.. You'll have to set the jumper on the hard drive to slave and plug it in as shown on Dell's site. Not much more than that. You can buy the HD at a store buy you can save alot with buying it at http://www.newegg.com/ . Their are a variety of brands to chose from, but I like Western Digital, But you need a 250GB IDE hard drive, that's what you'd ask the geek to get.

 

you guys ROCK.. thanks for your info! As far as buying it online, that was my suggestion too, but hubby is in a big hurry, so he's willing to shell out the extra cash for the convenience of instant gratification.

 

I found the info on the bios, their is an update available, but that's about all they list.
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...ceid=308&devlib=1&category=0&releaseid=R49392

 

This is a little off this topic, but how complicated is it to transfer information from an external hard drive to the new internal? He's starting a mobile karaoke/dj company and the music is all stored on an external hard drive belonging to our friend. He's going to use our desktop pc until he saves enough money to buy a laptop and then convert the internal hd we're installing to an external.. does that make sense?

 

Assuming the external HD is USB, just plug it into a USB port. It will appear as another drive listed in my computer, treat it just like any other drive, drag & drop, cut & paste, ect... Should be that simple.