Buying new hard drive headache!

I've got to get a new hard drive for my pc and I'm more than a little bamboozled!
My pc is a hodge-podge machine, it was put together for a mate, it's not one of the main-stream fat-cat machines.
The internal stuff is as follows:

HARD DRIVE = 'HDS728040PLAT20'
MOTHERBOARD = 'INTEL D845 GBV'
PROCESSOR = 'INTEL(R) PENTIUM(R) 4 CPU 2.80 Ghz'

I've looked on HITACHI's site and checked out the DESKSTAR hard-drives and given myself a major league headache. They state that we need to be sure of system compatibility before ordering any given hard drive, oh yay me!!!!!!!!

I have no idea what-so-ever as to which hard drive is suitable for my pc, the hard drives they have that may be in my price range are as follows:

Model name Model number Capacity Interface Form factor

Deskstar T7K250-160 HDT722516DLAT80 160 GB ATA Ultra133 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-120 HDS722512VLAT20 120 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-120 HDS722512VLAT80 120 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-160 HDS722516VLAT20 160 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-160 HDS722516VLAT80 160 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-40 HDS722540VLAT20 40 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K250-80 HDS722580VLAT20 80 GB ATA Ultra100 3.5"
Deskstar 7K80-40 HDS728040PLAT20 40 GB ATA Ultra133 3.5"
Deskstar 7K80-80 HDS728080PLAT20 80 GB ATA Ultra133 3.5"

Can anyone guide me as to which may be more suitable for my pc, I'd really appreciate any help going, this is making my head hurt.
Thanks guys n gals, FF..........

 

Any of those HDDs will fit your machine. Even if your machine does not support ATA133, the drive will be backwards compatable. Your only decision is how large do you want it? I noticed that the HDDs you have listed range from 40 to 160 Gigs so you have a fairly good choice of sizes. I've always used Maxtor drives, so I'm not too familiar with the brand you chose. I've heard of them, but I just never used one so I can't attest to their reliability. Hope this helped, and good luck!

 

Thanx Stubby, the top hard drive stated there was input by error on my part.

I've just looked into the Maxtor drives but found that hurt my little brain too, so I've e-mailed their customer support, alas, they will take up to two business days to respond.

I also found this on amazon :
Maxtor DiamondMax Hard Disk Drive 300GB SATA 150 7200rpm 16mb Cache.
Do you think this will work on my system?

Thanx again Stubby, FF.......

 

Okay, SATA is a really good way to go. I just upgraded my HDD to a SATA drive recently and love it. However, if your motherboard does not support SATA, and you want to use an SATA drive, you will have to purchase a SATA PCI card for it to function in that mode. (SATA) Check your MB manual and see if SATA is supported. Wait a minute, I'll be right back!! Okay, I found your board and, unless I missed it, your board does not support SATA. Here's the link;
http://www.activewin.com/reviews/hardware/processors/intel/celeron18ghz/d845gbv.shtml

So, if want to go SATA, your only option is go for a SATA PCI card. Check out that site and see if you can find something I may have missed. Let me know.

 

Nice one Stubby, the budget is a tad on the thin side though, rest assured your advice is most welcomed.

To be an additional pain in the rear, can I feel safe in this HDD:

MAXTOR HD IDE 300GB UDMA133 7200RPM 16MB OEM...

I'm still scratching a very boggled head!

Many thanx for your kind help once again, FF......

 

For one thing, you are NOT a pain in the butt!!! Believe me, I've been there and done that, so I can understand your confusion!! As for the HDD you posted, yes I think that one will do you just fine. Even though I don't think your board will support UDMA 133, without a PCI card, the drive itself is backwards compatible and you should have no problems with it. Besides, the 'boost' you'd get between UDMA 100 and 133 is minute and probably wouldn't even notice a difference. So yeah, if you really need a 300gig HDD, I'd say go for it! I use a 100 gig Maxtor SATA HDD, and I can't even come close to filling it up!! But if you're into downloading videos and music and stuff like that, you'll be glad for all that space!! Good luck, my friend, and if you need anymore help, you know where we are!! And, again, you are NOT a pain in the butt!!

 

I regret my being so braindead in all this Stubby, none of this is making much sense to me, I'm sorry for my idiocy in this.
What does backward running mean?
I have a mental image of the HDD running in reverse or something weird like that!
What's this pci card thing all about, I'm guessing I'd need a specific one of those as well. This is only going to lead to even greater confusion on my part.
I know I'm being a BUB here, and I regret being so dim, but I'm still scratching my head so bad I fear I'll lose all my hair.
At the risk of being flamed for posting a link in the wrong manner, I'm posting a link to BIGPOCKETS. They're an excellent bunch of folk whom aide the small pockets in the world to feel like a bigpocket. They have quite a variety of HDD for sale, they're extremely well priced.
Should you have the time at any point, I wonder if you'd consider taking a peek and letting me know which HDD would best suit my computer without the need for additional bits n pieces.
The LINK:
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/cat.php?search=Hard+Drive+IDE&lang=&session=9986e4b493d14ad01caf8dbf7b3d9fc3
The HD capacity is not really the issue, I'm looking for anything between 80 & 300Gb, I'm confused by which type of drive I need to look into.
I hope I'm not being too much of a nuisance, please don't feel obliged to help me any further, I'll completely understand if I'm being too much of a nuisance, just tell me to naff off and I'll pipe down.
Thanx for all your time and help, I'm incredibly grateful Stubby, FF......

 

There are a few types of drive connections.

IDE which has been standard for a long time, and still is with CD, and DVD-ROM's and the like.

SATA is the new super connection, and is supposed to be much faster, but I've never experienced it, so I can't say anything.

SCSI, is both old, and newer, though the difference is not easy to explain.

100Mhz, and 133Mhz are the bandwith of the drive. The speed at which it's communicating with the Motherboard. If the Motherboard can only communicate at 100Mhz, and the drive can talk at 133, it'll limit itself to 100 which is what the mobo can hear at.

Did I get that right?

 

BigPockets.co.uk: WD HD IDE 80GB UDMA 100 7200RPM 8MB OEM £40.53 - Blank Media - Gadgets - Ink Cartridges - Free Delivery
The only thin about their Oem drives they have for sell is that they show no warranty on them. I know here in the States oem drives come with some kind of warranty. An oem drive is just a bare drive with less of a warranty usually sold to big pc manufactures (Original Equipment Maufacture) is what it stands for. Now me being a overally cautious person on hard drives I buy retail hard drives. I have bought Oem pc parts before but on hard drives I go retail. Here are some that have warranties.BigPockets.co.uk: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 160Gb IDE Hard Drive £57.56 - Blank Media - Gadgets - Ink Cartridges - Free
Delivery
BigPockets.co.uk: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 300Gb IDE Hard Drive £96.95 - Blank Media - Gadgets - Ink Cartridges - Free Delivery

What you want to look for is what speed the drive is you would want one that is 7200 RPM and has a buffer size of atleast 8MB, you could go for 16MB and as stubby said ata 100 or 133 and has an EIDE connection because your motherboard does not have an sata connection,

 

Fleeingfox, I think I need to make something clear to you. Major Geeks is here to help people with their PC problems and in NO way do I, or any of the other people here, feel that are being a pain in the butt!! EVERYONE has to start somewhere and, fortunately, in my opinion, you picked the BEST place to start...MG! So, no more 'pain in the butt' talk and let's get you up and running, okay?!
Jamcgriff is right about OEM HDDs. They come with little, or no, warranty and no cable or instruction book. Personally, I'd rather see you go for a retail HDD for a few dollars more. Here's some HDDs I found at that site that would suit you quite well;
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product...3583&session=9986e4b493d14ad01caf8dbf7b3d9fc3

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product...1015&session=9986e4b493d14ad01caf8dbf7b3d9fc3

From what I could make out, both these HDDs are retail versions and either one would be a good choice. BTW Triaxx2, you DID get it right Most of the HDDs on that site are OEM and, like I said, I think the 2 I gave links to are retail. If not, no big deal, we can work around that!!
As for the PCI card, no you don't need one UNLESS you want to go SATA, which I'm sure you don't right now. Since your MB does not support SATA, you'd need a SATA PCI card and instead of plugging your SATA HDD into the MB, you'd plug it into the SATA PCI card.
I just hope I didn't confuse you more with that PCI stuff, but that's not something we need to get into right now.
Let me know what you think of those 2 drives, either of which would work perfectly with your machine. Remember, if you need anymore help, you know where to find us. Oh, one last thing, I don't feel obligated to help you....I WANT to help because I know how it feels to get lost in this crazy world of computers!! The truth be known, I'm still lost!! LOL!!!

 

You guys are amazing, I keep singing this sites praises all over the place but I'm still not doing you folk any justice, YET!
It's heartening to find somewhere on the net where folk aren't waiting to gun ya down for the tiniest of err's n boobies, not to mention for not knowing absolutely everything about everything, that's me alright, err's n empty of head when it comes to pc's.
Okay, I'm starting to babble there, screeeeechin to a halt!

I'm still not all that sure about those ata133 jobbies, I think I've got this far in grasping them, the ata runs at 133 norm', but with IDE it runs at 100, this seems like wasted technology to my feeble head! It also seems to me that I would gain more advantage from piling my meager funds into a product I would get 100% performance from, I could be miles off of course!

To me, the IDE would seem to be the way forward for me there, I imagine I should opt for the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 200Gb IDE Hard Drive. I'm an account holder with bigpockets, so I shall e-mail them about this HDD, I'm still not totally sure of my choice here, the oem and retail bit is still buzzing my head more than a little.
Once I've got a response from those guys I'll get back to you guys here, fingers crossed eh!
Thanx folk, you're all a super bunch of people, I don't know what I would have done without you, okay, getting a little soppy there, I'm outta here for now.
Take care folk, Warmest regards, FF..........

 

Okay, it would seem that all the drives on BigPockets are OEM drives, but they say they have a full warranty, not sure that matters if it's not a proper retail HDD.
Does it make a huge difference it not being a retail HDD, how does an OEM drive differ from a retail HDD.
I know you guys are from the US so asking for advice on a reputable retailer of retail HDD is not going to make any sense.
I'm so stressed with this whole situation, I had no idea buying a replacement HDD could possibly be so complicated.

 

The ONLY difference between a retail HDD and an OEM HDD is that the OEM does not come with a box, cable, or manual. Other than that they ARE the same HDD!! And, usually, the OEMs are a few bucks cheaper. As for the warranty, well that's a good thing to have just in case the drive goes South on you after a few months, or so. You said they told you that they all had full warranties, well then they need to change a few things because most all the drives I saw at that site said no warranty.
Actually, buying a HDD isn't really that complicated, but you seem to be stressing out over things that don't even matter. Just sit down, take a deep breath, have a cup of tea and relax alittle. At the rate you're going, you're going to have a nervous breakdown before the weeks end!!
Personally, I feel that we have given you good, sound advice so now the ball is in your court. Let us know what you decide, okay? You know where we are!!