Dell Inspiron 6000 HD replacement
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From: ron on 23 Nov 2009 17:21 I need to upsize my 40G existing HD and have two questions: 1) Will I be able to use all of a 250G or 320G drive. I'm running XP. 2) Any recommendations on drives? I'm looking at WD but see on Newegg and Amazon sites that many people are having problems with the WD 250G dying on them.
From: BillW50 on 23 Nov 2009 18:39 In news:7a961538-0409-42bb-b678-0348a6cd6441(a)o9g2000vbj.googlegroups.com, ron typed on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:21:57 -0800 (PST): > I need to upsize my 40G existing HD and have two questions: 1) Will > I be able to use all of a 250G or 320G drive. I'm running XP. 2) > Any recommendations on drives? I'm looking at WD but see on Newegg > and Amazon sites that many people are having problems with the WD 250G > dying on them. Well that laptop should be new enough to be okay. But I can't swear to it. And sometimes you need the latest BIOS update (which is something that can go wrong for a few and your computer ends up as toast). Does that laptop have SP2 or SP3? As it might need it to support the larger drive. I am not sure, maybe SP1 supports the larger drives too. I have had good luck with all manufactures of 2.5 inch drives for 160GB and under. And thanks about the tip about WD 250GB HD. I didn't know about this. As I am happy with their 120GB and 160GB drives though. And I have three of them (one 120GB and two 160GB). -- Bill Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2
From: Barry Watzman on 23 Nov 2009 23:18 You didn't say if it was IDE or SATA. You can probably use any drive, but if it's IDE, there is a VERY SLIGHT chance of a 120GB limit. My preference for laptop drives is Hitachi first, and after that anyone EXCEPT Toshiba. ron wrote: > I need to upsize my 40G existing HD and have two questions: 1) Will > I be able to use all of a 250G or 320G drive. I'm running XP. 2) > Any recommendations on drives? I'm looking at WD but see on Newegg > and Amazon sites that many people are having problems with the WD 250G > dying on them.
From: Barry Watzman on 23 Nov 2009 23:22 If it's a SATA drive (he didn't say), there are no limits. Re: "Does that laptop have SP2 or SP3? As it might need it to support the larger drive. I am not sure, maybe SP1 supports the larger drives too." The issue here is 48-bit LBA support (required for any drive larger than 120GB). Original XP did not have it, period. XP SP1 did not have it ENABLED, but had the code; it could be enabled with a registry patch. XP SP 2 and later have it enabled by default. Note that the entire issues only applies if you are using an IDE drive with the "real" IDE ports on the motherboard. For example, on a machine that DOES NOT support 48-bit LBA, you can take a 250GB IDE drive and connect it via an IDE to USB converter, and it can be used just fine (even for booting, with a single 250GB partition, if the BIOS supports USB drives for booting). BillW50 wrote: > In > news:7a961538-0409-42bb-b678-0348a6cd6441(a)o9g2000vbj.googlegroups.com, > ron typed on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:21:57 -0800 (PST): >> I need to upsize my 40G existing HD and have two questions: 1) Will >> I be able to use all of a 250G or 320G drive. I'm running XP. 2) >> Any recommendations on drives? I'm looking at WD but see on Newegg >> and Amazon sites that many people are having problems with the WD 250G >> dying on them. > > Well that laptop should be new enough to be okay. But I can't swear to > it. And sometimes you need the latest BIOS update (which is something > that can go wrong for a few and your computer ends up as toast). Does > that laptop have SP2 or SP3? As it might need it to support the larger > drive. I am not sure, maybe SP1 supports the larger drives too. > > I have had good luck with all manufactures of 2.5 inch drives for 160GB > and under. And thanks about the tip about WD 250GB HD. I didn't know > about this. As I am happy with their 120GB and 160GB drives though. And > I have three of them (one 120GB and two 160GB). >
From: notwobe on 24 Nov 2009 02:00
Barry Watzman wrote: > If it's a SATA drive (he didn't say), there are no limits. > > Re: "Does that laptop have SP2 or SP3? As it might need it to support > the larger drive. I am not sure, maybe SP1 supports the larger drives too." > > The issue here is 48-bit LBA support (required for any drive larger than > 120GB). > > Original XP did not have it, period. > > XP SP1 did not have it ENABLED, but had the code; it could be enabled > with a registry patch. > > XP SP 2 and later have it enabled by default. > > Note that the entire issues only applies if you are using an IDE drive > with the "real" IDE ports on the motherboard. For example, on a machine > that DOES NOT support 48-bit LBA, you can take a 250GB IDE drive and > connect it via an IDE to USB converter, and it can be used just fine > (even for booting, with a single 250GB partition, if the BIOS supports > USB drives for booting). > > > BillW50 wrote: >> In news:7a961538-0409-42bb-b678-0348a6cd6441(a)o9g2000vbj.googlegroups.com, >> ron typed on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:21:57 -0800 (PST): >>> I need to upsize my 40G existing HD and have two questions: 1) Will >>> I be able to use all of a 250G or 320G drive. I'm running XP. 2) >>> Any recommendations on drives? I'm looking at WD but see on Newegg >>> and Amazon sites that many people are having problems with the WD 250G >>> dying on them. >> >> Well that laptop should be new enough to be okay. But I can't swear to >> it. And sometimes you need the latest BIOS update (which is something >> that can go wrong for a few and your computer ends up as toast). Does >> that laptop have SP2 or SP3? As it might need it to support the larger >> drive. I am not sure, maybe SP1 supports the larger drives too. >> >> I have had good luck with all manufactures of 2.5 inch drives for >> 160GB and under. And thanks about the tip about WD 250GB HD. I didn't >> know about this. As I am happy with their 120GB and 160GB drives >> though. And I have three of them (one 120GB and two 160GB). >> Barry, if I understand what you are saying, the issue (assuming IDE) is related to XP Service Pack. So, your answer boils down to, yes, any available size will work but you are advised to update XP to SP3 (would not make much sense to stop at SP2). Is this correct? When I first read the question, my first thought was, there could be a Bios problem, not knowing the Inspiron 6000. For what it is worth, I have a 160G installed on an old Twinhead 9110 dating back year 2000 running SP3. With regards to brands, I am not a big fan of WD drives but for lack of choice (my various machines only use IDE drives), I bought a WD 320 G nearly 2 years ago and so far, no problem. I concur with your preference for Hitachi. -- John Doue |