ask a nerd...

[the big lebowski]

okay...so all you nerds out there. riddle me this:

i want to get another hard drive in addition to the one i have. the one i have now is a regular IDE cable one. is SATA different? if so, can i run it slave to the HD i have now? does any of what i said make any sense what so ever?

[klang]

Normally, the cables inside your computer looks like this and connects to a harddisk, DVD, CD .. you name it.
You can put an extra HD, DVD, CD on a free plug (both power and IDE) they only fit where they are supposed to go. The computer will find the extra device. A HD needs to be formatted before you can use it though.

I've found a few articles about the subject .. just to show you the difference in the "plumbing" between ATA and SATA

My guess is, that you "just" need to get a standard internal ATA133 harddisk, locate the ribbons inside your computer and start filling the HD with plugs (2).
There are som dip switches on the harddisk .. slave, master settings .. normally instructions are printed on the label of the HD.

(If you have more than one thousand gigabytes of harddisk space, you are a geek)

[Mattt]

If you can use SATA, do so, ide is old tech (though still useful).
If you use a SATA and a PATA (ide) one will not be the master of the other, they will be independant of each other.

Are you adding a drive for data or because you want to install an operating system ?

Anyway, we need more information.
You computer needs to be able to support SATA.

If you want, download this tiny utility.. http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Unzip it and run the cpuz.exe.
Go to the about tab and save the html report, open the report and copy the contents into this thread.
This will show what mainboard your using and other useful stuff.

[perclissigi]

570.6 gb in total, so does that make me half a geek?
Does it make me more of a geek if that happens to be spread over 5 hard drives?

[stjoe]

Originally Posted by perclissigi

570.6 gb in total, so does that make me half a geek?
Does it make me more of a geek if that happens to be spread over 5 hard drives?

Yes, it does. I have about 630GB with another 250 networked in with the XBOX. It makes you a 1/2 geek.

I have a question also. Anyone have any ways to get an XBOX to network wirelessly without buying MS's wireless product? They don't have a USB port on the back, so I can't think of a way to do it. I could always put the router beside the XBOX in my bedroom and have this PC wireless, but I like having the router in the computer room.

[BlueCC]

How is it that you know about slave drives but not about cables?

[klang]

Originally Posted by stjoe

Yes, it does. I have about 630GB with another 250 networked in with the XBOX. It makes you a 1/2 geek.

I have a question also. Anyone have any ways to get an XBOX to network wirelessly without buying MS's wireless product? They don't have a USB port on the back, so I can't think of a way to do it. I could always put the router beside the XBOX in my bedroom and have this PC wireless, but I like having the router in the computer room.

For me, this would be risky but you only live once.
Buying an extra wireless router and letting the two routers speak (wirelessly) would be another way to go about this..(observe that the amount of geekpoints given in the first instance is way higher)

[the big lebowski]

Originally Posted by BlueCC

How is it that you know about slave drives but not about cables?

i've built a couple of computers (including this one), but never worked w/ or really read too much about SATA HD's before. now i want to add more storage capacity. so to answer Mattt's question, i don't want to add an OS, just want it for more data storage.

here's what CPUZ came up w/:

CPU-Z Report
CPU-Z version 1.35.

CPU(s) Number of CPUs 1 Name AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Code Name ClawHammer Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+ Family / Model / Stepping F 4 8 Extended Family / Model F 4 Brand ID 4 Package Socket 754 Core Stepping SH7-C0 Technology 0.13 um Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, x86-64 CPU Clock Speed 2202.7 MHz Clock multiplier x 11.0 HTT Bus Frequency 200.2 MHz L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L2 Cache 1024 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L2 Speed 2202.7 MHz (Full) L2 Location On Chip L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes L2 Bus Width 128 bits Mainboard and chipset Motherboard manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Motherboard model K8VSEDX, Rev 2.00 BIOS vendor American Megatrends Inc. BIOS revision 1005.006 BIOS release date 11/29/2004 Chipset VIA K8T800 (VT8383) rev. 01 Southbridge VIA VT8237 rev. 00 Sensor chip Winbond W83697HF Graphic Interface AGP AGP Status enabled, rev. 3.0 AGP Data Transfer Rate 8x AGP Max Rate 8x AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled Memory DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM DRAM Size 1024 MBytes DRAM Frequency 200.2 MHz FSBRAM CPU/11 CAS# Latency 3.0 clocks RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks RAS# Precharge 3 clocks Cycle Time (TRAS) 6 clocks Bank Cycle Time (TRC) 11 clocks DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks # of memory modules 2 Module 0 Kingston DDR PC3200 - 512 MBytes Module 1 Kingston DDR PC3200 - 512 MBytes Software Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) DirectX version 9.0c

[paul_r]

i'm using usb drives, but then i'm on a laptop

[stjoe]

Originally Posted by klang

For me, this would be risky but you only live once.

Shit, that's a fantastic idea! I think I'll do that. It's not very complicated, even if the website seems to think it is. Thanks for the find klang!