«

"fitwell" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I have an IBM clone, 650 MHz, Win98SE, 128SDRam, what else ...
> currently 11 gigs (which I'm having a _lot_ of trouble with now. Keep
> running out of space!). I've started saving money a few weeks back
> and income tax might come in in time, too.
>
> Anything I should be on the lookout for? I know the prices of hdd are
> very reasonable now (a colleague said he bought 180 gigs for Cdn$170 +
> taxes - hey, $1 a gig!). And I can get free installation with a
> friend but just wondering if there was anything I should watch out for
> or if there are any questions I should ask when the time comes and I'm
> there ready to purchase.
>
> Thanks very much!
>
Watch out buying large drives for older computers as the old BIOSes run into
a limit at 32Gb, and then another at about 120. Some manufacturers provide
software to get around this though

On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 10:54:59 +0100, "HamMan"
<> wrote:

>
>"fitwell" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> I have an IBM clone, 650 MHz, Win98SE, 128SDRam, what else ...
>> currently 11 gigs (which I'm having a _lot_ of trouble with now. Keep
>> running out of space!). I've started saving money a few weeks back
>> and income tax might come in in time, too.
>>
>> Anything I should be on the lookout for? I know the prices of hdd are
>> very reasonable now (a colleague said he bought 180 gigs for Cdn$170 +
>> taxes - hey, $1 a gig!). And I can get free installation with a
>> friend but just wondering if there was anything I should watch out for
>> or if there are any questions I should ask when the time comes and I'm
>> there ready to purchase.
>>
>> Thanks very much!
>>
>Watch out buying large drives for older computers as the old BIOSes run into
>a limit at 32Gb, and then another at about 120. Some manufacturers provide
>software to get around this though

Is my PIII old at 3 years of age?

yes, and in that range of 32 GB limit mentioned earlier, it's right on the dividing line. Before spending money on a hard drive, first go to your
manufacturer's or mobo's site and see what it says about the BIOS on the mobo as regards HD size limits. If you hit the Pause key when the computer
first starts to boot you can discover the BIOS and string, or can enter the BIOS setup and get same to check on it.

Read here for more answers. http://www.phoenix.com/en/customer+s.../bios+faq/#Q29

For hard drive take a look at the WD and the Maxtor 7200 RPM drives with the 8 meg memory onboard instead of the normal 2. I have the 80 GB Maxtor 8
MB memory onboard with the fluid bearings just released, and it is very fast and quiet both.

fitwell wrote:

> On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 10:54:59 +0100, "HamMan"
> <> wrote:
>
> >
> >"fitwell" <> wrote in message
> >news:.. .
> >> I have an IBM clone, 650 MHz, Win98SE, 128SDRam, what else ...
> >> currently 11 gigs (which I'm having a _lot_ of trouble with now. Keep
> >> running out of space!). I've started saving money a few weeks back
> >> and income tax might come in in time, too.
> >>
> >> Anything I should be on the lookout for? I know the prices of hdd are
> >> very reasonable now (a colleague said he bought 180 gigs for Cdn$170 +
> >> taxes - hey, $1 a gig!). And I can get free installation with a
> >> friend but just wondering if there was anything I should watch out for
> >> or if there are any questions I should ask when the time comes and I'm
> >> there ready to purchase.
> >>
> >> Thanks very much!
> >>
> >Watch out buying large drives for older computers as the old BIOSes run into
> >a limit at 32Gb, and then another at about 120. Some manufacturers provide
> >software to get around this though
>
> Is my PIII old at 3 years of age?

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:11:36 GMT, Me2U <> wrote:

>yes, and in that range of 32 GB limit mentioned earlier, it's right on the dividing line. Before spending money on a hard drive, first go to your
>manufacturer's or mobo's site and see what it says about the BIOS on the mobo as regards HD size limits. If you hit the Pause key when the computer
>first starts to boot you can discover the BIOS and string, or can enter the BIOS setup and get same to check on it.
>
>Read here for more answers. http://www.phoenix.com/en/customer+s.../bios+faq/#Q29
>
>For hard drive take a look at the WD and the Maxtor 7200 RPM drives with the 8 meg memory onboard instead of the normal 2. I have the 80 GB Maxtor 8
>MB memory onboard with the fluid bearings just released, and it is very fast and quiet both.

Thanks much for the wealth of information. I have a great starting
point now.

D

>fitwell wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 10:54:59 +0100, "HamMan"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >"fitwell" <> wrote in message
>> >news:.. .
>> >> I have an IBM clone, 650 MHz, Win98SE, 128SDRam, what else ...
>> >> currently 11 gigs (which I'm having a _lot_ of trouble with now. Keep
>> >> running out of space!). I've started saving money a few weeks back
>> >> and income tax might come in in time, too.
>> >>
>> >> Anything I should be on the lookout for? I know the prices of hdd are
>> >> very reasonable now (a colleague said he bought 180 gigs for Cdn$170 +
>> >> taxes - hey, $1 a gig!). And I can get free installation with a
>> >> friend but just wondering if there was anything I should watch out for
>> >> or if there are any questions I should ask when the time comes and I'm
>> >> there ready to purchase.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks very much!
>> >>
>> >Watch out buying large drives for older computers as the old BIOSes run into
>> >a limit at 32Gb, and then another at about 120. Some manufacturers provide
>> >software to get around this though
>>
>> Is my PIII old at 3 years of age?