will my computer accept this type of hard drive

[kene555]

i wanted to get a dell dimension E310. it comes with a 80GB Serial ATA hard drive

at home, i have a 200 GB Ultra ATA hard drive. will i be able to just slide my 200 GB in, or will there be compatibility problems?

[Epsilon]

Yes.

[Matt]

Serial ATA (SATA) drives have different connections to ultra ATA (normal IDE) drives!



Some motherboards will take both, some hard drives take both but you need to double check the motherboard.

[El Brenty]

If in doubt, just get a PCI ultra ATA controller card. You could probably pick up one from somewhere like CompUSA for about $20. That sorts out the compatibility problem, and lets you keep your existing drive for storage if you want.

[KeithP]

ROFL. Compatibility problems, lawl. What kind of mobo you got and ill let yah know if you can. For one most harddrives have both connections whether it be IDE or SATA. Make sure whether you want it the primary drive or slave to switch the black covers at the back. Instructions are on the hdd. Then add xp. If its just an extra hdd then just plug er in. The best kind of harddrives to go with I think and its entirely personal choice are the Seagate Barracudda hdd. Amazing.

[kene555]

thanks for the info

and yes, its just an extra hdd im using for inly video storage

KeithP, I do not know what type of motherboard it has; i have looked all over the 'net and cant find the info.
however, i should get the PC from aug. 31 - sept. 4, so i will let you know how things turn out.
thanks again.

[Matt]

The Dell site says the E310 has IDE drives not SATA?

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs

[El Brenty]

ROFL. Compatibility problems, lawl. What kind of mobo you got and ill let yah know if you can.

Compatibility as in optimum performance, not degraded performance just to allow it to run.

[kene555]

yeah, it does have the hdd connector spec on dell

but not the motherboard specs - as i thought you wanted.

ok, so now that we know it uses IDE hdds, will i be able to simply slide in and connect my Ultra ATA hdd?

[KeithP]

It should. Most hdd have both connections available. SATA and IDE. All new harddrives I got have IDE and SATA connections. Just connect it to the power supply then run either IDE or SATA cables to it, in your case IDE, to your mobo. Its so simple. LAWL Camclub. Thanks for sharing. Haha.

[Matt]

As the PC has IDE interfaces your old drive will work. You can add it as a secondary drive assuming there is room in the case.

[kene555]

i just got my PC yesterday, and after some guess work, i was able to hook up the hard drive, via the same type of cables that the DVD drive used. the SATA hdd used entirely different types of connectors.

thanks a bunch for your help, everyone.

[windog]

yes, do it throught the dvd drive, thatl always work even with sata