Buying a new hard drive questions

[xQuiKsiLveR]

I'm planning on buying a new hard drive soon, the Maxtor 30 GB 7200 RPM, in place of my old 4 GB HDD, and i have a couple questions:

1. Should i buy retail or OEM? if i'm right, OEM only comes with the drive, so what else do i need to install the drive besides the MaxBlast software which i noticed is on Maxtor's site anyway? i noticed that on Maxtor's site the retail kit came with 5.25" mounting brackets...will this make a new slot for the new drive? because i don't have a non-used 5.25" drive, so i need those brackets because i want to keep both drives in my computer if possible. (are you still following me??)

2. I found the drive OEM version for $92 plus $11-$13 for insured shipping...is this a good price? (Click here for drive info)

Any help will be REALLY appreciated in this issue...thanks!

 

[Trashman]

Have you checked the HotBuys forum....there could be some good deals in there for what your looking for...
I'm not understanding what you mean, regarding the 5.25 bracket..

<< because i don't have a non-used 5.25&quot; drive, so i need those brackets >>

...if ya have a 5.25 drive bay available then yes the brackets would help....if not, then do you have a 3.5 drive bay available?
Going through Sundays paper...CompUsa, has a deal on a 30gig harddrive, 7200rpm...for 99.00 after 15.00 mail-in rebate and a 15.00 instant rebate....and then on top of that you get a free ata/100 pci adapter card...49.99 - 50.00 rebate...if ya got a comp close to you i'd check out that deal.

 

[cheric4]

Sounds to me like this is your first time replacing hard drives!
1. Yes, OEM drives come without ANY accessories (just bare drive). If you know how to Fdisk and format your new drive with Dos then you don't really need Maxblast, unless you want to copy ALL the files from the old drive to the new one. The next question is, where do you mount your old one? In the 3.5&quot; floppy cage or 5.25&quot; cage. If you mount it in the 3.5&quot; then just put the new one in it. They're the same physical size, unless you have an odd one. The one thing you may want to know is your motherboard, can it handle ata 66 or 100? if she can, you need a new ide ribbon for these speeds, if not the old ribbon will do.

2. Check newegg, they have a 40gig IBM (supposedly the best) for 107.00.plus shipping.
Good luck........
If you have to buy a new ribbon and side brackets, you may want the boxed version of the drive. It comes with everything.

 

[xQuiKsiLveR]

Both the 3.5&quot; and the 5.25&quot; bays are being used. I guess i won't be able to keep both drives then...so what i thought i would do just while i'm copying them is take out my CD-ROM drive, copy the data from the old drive to the new, then put the new drive in place of the old one. would that work?
Trashman - That drive in the CompUSA ad is the exact one i need, i must've overlooked it on my sunday run thru the tech store ads! maybe i'll just go out and get that one, hopefully if they're all gone they do rainchecks! thanks for both of your guy's help!

 

[cheric4]

double post....sorry.

 

[cheric4]

First, CompUSA do not give out rainchecks........Not locally at least.
You do not have to take the CDrom out to copy drives. Just temporarily stand them up, connecting as Master and slave of course; then copy and reinstall the new drive.

 

[Trashman]

i'll agree with that as well....no need to take out cd-rom....probably many ways you can do, if your motherboard doesn't support ata100 and you use the controller card for your new drive, I would leave old one as is...install the pci card hook up new drive, just let it hang off the side..boot in windows off old drive..install the drivers for the ata card...get the new drive working....then when thats all said in done....transfer data from old to new....shutdown disconnect old drive....mount new one...go in BIOS and change boot sequence to boot A, SCSI, C....restart and hopefully everything is runnin off new drive...if ya don't use the controller card then just like CHERIC says to do.

 

[smokey7722]

Keep in mind though, most OEM hard drives only come with a 1 year warranty. If you go with a RETAIL drive, you get a 3 year warranty. Just like CPU's.