Can I upgrade a primary drive?

[Handsome Prince]

I just purchased a high-end system from Dell and have three questions about some higher-end components...

1. A few days after ordering, I noticed that Dell offers a a 146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (15,000 rpm) hard drive upgrade for the Precision 670. I purchased the Dimension XPS Gen4. I am not sure if this system can accept a SCSI drive. Can all modern computers accept SCSI drives (assuming you buy all the components to hook it up)?

2. If I wanted to, would it be possible to change my primary drive to a 15K SCSI? Ideally I would want to duplicate the existing hard drive and then just make a "swap". Not sure if it's as easy as that. There is a local computer store nearby, but I'm not sure if they would be willing to do this even if it were possible...

3. This last question is purely for curiosity's sake. I notice that Dell offers the new Xeon 64 bit processer for the Precision 670. Dual processor potential aside, is this processor pretty much in the same speed class as the Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 660 (3.60GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache)? I took a look at the Intel web site, and it seemed as though the Xeon chip was marketed more for servers...

Many thanks,

HP

 

[RadiclDreamer]

You COULD put in a SCSI drive, but that would mean puting in a SCSI card as well. As for the XEON, it is faster in some applications such as database work and video editing. Not a huge dif in gaming and day to day work

 

[Handsome Prince]

Thank you. Just to clarify, you are saying that in addition to my system being able to handle a SCSI drive (with a SCSI card), it is ALSO possible to replace a primary hard drive with a new one? Is it possible to duplicate all the information from the old drive onto the new one (at the store where I get the new hard drive installed)? If not, how would I get my operating system onto a completely blank drive?

Many thanks,

HP

 

[MobiusPizza]

Firstly SCSI cards are usually PCI-X 66Mhz PCI slots; make sure you have that slot available.

I am assuming you have Windows XP here:
You can't really port the system to a new drive without reinstalling windows because the windows driver model does not allow key component to be changed. (The old window does not have your SCSI card driver anyway) That would result in blue screen. But what you can do is leave your IDE drive intact, install a SCSI card, and SCSI drive; Then install a blank window by booting Windows disc into the new drive; whilst doing so remember to press F6 prior to setup to install the 3rd party driver for the SCSI controller which should be supplied as a floppy with the SCSI drive.

After windows is up and running you can transfer data from your old drive