Hard drive speed question?

[Kulprit4]

Hello my friend has a old gateway (at wd 20gb ATA 100 drive) and he wants to upgrade to a bigger drive my question is do i need to get him a new hard drive controller because his is only ATA 100? or what will happen if i put at ATA 133 in will it just run at ATA 100 speeds kinda like some types of old ram? thanks!

 

[DaveSimmons]

In the real world, both are the same speed and can be mixed freely with zero problems.

The problem you're most likely to have is if you buy a drive that is 160 GB or larger (120 GB is safe). With a large drive, they might need a new BIOS and to update their version of Windows. Search "48 bit LBA" or "137 GB" / "133 GB" in archived threads if you want more details. Or just buy a 120 GB dirve

 

[Kulprit4]

ok thanks i'm going to get him a 120gb drive so it won't be a problem

 

[Kulprit4]

wait a minute wouldn't you just need to apply sp1? that would fix the 137 or 133 gb problem?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Assuming they are running XP, and that their BIOS supports 48 bit LBA, then yes, SP1 is usally all they will need. Though some people have posted here (again, search current & archived threads) saying they still had problems.

 

[Kulprit4]

ill check it out thanks