Want to Upgrade to a WD Raptor

[Carbo]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600. Running fine, no problems. But, I have the itch to upgrade and want to go with WD's 74GB Raptor, (SATA). My present set up includes the 80GB hard drive, (IDE), that came with the system, and an existing 40GB drive, (also IDE) I have slaved off of it.
If I go with the Raptor as my primary will I need any additional hardware to install it? New cables or cards? Once it is installed I would like to slave the 80GB IDE drive off of it. (The 40GB is going "in the box", where all unused, unwanted, and unneeded spare PC parts gather to do who knows what in the dark of the night). Is this possible since the WD is SATA?
Thank you!

 

[Calin]

If you have a SATA connector in the computer, it is possible. Copy the source disk to the SATA drive (you could use ghost, but you could use some tools produced by the HDD company). Start the system with only the SATA drive (set it in BIOS as the prefered boot device - I think it would be on third IDE channed), boot in Windows, shut it down, add the other drive.

 

[Carbo]

Will I also need any special cables for the switch? The Dell Dimension 4600 will accept SATA hard drives, so I don't think I need a new controller card. However, don't I need a SATA specific cable to connect to the power supply unit?
And is it possible to slave my old IDE drive off of the new Raptor? If it is, does this also require a special cable? Or is mixing SATA and IDE a no-go? Thanks.

 

[Stonesoldier]

the raptor comes with the serial cables
and since serial and parellel cables are different you cant slave them
technically the 80 gig would just be a second hard drive
and it uses the same 4 pin power plug your other drives use

also are you planning to do a clean OS install on the Raptor?
I would recommend it
ive done the drive copy routine before
and you really are better off doing a clean install
just remember to SAVE your files

make sure to set the serial drive as the boot drive in bios

 

[Wadded Beef]

when you buy the raptor also get a molex to sata power connector adapter. they're like 2 bucks

 

[manno]

I have some better advice don't waste your money you'll barly notice the difference

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
when you buy the raptor also get a molex to sata power connector adapter. they're like 2 bucks

There is no point in those. The Raptors have molex connectors on them, so putting additional calbing in can't help.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Stonesoldier
the raptor comes with the serial cables
and since serial and parellel cables are different you cant slave them
technically the 80 gig would just be a second hard drive
and it uses the same 4 pin power plug your other drives use

also are you planning to do a clean OS install on the Raptor?
I would recommend it
ive done the drive copy routine before
and you really are better off doing a clean install
just remember to SAVE your files

make sure to set the serial drive as the boot drive in bios

Why would you do a clean install? It's the same hardware, same devices, you want the same drivers, and the OS already knows about the serial IDE port... so why reinstall?

I suggest just ghosting....