What HDD do I need to match this

donny-gal

I have identified the current HDD in my desktop as this:
http://www.braebo.com/shop/western-digital-500gb-caviar-blue-serial-35-hard-drive-wd5000a-p-531.html

I want to add a secondary one, of 1tb or >

What spec do I need to get?
Thanks
DG

OneADay

Depends on your motherboard and bios - do they allow more than one drive?

pledgeX

OneADay wrote: »

Depends on your motherboard and bios - do they allow more than one drive?

I've never encountered a mobo that doesn't support more than 1 drive. Is that normal?

Donny-gal; As long as you have a spare sata slot on the motherboard and a spare connection on the power supply, then I'm pretty sure you can buy any hard drive with a sata connection, i.e. don't get one with an IDE connection, and ignore SSD's.

What size are you looking at?

donny-gal

Does this Help?
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120503-2030)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MEDIONPC
System Model: MS-7502
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 5146MB used, 3040MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 64bit Unicode

PledgeX
I have to admit I was confused by that it was the SATA/IDE bit that I knew I had to be careful of, hadn't thought of SSD's. Will open it up later and check the slots.
DG

robmar0se

OneADay wrote: »

Depends on your motherboard and bios - do they allow more than one drive?

It won't be the board that will be limiting - the issue is more with what case you have. Many ITX systems only have space for 1 hdd, plus some others eg Dell, you may need an extra cradle to hold the hdd. However you could always add an external drive. Open the case and have a look?

The good thing about hdds is that any manufacturer's SATA II drives would be compatible - my preference would be for another WD drive, of whatever size you want; IMO some mobo's might limit the size upto 1.5tb, no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0036Q7MV0/ref=asc_df_B0036Q7MV08520855?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&!!!!!googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0036Q7MV0

PS as you have a Medion, the probablity is that you have all the bits apart from the cables to add s 2nd Sata hdd - you would also need a sata cable, and ensure that the power supply has a spare 12 power lead (otherwise you would need to add a splitter cable).

donny-gal

Another question - I have seen a couple of Seagate HDD's and some WD ones on Ebuyer, similar prices but the Seagate is slightly cheaper, are Seagate OK these days, just asking as just had a Seagate 750gb HDD fail in my 7 month old laptop, looks like the boot sector must have gone, as couldn't see it in a caddy. Yes backed up apart from my Outlook.pst, which the backup is a bit old. DG

robmar0se

Be careful on speeds - ensure the RPM is 7200, the 5400s will be cheaper. Sata III drives will work on yr board but only operate at Sata II levels., Just look for the make, size, and rpm at a price that you like.

Prefer WD to Seagate, but people will have opinions about that.

donny-gal

Thanks Rob

Whle OOT, though can you ever have too much storage, this looks too cheap to the right? Just £20ish > 2tb?
DG

robmar0se

You need to check your BIOS supports this size - if it is categorised as EFI you should be okay on Windows 7/64 - otherwise you will be limited to 2gb, but to be safe suggest 1.5gb...

AdamJK_2

Just buy any decent SATA II/III 7,200 3.5 drive. Around 1TB should be good - after that you can just look at external caddys for backup etc - don't know why anyone would want more than 1TB of data readily accessible - plus if you were storing that much data then you need to be going in the realms of RAID5 for failure protection.

The only thing I would say is make sure you have a PSU that can take the extra power drain and that you have spare power leads in the machine to power the thing. If not you will need to buy a new lead or upgrade PSU. Also think about cooling - if your case is small then adding an extra internal HDD is going to reduce airflow and the machine will heat up - ultimately reducing performance.