I may be getting a new internal hard drive soon, since I've really gotten sick of having a crappy 40GB HD that keeps running out of space. This is only a maybe, since I might end up getting my brother's computer when he goes off to college (it depends on if he takes his desktop or my mom's laptop). Though even if I get his computer, I might be able to still get a larger hard drive. I'm not positive.


Anyways, I was looking at Newegg today and there seem to be a lot of choices. My dad said he'd be fine paying $50 for a drive, so anything up to like $55 including shipping should probably be okay. So I'm looking at 160GB hard drives, I think. There are a lot of brands, with lots of different code things that I really don't understand at all. I don't need a super speedy hard drive, but I don't want one that's really slow.

I don't know anything about if there is room in my computer for another hard drive or the type of connection (PATA/SATA) that I need. My current hard drive is called ST340014A (specs), but I haven't been able to find if it's PATA/SATA yet, since I think that would tell me what type my computer would require, right?
Edit: It's SATA. Does that mean that whatever drive I get will need to be SATA, or could I get either? Also, hard drives come with all the cables they need, right? Or are they already in my computer or something?



What brands are good, and which are bad? Is there any specification that I'd definitely want on the HD or something that I wouldn't want? Any help would be great. Thanks!

Are you going to be using both hard drives or are you going to back up that data and put in a new hard drive in it's place.

What is the make and manufacturer of your computer?

You can buy them with or without the cables.

I'm not entirely sure. One idea I have is to have it for music and videos and stuff like that, and use the 40GB for the system and everything else. I'm not sure that I'd do that, though, so I'd like to have both options open (having it as the main HD or using it as a secondary one).

Here's the computer's info:

I need computer name like Compaq Presario 2100.

Could you give us the full specs? OS and Processor won't do much in the way of hard drives.

Dell Dimension 4600.


Where would I find them?

These are the best specs I could find.

Looks like you'll have to back up the data because you only have one slot.

I don't think I can help too much further because I'm not good with brands and all the whatnots.

@below: or that.

I think I've got two slots. It says "HD (2nd) - None", which I think means that there's a slot, but nothing in it right now.

You have IDE Ultra 100, not SATA

Take a look at this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148247

What does the 8MB cache refer to? I've seen some other hard drives with 16MB caches, and my current one has a 2MB cache.

Write cache. It's a form of volatile memory with the express purpose of storing smaller bits of data prior to your drive having to spin up to write. It's for when you're doing light tasks--not everything has to be written to disc immediately.