Considering adding Drive - Internal vs. External .... Please Advise

Question

Considering adding a 2nd hard drive. I'm trying to decide between an internal vs External. Would like to go with 300GB+ HD.

My system:

Dimension 8200
P4 512mg
WinXP Home - Serv Pack2
Bios - A03 12/07/01
80gb Internal HD

My concerns are ....

1. Is my BIOS (A03) a problem with the 137gb limit ?

2. Will I have problems with 'heat' with a 2nd Internal HD ?
... if so should I just get an external (Maxtor 300gb)

3. Does the BIOS matter with an External also, or just internal ?

Thank you, Bob

osprey4 · Answer

To answer your specific questions,

No, you have Sp2, so you're all set.
No, hard drives do not generally cause heat problems.
Not in your case.

The only real reason for getting an external drive is the convenience of moving it from one system to another. External drives are slower and can suffer from the same connection headaches that plague all USB devices. Unless portability is something you need, you're better off getting an internal drive.

moinfo · Answer

I just put internal 160GB in for video games. Was going to go external before learning of the speed issue... Internal was easy to install and cheaper then external. If you need just storage and dont run large files off it external may be what you want.

Wrwk · Answer

Thank you for your responses. You've been very helpful.

As long as the Older BIOS (A 03) or over heating won't be a problem,
I'll take the advice and go with an Internal Drive.

This will be my first major surgery. Are there any considerations
I should be aware of before I go ahead ???
Cables? connectors? ect?

Any recommendations ? Maxtor ? Western ?

Thank you again, Bob

moinfo · Answer

I have the 160GB, 8MB cahe Maxtor and like it, "fast and quiet" I would for sure update the bios to the latest for your 8200, It is A09 and this is what it will change" Some hard drive issues"

The following changes have been made to the A08 BIOS to create A09:

1. Fixed resource allocation to some PCI devices when multiple adapters
with bridges are in the system.

2. Properly set system power state when AC Power is lost in S3.

3. Added additional system board information into SMBIOS type 2 structure.

4. Fixed possible hang when exiting Diagnostic programs that access KB
ports directly and USB Emulation is On.

5. Fixed possible issue with the Date and Time being changed after
consecutive reboots.

6. Added new SMBIOS token definitions for UDMA, Hard Disk Acoustic, S1/S3.

Wrwk · Answer

Thanks Moinfo, As some who post here, I am a Novice !!! Is updating the BIOS something a novice should attempt ??? Bob And yes, the Maxtors do look good ...

Storage, Drives & Media

Considering adding Drive - Internal vs. External .... Please Advise

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