Hi

From your details you have three IDE / SATA devices. You will have either two SATA channel and two IDE or four IDE. So you should have space for a second internal hard disk.

If internal is too much for you, look at any of the numerous external USB or Firewire hard disks currently available.

hth

Ceri

You cannot use 750M ZIP discs in a 250 drive.

You have USB 1.1 ports, so if you go with an external drive, plan on installing a PCI USB 2.0 host card - 1.1 is too slow for backups.

If you go with firewire, make sure you have a firewire port (most likely on your sound card). If you do not, you will need to add a PCI card.

Very few backup programs other than expensive enterprise suites or imaging software like Ghost or True Image can do a bare-metal (i.e., without reinstalling and reconfiguring Windows first) restoration. Be sure you realize that you will likely have to manually reinstall Windows, and applications, before you restore your data.

Message Edited by ejn63 on 01-15-2005 05:08 PM

ejn63,

Thank you!! You are most helpful.

I filled a blank disc drive space with Sound Blaster 2 ZS which has a Fire Wire port.

For $170. looks like I'm headed for an Iomega external HD with a "bare metal" utility included. But first two final questions, if I may:

1. Will a PCI  USB 2  host card transform my current USB 1.1 into  2  and enable my current 250 Iomega Zip drive to read/write 750 discs?

2. Is a Fire Wire connection faster or  slower than USB 2?

I appreciate your time and assistance. Thanks again.

Vandalia

Ceri:

I thank you also. Yeah an internal HD is not feasible. See above.

Vandalia

Vandalia:

1. PCI USB 2.0 card will add USB 2.0 ports to your machine, the old ports will remain USB 1.1

1a. "You cannot use 750M ZIP discs in a 250 drive" - ejn63 (in previous post in this thread)

2. Read this thread: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_upghw&message.id=40819&query.id=0#M40819 , regarding USB 2.0 and Firewire transfer speeds.  If you have a choice of fornats, go with the Firewire (IEEE1394) for large amounts of data transfer.  I opted for a USB2.0 external hard drive, now wish I would have gone for a Firewire external hard drive.

Good luck,:smileyhappy:

B4runo

DIMM 4400
BIOS – A06, date 6/12/02
Win XP Home Edition, SP2
Pentium-4 2.8 GHz, 400MHz FSB, 512K L2
1 GB DDR SRAM PC2100
80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Iomega 80GB USB 2.0 External HDD
XFX GeForce FX 5700LE 128MB DDR 8X AGP w/ TV & DVI
17”, 1702FP Digital Flat Panel Display
Belkin F5U508 USB 2.0/Firewire PCI card

Utilize the "Advanced Search" function at the bottom of the page before posting. You may find the answer to your question from a previous post.