[RESOLVED] What Hard Drive Do I Need For My Desktop?

I recently decided I wanted to upgrade the hard drive on my desktop because the one it came with is only 40 GBs of capacity. I pulled it out and here are the specs:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
40 GBs
Model #: ST340014A
Serial #: 5JXJFBBN

Ultra ATA
+5V 0.72A
+12V 0.35A


I ordered a new hard drive from Newegg but when it arrived I noticed it was not compatible with my computer. The specs of the new hard drive were:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 7200
320 GBs
Model #: WD3200AAKS - 75VYA0
Serial #: WCARW4101280

Serial ATA
5VDC 0.68A
12VDC 0.55A


I thought this drive would be the right replacement but I was wrong.

Can anyone tell me what kind of hard drive i need for my computer to replace the seagate and if its possible for me to get 250+ GBs or is my computer too old, its a Dell Dimension 2400 btw, got it in 2003 I believe.

Or could someone find me the right hard drive on newegg/tigerdirect and link it to me? Thanks.

What are the incompatibility issues?

The important difference is Ultra ATA vs Serial ATA (SATA), they use different kinds of connectors & controllers.

The old drive is a parallel IDE/ATA drive (I think "Ultra" means ATA 133), rather than serial - so what you want is one that is marked as IDE or ATA (without the word serial), rather than SATA.

is there a difference between ide ata 133 and ide ata 100? will they both work on my computer or only the 133?

From what I remember the only difference is the speed - 133 is faster (and presumably wont cost any extra these days).

can any1 confirm this? i dont wanna spend my money and order the wrong one again ><

the difference is the maximum data transfer the drive supports. In practice, hard drives never max this out due to the rpm. Your system needs a drive listed either as PATA (parallel ata) or IDE (same thing) or Ultra-ATA (PATA-133)

It is noteworthy that it might only say ATA on an older drive because the parallel method predates serial.

An alternate option for you is an adapter but they are kind of expensive.

Are you sure your motherboard doesn't have the serial-ata bus also? Mine has both. they are small red plugs on the motherboard. hard-drives never come with the cables for them, the motherboard (if aftermarket) usually does.

would this hard drive work for my system then?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...6822&CatId=134

That should be fine, but it would be better to get an ATA-133 equivalent of the drive if it is available (it isn't there) for a similar price, as theoretically it is capable of faster speeds (but the real-world difference is not worth spending much extra on).

kk thanks for your help :)

o ya, whats the diffrerence between an 8MB cache and a 16mb cache?

because im looking at buying one of these 2:

Seagate 74$ 16mb cache
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...6822&CatId=134

Western Digital 80$ 8 mb cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144396

They only have like five ATA-133's so im not getitng one of those. Which of the 2 above would u choose for your pc?

:) (last question i promise)

The cache is used to store data that the drive has read but not transferred yet (as the rest of the computer isn't ready for it), so that when the data is needed there is less delay in continuing the transfer.

In theory the more cache you have the better, but I suspect that in practical terms the difference between 8MB and 16MB isn't noticeable.


I notice that the drives you selected are both "Retail" rather than "OEM", is there a particular reason for that? If you already have the cable and screws to connect it (but in a Dell I suspect not), there isn't much difference other than the price - which is lower for OEM, to the point where buying a separate cable and/or screws too (only needed if you want to use both drives together) could be the cheaper option.

For example, WD 500GB/8MB, $80: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136110
...and WD 320GB/8MB, $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136109

actually the dells i have seen have a rail system and don't use screws at all for drive mounting. They may not all be the same though.

I would suspect there is a bigger gain with write buffering. However your OS uses a software buffer anyway. This is how you lose data when your os blue-screens. It is also why you need to click the icon to prepare jumpdrives for removal (unless you change the default settings so they don't have a buffer)

cool. thanks guys. i ended up going with the 70$ 320gb.

I ordered it yesterday and it got here today, boy UPS/Newegg sure performs a fast service!

Im formatting right now, 3% done =O

Thanks again everyone!