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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly
full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino |
#2
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
"Rhino" wrote in message ... I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino Your board supports 2 IDE (flat ribbon) drives. Also 4 SATA drives. Your new drive will be SATA and will work fine. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD...specifications Chris |
#3
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote:
I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. HTH, -- Rob |
#4
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
In article , Rob wrote:
On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. HTH, I agree about the warning of needing to possibly buy a power cable and possibly a data cable. But i have yet to buy a retail Seagate or Western Digital drive in the box that didnt come with the data cable. |
#5
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
Rob wrote in :
On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. I'm not sure why you both said the new drive would be SATA; PATA drives still are available, and indeed I had to buy one just last week. There may even be cases where PATA is preferable to SATA, though the OP's case probably is not one. -- Mike Andrews, W5EGO Tired old sysadmin |
#6
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
On 30/11/2011 17:11, Mike Andrews wrote:
Rob wrote in : On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. I'm not sure why you both said the new drive would be SATA; PATA drives still are available, and indeed I had to buy one just last week. There may even be cases where PATA is preferable to SATA, though the OP's case probably is not one. 1TB or above PATA drives don't exist. Largest PATA you can get is 750GB. -- Rob |
#7
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
"Chris S." wrote in message ... "Rhino" wrote in message ... I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino Your board supports 2 IDE (flat ribbon) drives. Also 4 SATA drives. Your new drive will be SATA and will work fine. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD...specifications Perfect! Thanks Chris. I'd found that same page but I'm so hardware challenged that I wasn't sure if I was understanding the information correctly. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of getting an internal drive vs. an external one? -- Rhino |
#8
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
"Rob" wrote in message ... On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. Good catch, Rob. I didn't know whether I could take it for granted that a new drive would come with everything I needed to connect it. Do you have any thoughts on the pros and cons of an internal vs. an external drive? I'm leaning toward internal because I've got lots of room in the case and it's going to cost less than the same sized drive in an external format but maybe there are some cons that I'm not considering. -- Rhino |
#9
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
Rhino wrote:
"Rob" wrote in message ... On 30/11/2011 14:16, Rhino wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Are there any negatives associated with adding a third drive to this computer, especially one that is larger than the others? Is there any reason why it would be better to make the new drive external than internal? Also, would I put the third drive on the same 80 conductor ribbon cable as the existing two drives - I haven't had the case open in a while and can't remember if there is a third connector on the cable - or would I need to run a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? Is it even possible to have a second ribbon cable from the motherboard? I am very weak on matters of hardware so forgive my question, which may be very foolish. The main thing I'm storing on these drives is large standalone data files if that makes any difference. I'm running Windows XP with no immediate plans to upgrade to Win7. -- Rhino As Chris said, you should be fine, but the new drive will be SATA. You do need to open the case and check that the power supply has spare SATA type drive power connectors. If not, you'll need a converter cable like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812104652 and don't forget a SATA data cable, if you don't already have one - new drives don't often come with one. Good catch, Rob. I didn't know whether I could take it for granted that a new drive would come with everything I needed to connect it. Do you have any thoughts on the pros and cons of an internal vs. an external drive? I'm leaning toward internal because I've got lots of room in the case and it's going to cost less than the same sized drive in an external format but maybe there are some cons that I'm not considering. -- Rhino It would depend on whether the drive was for primary storage, or was a backup device. Considering the reliability of large drives like that, a second large drive wouldn't hurt. Then, one could be internal, and one external. You unplug the external one, after the backup operation is completed. Unplugging the backup, protects the backup drive from lightning. The contents of the computer can be destroyed by a direct lightning hit (following along the power wires). If your backup drive is disconnected at the time, it might survive. If the data is really important, you keep the backup drive off-site completely. That's to protect against fire or other disasters. If the drive is being used for primary storage, then having it inside the computer makes a lot of sense. Then, there is less wiring and need for physical space, outside the computer case. Paul |
#10
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ASUS M3A - How many hard drives?
On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:16:23 -0500, "Rhino"
wrote: I have an ASUS M3A mainboard with two 750 GB hard drives. Both are nearly full so I'd like to add a third, larger hard drive, probably a 3 TB drive since they have become fairly affordable at $150 for an internal one. Interesting price--I haven't seen them that cheap for the last month or so. Remember, if you want to be able to access all of the 3TB, you will have to format it under GPT rather than FAT. And I don't think, with the M3A, that you will be able to use it as a boot drive. |
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