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Thread ID: 91939 2008-07-23 11:15:00 Which kind of HDD is the right one? powerover (12121) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
691426 2008-07-23 11:15:00 My external HDD is filling up really fast (250 GB is not quite enough):dogeye: and I am looking to upgrade to a bigger one.

I figured that it will be cheaper to just get a bigger hard drive and swap it with the old hard drive inside my external hard drive, then sell the old one. That way I could keep the casing of my old external hard drive which I really like.

I opened the case of my external hard drive (which voided the warranty), and found that the hard drive inside is actually a Maxtor 250GB PATA (well it appears to be), and some where on the sticker of the drive it said that it is also an UATA......

I got confused :confused:. I am not really good at hard wear and I was looking on TradeMe and it has the categories of : IDE, SATA, SCSI. Which one of those does PATA or UATA falls into? In other words which kind of hard drive I should buy?

Thanks for your time and any kinds of help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
powerover (12121)
691427 2008-07-23 11:26:00 IDE == PATA :) Myth (110)
691428 2008-07-23 11:36:00 Thanks for the help!

I was looking at IDE hard drives on TradeMe and I found nothing bigger than 500GB! Why? :confused: Is it because of the limit of the technology itself or something else?

And what do you think of this one: www.trademe.co.nz

Any recommendations?

Thanks heaps!:thumbs:
powerover (12121)
691429 2008-07-23 12:07:00 Try here :- www.pricespy.co.nz jinja_thom (4306)
691430 2008-07-23 19:21:00 Thanks for the help!

I was looking at IDE hard drives on TradeMe and I found nothing bigger than 500GB! Why? :confused: Is it because of the limit of the technology itself or something else?

And what do you think of this one: www.trademe.co.nz

Any recommendations?

Thanks heaps!:thumbs:

Seagate drives are great but you can get the same make and model from PBTech in Hamilton for $155 incl GST and a five year warranty.
Sweep (90)
691431 2008-07-23 22:28:00 ummm, thanks i will look into others. I will get back to you guys. cheers
:thumbs:
powerover (12121)
691432 2008-07-23 23:00:00 There are many places you can find better priced harddrives.
I see Ascent has a 750GB IDE harddrive (www.ascent.co.nz) for approx $270

PATA harddrives have been overtaken by SATA drives now. You will now find that a modern 500GB SATA drive is now cheaper (in some cases significantly) than a 500GB PATA (IDE) drive. With this in mind, I would actually look around the likes of Ascent (http://www.ascent.co.nz/) and other online sites for not only a new drive, but also a drive enclosure that supports SATA drives.
Most of these sites will accept direct credit to a bank account (if you dont like the idea of online shopping with a credit card), and have a fairly decent reputation.
Myth (110)
691433 2008-07-23 23:08:00 also your external enclosure may have a maximum size limit. So even if you installed a 750gb drive in it, it may not all show up, as the enclosure's firmware doesn't recognise that much.

Earlier this year I actually got a 750gb IDE drive, but installed it in my pc rather than an enclosure. Ill be able to keep my aging comp for at least several more years :D
utopian201 (6245)
691434 2008-07-24 00:07:00 also your external enclosure may have a maximum size limit. So even if you installed a 750gb drive in it, it may not all show up, as the enclosure's firmware doesn't recognise that much.


that is a really good point, I think I will get a new external hard drive instead rather than risking it. :thumbs:
powerover (12121)
691435 2008-07-24 00:09:00 Thanks Myth, I will check them out and get back to you. cheers. :thumbs: powerover (12121)
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