On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:45:16 -0500, Mike Coslo
wrote:

James Sweet wrote:

"Elle" wrote in message
nk.net...

Is there an authoritative site on the web that discusses which computers
have this hard drive memory threshhold problem?

Some specs:
Make: Gateway Essential 900C
CPU: Intel 900 Mhz Celeron
Original hard drive: 20 Gigabyte 5M Ultra ATA

I have never gone over 10 Gigabytes of memory. I suppose because I don't

do

any serious graphics work or play video games. I use the computer mostly

for

word processing, spreadsheets, the internet, and faxing.

This morning after making some calls and checking the internet a bit, I
settled on a Seagate 80 Gigabyte Ultra ATA/100, 8 Mb cache, 7200 RPM

drive,

for $90 at Best Buy.

Coulda had a similar Western Digital for about $70, but Seagate seems to

get

better reviews. Also, this Seagate hard drive has a 5-year warranty (whose
details I have not read yet).

I can return it easily, should problems like the one you mentioned become
insurmountable.

I won't get to installing it until tomorrow, at the earliest.



There's no official database on it, but you have an OEM box so a call/email
to Gateway or look on their site for a BIOS update. Personally if in doubt I
would just check to see if there's a PCI slot free then pick up a new
interface card as they're not expensive. Get the largest drive you can for
the $, you can always transfer it to a newer faster machine later.

Also if you keep an eye out for killer deals it's not a bad idea to get two
drives and use one to backup the other.

Probably the best idea, and keep transferring the dat to new drives as
you go.

For the original poster:

Don't make the mistake of thinking that archiving to CD's is any kind
of archiving! If a person does a lot of research (to be sure to buy the
correct ones and to learn the proper handling), never marks on the CD's
ever,(store them in a jewel case and mark on that - go figure on what to
do if they get mixed up) stores them under ideal conditions, handles
them only with gloves, and prays daily to the CD gods, they just *might*
last 10 years.

I've had a number of Archive CD's fail after a year. I now to backups
to two separate Hard drives. One on the computer, and the other to a
firewire drive.

- Mike -




Creating an image (ghost) of your system drive is the way I have
resigned to do and as an external drive it can be used to back up
several computers.
Vlad