I decided to upgrade my mdk 9.0 to 10.0 and i ordered the isos from a iso burning site, i installed them last night, and had major issues, several files refused to get copied, i dont remember which, but they were numerous.

so i decided, i didnt have anything too important in windows, or linux, so i started from scratch, after getting the same issuses even with a windows install, i pegged it on my 6 gig hdd. so ive decided time to upgrade, after having a fight with bestbuy, and winning i am getting a 50 dollar gift card, and have decided it would be money well spent buy a new hdd, there is a seagate drive linked here - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....product&cmp=++

i can afford this after rebates, would this be a suitable drive to use with linux?

thanks for the help.
Ross.

Hi,

I'd imagine most any internal IDE hard drive would do.

I've always used Maxtor hard drives in my home computers, and haven't had a single problem with one of them to date. I'm not saying anything bad about Seagate, as I've heard they're an okay brand as well, I just have no experience with them.

On thing you might look for is a hard drive with an ATA-133 interface (the one you linked to is only ATA-100). It's not a huge difference, but if you're buying a new drive, might as well get the faster interface....

-Nick

im a computer shopper, that has a serious budget.
ive recently upgraded the ram and the monitor for this machine, so im looking to go cheap.
i guess the new question is - do i need a special board for the new interface or will mine probably handle it?

and is it likely that my old 6 gig hdd is the root of my problem? its been in use since windows 95, and it doesnt like taking new operating systems.

ross.

Hi,

It is possible that the hard drive could be causing problems if it has bad sectors, etc... Plus, you'd probably like more room if you are trying to dual-boot the OSes on the same drive.

As for the ATA interfaces, they are backwards compatible. This means that even if your mainboard only has an ATA-100 controller, it will still work with the ATA-133 hard drive, but will transfer data to/from it at a max speed of 100MB/sec, instead of 133MB/sec. Of course if you have a mainboard with ATA-133 support, you'd get full speed out of the ATA-133 hard drive.

My only point was that there really isn't much price difference if any (depending where you shop) between the two speeds, so why not get one with ATA-133?

If you buy the hard drive online, you can find better prices than what you linked to above. A quick look at www.mwave.com , where I usually buy parts, shows they have an 80GB Maxtor w/ ATA-133 for $59 ( http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=AA19050 ). www.Tigerdirect.com is also worth checking out.

Good Luck

-Nick

hmm, perhaps ill sell the best buy card, and order from another site.

thanks for the advice!

well, actually what will benefit me more? the 133 or the 8mb buffer?

i have windows on that six gig, and linux on a 20.