Hard drive replacement question

[xj-boonie]

I want to replace one of my hard drives to get more recording room.

Currently I've got 3 hard drives:
1. 160GB PATA that is C:\ (os) and F:\ (my docs)
2. 300GB PATA that is E:\ (sagetv)
3. 320GB SATA that is F:\ (sagetv)

I want to replace drive 2, the 300GB PATA, with a 500GB SATA. All it's used for is SageTV recordings. I've got an external enclosure, and am wondering if this will work:

Copy everything currently on E:\ to the external drive; shut down the pc and swap the drives; start up and assign the new drive the letter E:\.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

[GKusnick]

Yes, that should work, so long as you remember to disable SageTV and/or SageTVService from starting up until after you've swapped drive letters.

But 300 GB to 500 GB doesn't seem like that much of an upgrade. If it were me, I'd be thinking more like 750 or 1000.

[Djc208]

Why not just add the new HD to the three you have? Add-on SATA or PATA cards can be had fairly cheeply if you don't have more onboard ports. A USB enclosure can be added for only a little extra as well. Then you'd get the whole 500 GB of additional space instead of just 200.

[davephan]

If you are thinking about getting a PATA controller card, the Promise Ultra133TX PCI IDE controller is a good choice. You can run 4 IDE drives with the Promise Ultra133TX. However, you cannot have your boot drive hooked up to the Promise Ultra133TX PCI IDE controller.

Dave

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by davephan

If you are thinking about getting a PATA controller card, the Promise Ultra133TX PCI IDE controller is a good choice. You can run 4 IDE drives with the Promise Ultra133TX. However, you cannot have your boot drive hooked up to the Promise Ultra133TX PCI IDE controller.

I agree with the recommendation. I've been using an Ultra100TX for about 6 years without any problems. But, are you sure you can't boot from the Ultra133TX? I'm pretty sure I can boot from my older model. I think its mostly a BIOS issue.

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by xj-boonie

Currently I've got 3 hard drives:
1. 160GB PATA that is C:\ (os) and F:\ (my docs)
2. 300GB PATA that is E:\ (sagetv)
3. 320GB SATA that is F:\ (sagetv)

I want to replace drive 2, the 300GB PATA, with a 500GB SATA. All it's used for is SageTV recordings. I've got an external enclosure, and am wondering if this will work:

Ok, I didn't pay close enough attention to your original post, but I'm still not sure why you would want to replace the PATA drive. Unless you get an adapter you can't plug the SATA drive into the PATA cable, and most motherboards have at least two SATA ports so unless you have a SATA DVD drive you should have one port open. The adaptors or splitters to fit the drive in the case are cheap and readily available too.

Otherwise, if you already have the external enclosure why not just leave it in there and use it?

[xj-boonie]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Yes, that should work, so long as you remember to disable SageTV and/or SageTVService from starting up until after you've swapped drive letters.

But 300 GB to 500 GB doesn't seem like that much of an upgrade. If it were me, I'd be thinking more like 750 or 1000.

I got a good deal on the 500 GB drive.

Originally Posted by Djc208

Why not just add the new HD to the three you have? Add-on SATA or PATA cards can be had fairly cheeply if you don't have more onboard ports. A USB enclosure can be added for only a little extra as well. Then you'd get the whole 500 GB of additional space instead of just 200.

I don't have room in my case (Uneed X11) for 4 drives.

Originally Posted by Djc208

Ok, I didn't pay close enough attention to your original post, but I'm still not sure why you would want to replace the PATA drive. Unless you get an adapter you can't plug the SATA drive into the PATA cable, and most motherboards have at least two SATA ports so unless you have a SATA DVD drive you should have one port open. The adaptors or splitters to fit the drive in the case are cheap and readily available too.

Otherwise, if you already have the external enclosure why not just leave it in there and use it?

My current motherboard only has one IDE channel, so the 320GB PATA hard drive I've got hooked up to it (actually both of the PATA hard drives) are actually hooked to SATA ports via a rosewill slimline adapters on the back of the PATA hard drives.

I've got the Antec MX-1 external eSATA/USB enclosure, but currently don't want to have another item in the a/v equipment rack right now. My plan for it's use is as a backup item for my home network (once it's a bit more stable).

And I haven't gotten into storing my DVD's on hard drive yet.