Question re External USB hard drive

Walter R.

I have a 7 year old computer with XP pro Sp2. Pentium 4, 1.5 GB, 512 Ram. It
is running fine. My motherboard is an old MSI 845 pro. Everything is running
great, except I am running out of storage.

The MainBoard has 4 IDE connections which are taken up by ATA C Drive
(master), ATA CD (master), 2 small ATA drives (slaves) for storage and
backup. It also has 4 USB-1 ports, two of which are used for printers. There
is no SATA port.

I thought of inreasing storage by buying a 500 GB external USB hard drive.
Is there any reason why this might not work in view of the fact that my MB
has only USB-1 and no SATA connection and that all IDE connections are in
use?

Will Windows recognize the full 500 GB through the USB connection?

Thanks for your help

--
Walter

-

Big_Al

Walter R. wrote:
> I have a 7 year old computer with XP pro Sp2. Pentium 4, 1.5 GB, 512 Ram. It
> is running fine. My motherboard is an old MSI 845 pro. Everything is running
> great, except I am running out of storage.
>
> The MainBoard has 4 IDE connections which are taken up by ATA C Drive
> (master), ATA CD (master), 2 small ATA drives (slaves) for storage and
> backup. It also has 4 USB-1 ports, two of which are used for printers. There
> is no SATA port.
>
> I thought of inreasing storage by buying a 500 GB external USB hard drive.
> Is there any reason why this might not work in view of the fact that my MB
> has only USB-1 and no SATA connection and that all IDE connections are in
> use?
>
> Will Windows recognize the full 500 GB through the USB connection?
>
> Thanks for your help
>
USB 1 is going to make that external a bit slow. Maybe too slow based
on your needs.
I'd replace one of the small ATA drives with the 500 Gig. ...or...
If you need more C: drive then use Acronis True Image Home to migrate
the C: to the new 500 Gig. Be it partitioned in 2 or more parts or
one. You will get more space either way and speed.

Mike Walsh

Big_Al wrote:
>
> Walter R. wrote:
> > I have a 7 year old computer with XP pro Sp2. Pentium 4, 1.5 GB, 512 Ram. It
> > is running fine. My motherboard is an old MSI 845 pro. Everything is running
> > great, except I am running out of storage.
> >
> > The MainBoard has 4 IDE connections which are taken up by ATA C Drive
> > (master), ATA CD (master), 2 small ATA drives (slaves) for storage and
> > backup. It also has 4 USB-1 ports, two of which are used for printers. There
> > is no SATA port.
> >
> > I thought of inreasing storage by buying a 500 GB external USB hard drive.
> > Is there any reason why this might not work in view of the fact that my MB
> > has only USB-1 and no SATA connection and that all IDE connections are in
> > use?
> >
> > Will Windows recognize the full 500 GB through the USB connection?
> >
> > Thanks for your help
> >
> USB 1 is going to make that external a bit slow. Maybe too slow based
> on your needs.
> I'd replace one of the small ATA drives with the 500 Gig. ...or...
> If you need more C: drive then use Acronis True Image Home to migrate
> the C: to the new 500 Gig. Be it partitioned in 2 or more parts or
> one. You will get more space either way and speed.

If you have a PCI slot available you can get a USB2 adapter card. This would probably not be cost effective unless you need the speed for other devices e.g. thumb drives.
You could also add a card with IDE ports. This could be a lot cheaper because it is a lot more likely you could scrounge one from someone who has an old one that they no longer need.

--
Mike Walsh

Bryce

Walter R. wrote:

> I have a 7 year old computer with XP pro Sp2. Pentium 4, 1.5 GB, 512 Ram.
> It is running fine. My motherboard is an old MSI 845 pro. Everything is
> running great, except I am running out of storage.
>
> The MainBoard has 4 IDE connections which are taken up by ATA C Drive
> (master), ATA CD (master), 2 small ATA drives (slaves) for storage and
> backup. It also has 4 USB-1 ports, two of which are used for printers.
> There is no SATA port.
>
> I thought of inreasing storage by buying a 500 GB external USB hard drive.
> Is there any reason why this might not work in view of the fact that my MB
> has only USB-1 and no SATA connection and that all IDE connections are in
> use?
>
> Will Windows recognize the full 500 GB through the USB connection?
>
> Thanks for your help
>
A USB-2 adapter card will make a BIG difference: about 40X faster for
about $15US. Otherwise you would be better off to replace one of those
existing small drives with a new big one.

Hope you get to read this: Roadrunner will discontinue your usenet
access tomorrow. You can still access newsgroups via Google Groups
if you have the patience, or sign up for usenet access through a
third party. I'm a RR customer using (free) motzarella.org to
post this. Works great!

Bryce

Walter R.

Thanks for letting me know about the Roadrunner / Usenet disconnect. I would
have wondered what happened. I'll try to switch to Teranews.

--
Walter

-
"Bryce" <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:g3momc$ski$...
> Walter R. wrote:
>
>> I have a 7 year old computer with XP pro Sp2. Pentium 4, 1.5 GB, 512 Ram.
>> It is running fine. My motherboard is an old MSI 845 pro. Everything is
>> running great, except I am running out of storage.
>>
>> The MainBoard has 4 IDE connections which are taken up by ATA C Drive
>> (master), ATA CD (master), 2 small ATA drives (slaves) for storage and
>> backup. It also has 4 USB-1 ports, two of which are used for printers.
>> There is no SATA port.
>>
>> I thought of inreasing storage by buying a 500 GB external USB hard
>> drive.
>> Is there any reason why this might not work in view of the fact that my
>> MB
>> has only USB-1 and no SATA connection and that all IDE connections are in
>> use?
>>
>> Will Windows recognize the full 500 GB through the USB connection?
>>
>> Thanks for your help
>>
> A USB-2 adapter card will make a BIG difference: about 40X faster for
> about $15US. Otherwise you would be better off to replace one of those
> existing small drives with a new big one.
>
> Hope you get to read this: Roadrunner will discontinue your usenet
> access tomorrow. You can still access newsgroups via Google Groups
> if you have the patience, or sign up for usenet access through a
> third party. I'm a RR customer using (free) motzarella.org to
> post this. Works great!
>
> Bryce