What hard drive?

[kelfoan]

I'm adding a PATA hard drive and was advised that Western Digital are a decent product. Once I have decided on the size (probably 320GB) I then need to know which model. This is where I am confused.
There is a WD 320 0AAJB and also a WD 320 0AVJB. What is the difference, and how do I know which one to order. There is also a WD 500 0AAKB if i want a bigger one. I am complete novice so any advice appreciated

[beso]

I didn't realise they still made PATA hard drives since SATA has been around for quite a while now. How old is your computer? Unless it is several years old it probably has SATA ports too.

I don't know the difference in models but WD do make a drive that is actually a 2.5 inch drive (usually found in laptops) inside a frame that allows it to be mounted in a 3.5 inch slot.

[ChuckFickens]

You say you are "adding" a hard drive, in which case I assume it's going to be used as extra storage and not as a main drive your system runs off?

If that is the case then I wouldn't get too hung up on the exact brand or model of drive to get, just get any brand hard drive of the size you require and with a 7200RPM spindle speed and it will do the job of providing extra storage as well as any other drive. put simply you don't need the fastest drive on the market to hold few pictures or documents.

My advice would be to worry more about how you are going to be backing up the contents of the drive once it's fitted than the actual drive you'll be fitting.

[VHG]

Note that if they are PATA Drives and you are adding a second one to your desktop PC you need understand about Master / Slave settings.

Most desktop computers have two PATA (IDE) connectors, and each IDE connector can have two devices on it. So you can have a total of 4 PATA (IDE) devices in a PC.

When you have two PATA (IDE) devices on the same IDE connector one needs to be set as the master and one as the slave.

Your existing desktop probably has two IDE devices at the moment, your hard disk and your CD/DVD drive. Before adding a new hard drive to your desktop you need to find out how these devices are connected up.

If your existing hard drive and CD/DVD drive are on the SAME IDE connector then one devices will be the master the other the salve. So you need to add your new hard drive on the other IDE connector and set it as the master. You may need to buy a new IDE cable.

But if your existing hard drive is on one IDE connector (as the master) and the CD/DVD drive is on the other IDE connector (also as the master) then you will need to add the new hard drive to one or the other of these IDE connectors as a slave.

You may also need to buy a new IDE cable that allows you to conect two devices to it as your existing IDE cables may only allow one device to be connected.

This may also sound very complicated, but it isnt really, however you do need to understand it if you are adding new devices.

[VHG]

Here is an example of a simple IDE cable that can have only one device on it. One end plugs into the motherboard, the other into your device (hard drive or CD/DVD drive)

http://www.shuttersto...white-background.html

And here is an examp[le of an IDE cable that can have two devices on it (note the extra connector in the middle).

One end goes in the motherboard (blue end), the master device goes at the end of the cable (black), the slave device connects to the midle of the cable (grey).

http://www.tacticalpa...omputer/ide_cable.png

You need to see what IDE cables your computer has and you may need to change your existijng simple IDE cable to one that can take two devices.

[kelfoan]

Many thanks for al of your informative answers.