My Dell Desktop Dimension 4550 is on its last legs. I have erased the hard drive twice and reloaded with the factory software. Windows XP etc etc. I really do not want to buy a new computer for economic reasons (Son starting college) and I want to learn more about how to build computers and stuff. I was thinking about just buying a new "up to date" hard drive and rebuilding my computer. So my question is will most hard drives fit into a normal desktop chassis? What is a good hard drive? I looked at the Sun Micro Systems products and the price was right for what I wanted.
Any input would be great. :-\
Bill L2,
For the easiest replacement you will need to replace the old hard drive with a similar type, such as IDE or EIDE (these are actually the same.) If your machine is older, that is probably what you already have in it. You need to get a 3.5 inch hard drive, with large enough capacity to accommodate the operating system and any data. These days a 500 MB should be more than enough.
Seagate makes the best hard drives, though Western Digital is also doing a fine job also. Maxtor is owned by Seagate and Hitachis can be problematic. That being said, it is possible to get a clunker from anyone.
Tiger Direct or Newegg are good sources for hard drives, having a good selection and good prices. As for you mentioning Sun Microsytems, they don't exist anymore - and never sold aftermarket hard drives.
I hope this helps.
Ted
Bill,
One of our category sponsors and contest attendee 'B&B Computing Services Inc' will be on hand to help out. ;)
HTH
Thanks guys.
Ted you are right. I was thinking of Sea gate not Sun. Duhh. So I should find out what is in the computer right now and look for something comparable?
And thanks Ryan and I will look for them at RDUCON
LOL - Bill, I am B&B Computing Services, Inc.
Ted gave you some good advice. The rest of the story is memory. How much do you have and how much will the machine support. make sure you run Malwarebytes anti-malware from time to time.
I can look up the specs for your Dell Dimension 4550 and make some recommendations after that.
Bill L.
LOL Bill L is B&B ;D
Thats classic Ryan. You got me. Ha ha. Okay Bill I will get with you Saturday
Mr. B&B ;D
Quote from: Bill L2 on Sun 05/08/11 08:19 PM
LOL Bill L is B&B ;D
Thats classic Ryan. You got me. Ha ha. Okay Bill I will get with you Saturday
Mr. B&B ;D
What? I am marketing our sponsors. ;D
Apparently! I can work with that!
Bill L.
Bill
Sell it, give it away... whatever. The motherboard BIOS only supports 1GB.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4550/specs.htm
Computers are so inexpensive these days, it's hard to buy parts and not have it cost more than a decent PC.
FYI - I'm not talking about Apple computers, which, in today's market are at a premium.
Look on newegg.com or tigerdirect.com (compusa.com) for their deals on Lenovo ASUS or Toshiba Laptops. Dell's and HP may have good prices but I'm constantly repairing them. (consumer grade models).
As for desktops, they're all pretty much the same, though I still favor Lenovo (former IBM) in value.
If you want to tell me what you're looking for I'd be happy to put some options together.
Bill L. (B&B Computing Services, INC.)
Let's take this conversation off forum. Email me direct - 'bill@bbcomputingsvc.com'