Putting a 20GB Hd in an old Pentium 150

bigben2k · 05-27-2002, 12:23 PM

The hard drive in my wife's computer died, so I picked up the cheapest thing I could find: a Maxtor 540DX (541 actually) 20GB.

The thing is, this computer isn't designed to handle such a drive...
The mobo is an AOpen AP5VM, with an AMIBIOS (rev 2.4).

Maxtor's site isn't very helpful.

I'll let ya'll know how I'm doing... but if anyone has a tip, I'll take it!

bigben2k · 05-27-2002, 12:44 PM

On second thought...

I'm just going to pickup an IDE controller, and let the drive run at ATA100. Simpler, faster, and MUCH easier!!!

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/ultra100.html

jtroutma · 05-27-2002, 01:44 PM

Just use a BIOS software utility to trick the BIOS into thinking the drive is only say 2GB in size and the software will still use the full 20GB. I have like 3 different programs which will easily be able to do that job and with NO extra money. Check the floppy you should have gottent with the drive, it SHOULD have such a utility.

bigben2k · 05-28-2002, 08:04 AM

Well, I'm forking out the $30 and filing this under "I'm too old for this s*it".

05-27-2002, 12:23 PM	#1
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	Putting a 20GB Hd in an old Pentium 150 The hard drive in my wife's computer died, so I picked up the cheapest thing I could find: a Maxtor 540DX (541 actually) 20GB. The thing is, this computer isn't designed to handle such a drive... The mobo is an AOpen AP5VM, with an AMIBIOS (rev 2.4). Maxtor's site isn't very helpful. I'll let ya'll know how I'm doing... but if anyone has a tip, I'll take it! __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

05-27-2002, 12:44 PM	#2
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	On second thought... I'm just going to pickup an IDE controller, and let the drive run at ATA100. Simpler, faster, and MUCH easier!!! http://store.yahoo.com/directron/ultra100.html __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

05-27-2002, 01:44 PM	#3
jtroutma Cooling Savant Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: SLO, CA Posts: 837	Just use a BIOS software utility to trick the BIOS into thinking the drive is only say 2GB in size and the software will still use the full 20GB. I have like 3 different programs which will easily be able to do that job and with NO extra money. Check the floppy you should have gottent with the drive, it SHOULD have such a utility. __________________ Athlon64 X2 4200+ @ 2.5Ghz (250FSB x 10) OCZ VX 1GB 4000 @ 250FSB (6-2-2-2 timmings) DFI LANParty nForce4 Ultra-D SCSI Raid 5 x (3) Cheetah 15K HDDs LSI Express 500 (128MB cache) OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU ATI X850XT PE (Stock) DTEK WhiteWater + DTEK Custom Radiator Eheim 1250

05-28-2002, 08:04 AM	#4
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	Well, I'm forking out the $30 and filing this under "I'm too old for this s*it". __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

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