Disk Drives (HDD, CD/DVD, Blu-ray)

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:21:05 GMT

You too Bev - have a great weekend :)

and thanks to for all the help! ;)

Ric

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:36:06 GMT

Ric.

Thank's for the heads up.

The best you can do is disable the Backup option.

I have a 530 and intent to carry out a clean reinstall of Vista, whenever I have any spare time and delete all the partitions.

Have a great July 4th weekend.

Bev.

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:58:21 GMT

hi,

well, i'm up and running with thanks :)

only slight concern was i have no thermal grease for the processor, but there seemed to be quite a lot of grease left on the heatsink anyway?

next project will be to empty the 10GB backup 'D' to an external hard drive - is there any way to stop the D backing up everything, and only to back up crucial data please?

many thanks again - the upgrade should enhance my movie making: i edit on this pc but especially use it to compress files for upload, since it carries a software with the H264 codec which is absolutely brilliant! i prefer 'Adobe Premiere' edit software but the version i use is XP not Vista, but that doesn't prevent me from swopping a project from XP to Vista, after the initial capture.

thanks again!

Ric

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:16:29 GMT

shesagordie:

kr236rk

Sounds good.

Are you using the 'Quick Format' option?

Bev.

many thanks - hard drive now formatted and working - just saved 2 small files to it :)

'quick format'? ~ afraid i do not know what this is?

will update tomorrow

best regards

Ric

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:12:20 GMT

kr236rk

Sounds good.

Are you using the 'Quick Format' option?

Bev.

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:01:48 GMT

update

hastily removed Vista disc! :))

followed instructions - with thanks - for 2nd HDD installation: W/Digital HDD now formatting [rather slowly] ;)

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:35:17 GMT

shesagordie:

kr236rk:

shesagordie:

kr236rk

A SATA II hard drive will be fine, you will need to buy a SATA data cable, there should ba spare SATA power connector inside the case.

Personally, I would transfer the data on the 10gb D:/ to an external hard drive.

I use the following method to safe guard my data:

Using SATA two hard drives and an imaging utility, like Acronis, or Casper to image the C:/ drive to the secondary hard drive.

When there is a problem, all I need to do, is to swap the data cables and boot the system.

Then image the new C:/ to the corrupted second hard drive, creating a corrupt free image again.

Plus make regular backups of the files and folders to an USB external hard drive.

Bev.

update

just had the cover off the pc and checked all the connections again - the power cable might just stretch to where it shows on the Dell 531 instructions but this cable ends in a four pin plug - there are no four pin sockets or anything that i can see with four sockets???

still no sign of the 3rd hard drive - 'Computer' shows 'C' and backup 'D' and that's all :(

R

kr236rk

You have me confused, the Inspiron 531 motherboard supports only 4 SATA drives, usually 2 x SATA hard drives and 2 x SATA optical drives.

How many drives do you have installed?

There are no lagacy 4-pin Molex power connectors on the 531 wiring harness, only 4 x 15-pin SATA power connectors and 1 x Floppy drive connector.

Dell's documenation shows a 4-pin P7, this is the connector for floppy drive.

See HERE,

Bev.

have 2 optical drives

have HDD 'C'

have back up drive (tiny) 'D'

have spare slot for extra SATA Hard Drive - now occupied by WD 500GB HDD (currently inert)

am going to insert the Vista dvd and try to get the 531 to recognise the new HDD

will update

thanks

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:26:03 GMT

kr236rk:

shesagordie:

kr236rk

A SATA II hard drive will be fine, you will need to buy a SATA data cable, there should ba spare SATA power connector inside the case.

Personally, I would transfer the data on the 10gb D:/ to an external hard drive.

I use the following method to safe guard my data:

Using SATA two hard drives and an imaging utility, like Acronis, or Casper to image the C:/ drive to the secondary hard drive.

When there is a problem, all I need to do, is to swap the data cables and boot the system.

Then image the new C:/ to the corrupted second hard drive, creating a corrupt free image again.

Plus make regular backups of the files and folders to an USB external hard drive.

Bev.

update

just had the cover off the pc and checked all the connections again - the power cable might just stretch to where it shows on the Dell 531 instructions but this cable ends in a four pin plug - there are no four pin sockets or anything that i can see with four sockets???

still no sign of the 3rd hard drive - 'Computer' shows 'C' and backup 'D' and that's all :(

R

kr236rk

You have me confused, the Inspiron 531 motherboard supports only 4 SATA drives, usually 2 x SATA hard drives and 2 x SATA optical drives.

How many drives do you have installed?

There are no lagacy 4-pin Molex power connectors on the 531 wiring harness, only 4 x 15-pin SATA power connectors and 1 x Floppy drive connector.

Dell's documenation shows a 4-pin P7, this is the connector for floppy drive.

See HERE,

Bev.

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:57 GMT

kr236rk

You connect the SATA hard drive's power connector directly to the power supply's wiring harness, there should a spare SATA power connector inside the case for a second hard drive, the data cable is connected to the motherboard.

For more info, go HERE

After installing the drive, did you enter the system setup and check that the hard drive is 'enabled' [on]?

For Vista to recognize the second hard drive, it must be partitioned and formatted.

Instructions for installing an additional hard drive using Windows Vista Disk Management, check out the generic procedures HERE.

Bev.

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:56:46 GMT

shesagordie:

kr236rk

A SATA II hard drive will be fine, you will need to buy a SATA data cable, there should ba spare SATA power connector inside the case.

Personally, I would transfer the data on the 10gb D:/ to an external hard drive.

I use the following method to safe guard my data:

Using SATA two hard drives and an imaging utility, like Acronis, or Casper to image the C:/ drive to the secondary hard drive.

When there is a problem, all I need to do, is to swap the data cables and boot the system.

Then image the new C:/ to the corrupted second hard drive, creating a corrupt free image again.

Plus make regular backups of the files and folders to an USB external hard drive.

Bev.

update

just had the cover off the pc and checked all the connections again - the power cable might just stretch to where it shows on the Dell 531 instructions but this cable ends in a four pin plug - there are no four pin sockets or anything that i can see with four sockets???

still no sign of the 3rd hard drive - 'Computer' shows 'C' and backup 'D' and that's all :(

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:20:02 GMT

Hi,

some success! after a shaky start managed to boot up the 531 with new 5600 processor on board :)

but i fitted a new hard drive as well - a Sata II Western Digital 500GB - and no sign of it under 'Computer'?

also received two cables, a quite long red Serial ATA which i fitted as per the instructions, and also a ludicrously short HDD power cable, all generous 4 inches of it! However, the original HDD had a second empty power cable plug descending from it, so i used that; the power cable which turned up would not reach the power socket area on the mobo - is that where i went wrong? but what is the spare power plug for then, suspended directly over the spare HDD bay?

advice please

many thanks

Ric

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:11:24 GMT

it's great Bev, thanks - we have pulled my 531 back from the brink :) and souped up the hardware to boot!

i have a year 2000 P3 i upgraded the cpu for on eBay - was well pleased with myself - until the day came to buy an ethernet cable for the P3 after upgrading to broadband: the pc would not connect to the internet, no real reason, apart from the fact that Microsoft had 'done something' to the P3's net code to stop it making a connection: have you heard of this one? the pc is too slow to be much use now but MS really irritate me when they pull stunts like this; oh yes, they said there was a 'fix' for it, for a sum ...

but moan over - you certainly can pick up a bargain on the bay! :)

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:44:10 GMT

kr236rk

Happy to have helped and yep, there's plenty of external hard drives around.

Over the years, I've had good luck buying processors on eBay.

Bev.

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

kr236rk — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:23:15 GMT

ok thanks - although i need an external HDD to help the D:/ these processors look like they might not be around for too much longer - there were only 2 left in stock at ITC - external HDD's are not an endangered species ;)

will update / with many thanks: R

Re: internal hard drive upgrade: Inspiton 531 desktop vista 32 bit AMD64 2core?

shesagordie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:58:38 GMT

kr236rk

Yes, you would see a performance gain and it would a good upgrade.

Bev.