does my pc support 3tb hdd?

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akv123

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i have old pc, not much in use
zotac g31 motherboard
2gb ddr2 800mhz
q8300 cpu
500gb hdd
now it's running windows xp, but maybe tomorrow if needed i will get windows 7 64 bit (not sure even if the system support it)
1. i want to add 3tb hdd for security cameras. will my system support this?
2. do you thinik it's worth to replace the 500gb in samsung ssd 120gb evo? the system runs very slow when switching between opened apps
 
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christinebcw
AKV, I would not spend new dollars on this machine. If you want to set it up as a security-camera machine, it can handle that. It should handle hard-drives up to 2Tb capacities (which are $90) but I am certain it will not handle a larger-than-2Tb-capacity HDD.

Do you have any security-camera software now? Some video-recording? If so, then I'd dedicate this unit to that project.

Your expenses would not result in a substantial boost - the motherboard's SATA controller has limits that prevent Best Speeds of the SSD, and once software is running (once a program is loaded), the SSD's speed won't be noticed - you would only notice "Software Running In 2Gb DDR2 Memory & CPU". The SSD won't have a substantial impact except in restarts...
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christinebcw

christinebcw

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AKV, I would not spend new dollars on this machine. If you want to set it up as a security-camera machine, it can handle that. It should handle hard-drives up to 2Tb capacities (which are $90) but I am certain it will not handle a larger-than-2Tb-capacity HDD.

Do you have any security-camera software now? Some video-recording? If so, then I'd dedicate this unit to that project.

Your expenses would not result in a substantial boost - the motherboard's SATA controller has limits that prevent Best Speeds of the SSD, and once software is running (once a program is loaded), the SSD's speed won't be noticed - you would only notice "Software Running In 2Gb DDR2 Memory & CPU". The SSD won't have a substantial impact except in restarts and the program loading time, but it will be a substantial dollar expenditure. (Samsung does not recommend using XP with their SSDs, by the way, because their SSDs have features that use commands issued by newer OSs and memory-controllers.)

I'd put those dollars into a newer computer instead.

You could spend money to double the RAM (up to the max of 4Gb) but with a Win7 installation - and I see that Zotac offers Win7-64 drivers - it would be running max'd-out yet still near Win7 minimal levels.

I am keeping two XP boxes running because the software and video-recording cards are top-notch, never improved and, actually, DEproved over time. The half-a-dozen 'updates' to those software packages strip more and more services away, making them true, functional downgrades, not upgrades one bit.
 
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akv123

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thank you very much for great answer
right now, the pc is running the recording software and it works pretty good, with low cpu, i think 3% cpu for just recording (without live view). it is running on the main 500gb hdd and i think that is one of the reasons that it's running slowly, so anyway i need second hard drive for recording only also because 500 is not enough. for my system 2tb is for 2 weeks, that can be enough for me.
do you reccomend me to get the 2tb hdd, i want the seagate ST2000DM001, you think this will work? i already tried 3tb of seagate and it showed me 746gb on the system so i returned it but they will not allow me again to return after i open it.
and do you reccomend me to upgrade to windows 7 or stay with the xp?
 
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christinebcw

christinebcw

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I would stay with XP. Use it as a single purpose machine, you've got all the software installed on it, and save the money for another, every-day ordinary-use computer.

We use that Seagate DM001 drive in thousands of systems; it's a fairly quick drive (7200rpm). The 3tb drive isn't a total loss BUT I'd be reluctant to use it in this PC. But it could be.

There are trick-software packages that can use that first 746Gb "main partition" and then will trick XP (and 32-bit operating systems, motherboards, etc) into accepting a 2.3Gb second-partition. So it could be a 2 partition drive.

The only problem is that, the Trick Software is sort of like encryption or a translator - and if there's a problem with this drive, OR THAT COMPUTER, then that drive's contents might be lost.

I would set this drive aside and save it for The Next Computer. There's always a next one-!

But, I hafta tell ya, I can certainly understand someone wanting to experiment with this 3Tb drive... but view it like you would gambling - don't put anything on it that you couldn't afford to lose.
 
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akv123

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thank you all very much. sorry for the delay.
the security cameras were installed already but at the end, i installed windows 7 instead of the xp. the pc was making reboots so i needed to re install windows anyway. i also added 2tb seagate hdd. at seagate support they told me that 3tb will work but only with their software and with multiple partitions up to 2.2tb per partition as christinebcw said, and they recommend me to get 2tb and not 3tb
http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/discwizard/
so now i have windows 7 64bit, security software is installed, 500gb main + 2tb secondary for the recording. i only need now additional 2gb of ram. any recommendation?
i need ddr2 up 800mhz. found on this website in good priced. what's better?
http://www.memoryamerica.com/kvr800d2n6-2g.html
or
http://www.memoryamerica.com/d225664800st.html

or maybe other model:
http://www.memoryamerica.com/memory-shop-by-type-ddr2-memory-long-dimm-240-pin.html
 
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christinebcw

christinebcw

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If you have a local RAM seller, I might use them so that, if you don't get 'working RAM', it's easier to take back. OR... if you can pull out your current RAM sticks and get closely-identical values ("CL6" is a latency value - "How fast does this memory stick flush and refresh its contents?").

Sometimes, this value is denoted as "C" instead of "CL" by the way - C8, C6, C7. If you can't, something closer will result in better performance.

That "2Tb" issue was for The Boot Drive Only, by the way. You could have used the 2Tb Drive - all of it - as your C: Drive, in this case. But 2Tb drives will be survivors into the future, as well, with a greater number of uses in future computers. One day, those 500Gb drives will be considered 'chump change' and if you think of using it, someone might say, "Why bother? Win 15 takes up 450Gb itself!" gag... oh yeah, the good ol' days again... ha ha
 
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akv123

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yes, they also told me that as a secondary hdd of 2tb there will be no problem
there are local sellers but not many models and more expensive
the pc now has "patriot 2g PC2-6400 CL5" model: PSD22G8002
so i should not mix CL5 with CL6?
what memory should i get?
thank you
 
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christinebcw

christinebcw

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If I could find CL5, that would be a preference. Over on a site like NewEgg, I can look for Desktop Memory, DDR2 6400 and specify "CL5" and get results that look similar to this.

GSkill is a decent brand name; so's Mushkin, Corsair. AllAmerican and PNY might be lesser-known, but these are all re-branders - they will be buying this from some assembler who gathers these parts from ?? actual manufacturers.
 
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