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Worth putting an old HDD into a new computer?

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  • Hard Drives
  • SATA
  • Computer
  • Storage
Last response: in Storage
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February 21, 2011 4:39:21 PM

Hi!

I recently got a brand new computer that I run with two Samsung SATA hard drives 320GB and 1TB in size.

Now I have an older HDD lying around that uses the older IDE flat cable instead of the newer SATA cable. I thought I might aswell put it to good use, but a friend of mine told me that adding an IDE drive to my computer would slow it down if I only ran SATA drives before. Is this true, is it worth adding the extra storage space to my computer?

It's a Seagate Barracuda ATA IV ST340016A and Its size is 40GB, looks just like the one to the left in the picture below.

Also, do I need to put any pins at all for Master/Slave if it's the only IDE drive I run? If so what should I put it as if my partitioned 1TB HDD is the one I boot Windows from.

More about : worth putting hdd computer

a c 415 G Storage
February 21, 2011 5:14:46 PM

A slower IDE hard drive won't slow down your other drives - you just want to avoid putting performance-critical files (like the OS) onto it. It will take longer to access files on the IDE drive, but files on the SATA drives will be able to be accessed just as quickly as before.

When an IDE drive is the only one attached to the cable that connects to the IDE port it should be set to the "Master" or "Only" drive setting.

Of course you'll only be able to use the drive if your motherboard happens to have an IDE port on it.
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February 21, 2011 5:19:16 PM

^+1 It's okay if it's only as storage for personal files, but 40gb nowadays doesn't even work for backup, not worth the extra heat and cable clutter in your case, some older drives are also loud as hell.
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a b G Storage
February 21, 2011 5:26:07 PM

+1 to wiinippongamer

At 40GB's it's not worth puting in your nice new computer.
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