Detecting SATA/IDE remotely (and more!)

[kryters]

Hello there,

This may seem like my first post, but I do remember being a semi-active member of these forums a number of years ago. I couldn't find any traces of my profile, so I just created a new one. Thanks to those who helped me in the past!

My parents wish to upgrade the family computer. By my reckoning, it needs a new hard drive and a RAM upgrade to make it snappier. The computer is approaching 8 years, and is quite noisy, and I am guessing the (metallic whirring) sound is the onset of hard drive failure. I know hard drives have a service life of around 6 years, so it is nice that it has come this far. I am wondering if this is the only reason why the computer is so slow. At one point, the drive was filled up completely, but now it sits at 30GB out of 40GB full (10GB free, to clarify that). I wonder this because I wish to replace the HD and the RAM - but not the processor. If I were to try that, it'd probably be more effective to just get a brand new machine.

I just think that the processor is good enough to keep on going. The specs are: Intel Pentium 4 1.66GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive. Is there anything I'm not thinking about that may affect the overall speed of the machine? Would you advise keeping a fairly reasonable (but aged) processor in service?

So, if I'm going to be replacing the hard drive, I have another problem. I actually don't live in my parents house any more as I am at university, but I need to know how I'm going to connect the new HD to the motherboard, and I don't know what slots it has. Is there any way I can find out remotely what slots are available, and if they are SATA or IDE? I already (by getting my mum to flip through the BIOS) know the current hard drive is IDE, so if I try to connect my new SATA drive to the slot it was previously in, it won't fit. Is there a way to connect a new SATAII drive to an old IDE port without any loss of performance? And finally, if it is required for me to buy a new motherboard, are there any current models you recommend?

So, to recap (I fear the above is a bit tl;dr):

■Apart from RAM and an ageing (and possibly fragmented) hard drive, is there anything else that may cause an older computer to run slow?
■Would you advise keeping an old processor running?
■Can I find out, remotely, what slots are available on a motherboard, and if they are IDE or SATA?
■Can I connect a new SATAII hard drive to an IDE port without any loss of performance?
■Any good motherboards out there?

 

[bgd73]

to stay cheap, get an 865 chipset mobo and verify ata100 drive speed. the whirring noise is not service life i could guess wd400bb, or whatever. it is simply a crap drive. doubling ram to the same chips twice is very nice as well.

the ata 100s at 8mb buffers are nice, that setup you have is almost frustrating, but the 865 chipset can get it through to the end of your use for it. just plug in cpu and memory and everything and go with it.

the cpu can be replaced for next to nil, even a 533 bus with 4gb addressable (2.4b) is dirt cheap and stays big.

the numbers can get confusing however, be careful.
for example
1mb l2 cache should stay in the 800mhz fsb cpus, and there is a 2.4a that has it on the 533 bus...that is just one goofy thing to run into.

I still run p4s for the pin grid array..and plan to until I cannot run them no more.

new stuff is crazier than a slot1 these days....

to simplify my babble, check to see if you have 865 chipset, and then go shop for an 8mb buffer drive...that should do alright cheaply.