Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (
More info?)
Windows did it just fine for me booting from the CD when I did this a
few months ago. If the drive isn't partitioned and formatted, Windows setup
will drop you out to the appropriate DOS utilities. It was a bit obtuse, but
I managed. I set up two partitions, one for OS and software and one for
data.
--
Thomas M. Goethe
"Michael" <please-ask-me@ask.com> wrote in message
news:uygEc.9209$Pt.3671@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...
> Everyone,
>
> Thanks much for the input. Only one issue remains for me--partitioning
and
> formatting the new drive. This sort of relates back to my bare drive
> question ("Is it safe to buy a "bare" hard drive?") Assuming WinXP home
is
> going back on the box when done, and assuming I don't want to buy a copy
of
> Partition Magic (ok, I am trying to save money), this means I have to use
> FDISK and FORMAT, I think, if the drive itself comes with no disks. The
> only snag is it has been several millennia since I have used these
> utilities.
>
> And it seems like Windows XP lacks facilities for making a restore disk.
> How does one handle the partition and format side of this problem?
>
> Mike
>
>
> "J. Clarke" <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:cbqiff01rqn@news1.newsguy.com...
> > Michael wrote:
> >
> > > Guys,
> > >
> > > [blows whistle sharply]
> > >
> > > I didn't mean to start a flame war here!
> >
> > It's a religious issue for some. Like gun control, once the battle is
> > joined all signal becomes lost in the noise.
> >
> > > And really the
> > > Deskstar/Deathstar
> > > debate is beyond the scope of my discussion. I am just trying to buy
a
> > > **laptop** hard drive. I see lots of you like the zipzoomfly.com
> website
> > > and their prices look very good. But I am a newbie here with laptops.
> Am
> > > I
> > > safe buying from zipzoomfly? And apparently they sell at really good
> > > prices. I just wonder about buying a "bare" hard drive...is this
> > > safe...is it just a matter of locating the documentation online?
> >
> > Generally speaking a "bare" drive is fine. I've only bought from
> zipzoomfly
> > a couple of times--the produce arrived as expected and worked
fine--don't
> > know how their returns are. You might want to check their rating at
> > <http://www.resellerratings.com>.
> >
> > > Also, in general, should I be able to return a drive that doesn't work
> due
> > > to compatibility reasons...or is buying such drives more like buying
> > > RAM--once you buy it, you own it?
> >
> > Depends on the store's policy and on whether the manufactuer guarantees
> > compatibility with a particular machine. <http://www.newegg.com> will
> > accept nondefective returns with a 15% restocking fee, and generally has
> > pretty good prices as well.
> >
> > The particular drive you have is a UDMA/100 drive, which is the next to
> the
> > latest release of parallel ATA, so a current-generation drive should
work
> > fine--the ATA interface is supposed to be backward-compatible and
usually
> > is unless you're dealing with a pretty old machine that was built before
> > all the bugs in the interface standard got worked out. You _may_ hit a
> > 32-gig BIOS limitation--that shouldn't cause problems, you just won't
get
> > the full capacity of a drive larger than that size.
> >
> > Do however check the drive specifications for power consumption--laptops
> are
> > especially sensitive in that area and you want a drive with about the
same
> > power consumption as the old one.
> >
> > According to froogle several vendors have the exact drive in stock,
> however
> > they're all used.
> >
> > Also, don't know if anybody has made this clear--a few years ago IBM
spun
> > off their drive division to Hitachi (the actual deal was more
complicated
> > than that but that's the gist of it)--that's why your IBM drive is
listed
> > on the Hitachi site.
> >
> >
> >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > > "Dan Foster" <usenet@evilphb.org> wrote in message
> > > news:slrnce14q1.1ae.usenet@gaia.roc2.gblx.net...
> > >> In article <otp0e05082j8n7eog9f3vonfj71kpup1jv@4ax.com>, chrisv
> > > <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> > >> >>IBM fixed these 75GXP issues a few years ago, well before they sold
> the
> > >> >>disk storage division to Hitachi... but you know how people are --
> > >> >>burnt badly once, twice shy. Can't say I blame them. So the 75GXP
> > >> >>failures (as with any spectacular failure) has a rather long
> > >> >>shelf-life, apparently.
> > >
> > >> >
> > >> > Utter nonsense. The 75GXP is very relaible and a few wackos have a
> > >> > posting history of such anti-IBM slime like you.
> > >>
> > >> That's pretty funny because I've got a fixed 75GXP in my main
> > >> workstation (where I'm composing this), and the servers that I run
are
> > >> 49% IBM-based... figure about 500-600 IBM drives? My co-workers also
> > >> sometimes accuse me of being way too pro-IBM.
> > >>
> > >> My 75GXP drive in this workstation:
> > >>
> > >> # smartctl -P show /dev/hda
> > >> smartctl version 5.26 Copyright (C) 2002-3 Bruce Allen
> > >> Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
> > >>
> > >> Drive found in smartmontools Database. Drive identity strings:
> > >> MODEL: IBM-DTLA-307075
> > >> FIRMWARE: TXAOA50C
> > >>
> > >> For the server class HDs that I have, the longevity is about the same
> > >> amongst the various manufacturers I have, IBM included -- typically
> > >> about 5-6 years for the 10K RPM server class SCSI drives that I
have...
> > >> but we weren't discussing *these*.
> > >>
> > >> You ever looked at the 75GXP firmware fix list? Any of them look like
> > >> direct responses to the observed issues?
> > >>
> > >> I don't think dealers would be pulling a product off their shelves
(at
> > >> the time) for a non-existent phantom issue. It's not a bad product
per
> > >> se, just had real teething problems for a while... eventually the
issue
> > >> got straightened out. I've got no issues in buying new 75GXPs today,
as
> > >> you can see from the fact that I have one in this machine.
> > >>
> > >> Before IBM sold the disk business to Hitachi, they would come out
with
> > >> frequent revisions to disk firmware -- I'd apply updates to the
server
> > >> class drives that I had. I didn't take it to be a negative issue; the
> > >> problems they fixed were mostly minor, or the occasional major one
that
> > >> wasn't easy to trigger in normal conditions. The 75GXP issue was
> > >> different in that it was apparently pretty easily triggered for many.
> > >>
> > >> IBM makes pretty good stuff, but they're not immune to the occasional
> > >> goof. That's just a fact of life in engineering, for most any
consumer
> > >> product.
> > >>
> > >> I have no agenda, other than to point out my honest recollections.
I'm
> > >> too busy running several hundred servers and supporting tens of
> > >> thousands of users to have time for silly agendas, sorry.
> > >>
> > >> I also have no affilitation with any storage vendor other than as a
> > >> customer.
> > >>
> > >> -Dan
> >
> > --
> > --John
> > Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
> > (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
>
>