newbie questions about hard disk

[ieh4f]

l have a compaq deskpro EXm of p3 733, running win98SE, it has only 10G hard disk space, so if l want to increase 30G to $40G to it, do l need to buy a new hard disk to replace the old one, or is there anyway jkust to add on the existing hard disk, if l dont want to back up the data? is there any limitation how many hard disk space a desktop can handle? how to check how many space my pc can handle/detect?

[waheed]

You need to reprase your question. I cant quite understand it. If a hard disk has, say 30 GB capacity, then that is the maximum; you cant add extra capacity to that. Otherwise, you are looking at a new hard drive. Try deleting some unwanted data, or backup your data to another medium (eg dvdr) to free up some space.

As long as your motherboard has a spare IDE slot, you can add an additional hard disk without replacing your existing one.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Windows '98 will only recognize an added hard drive if it is under a certain size (I don't remember what the limit was). I'm sure that by now there is an update/service pack to correct this.

You cannot make a 10G hard drive bigger, if that's what you're asking.
I would strongly recommend buying a new hard drive and installing it as your C: (Main) drive, as there is no way in hell that your 10G hard drive is a 7200RPM.
After you've gotten Windows installed on your new HD, install your 10G as a 'back up drive"

Then again, if you don't have the Windows install disk, just stick a new HD in there as a secondary and fire it up.

[ROF]

The compaq deskpro with Win98 installed is limited to 32GB. The normal capacity for a home build with those specs would be 37GB but Deskpro BIOS will limit you to 32GB no matter size drive you put into it or no matter what OS you use. You can't increase the physical drive space beyond it's rated capacity. You can open windows explorer and click on my computer. Make sure at the top you select view/details. This will display the total size and free space of all hard drive partitions inside your machine. This deskpro shipped with either a 20GB or 10GB hard drive depending on your model number. If you only have the stock hard drive and stock optical drive you can add one more 30GB hard drive or one other optical drive. Your power supply can not support more than 3 internal drives maximum. If you wanted to buy another hard drive look for a 30GB UltraATA 100 hard drive. You could buy a UltraATA 133 hard drive but your bus only supports a maximum of 100 so the drive would be limited to that. You'd also need to buy a drive that comes with an IDE cable or purchase one separately that supports two drives. Your deskpro has two cables (those large ribbon looking things) with only one connector on each. You'd replace one of those with a 2 connector cable and connect your hard drive and either of the other devices together in a slave/master configuration.

Sorry for all the info as I've probably confused you. If you need something explained further just ask.

[ieh4f]

if l add an additional hard disk to my pc case, let say 30G, do l have to install an extra windows into the new drive as well?, or do they share the same windows with my existing 10G drive, so that l have 40G in total? and could you explain more clearly on checking how many more G can l install inside my pc by wondows explorer/BIOS?

[Craig Tucker]

No you only need windows installed on your boot drive.

[ROF]

if l add an additional hard disk to my pc case, let say 30G, do l have to install an extra windows into the new drive as well?, or do they share the same windows with my existing 10G drive, so that l have 40G in total? and could you explain more clearly on checking how many more G can l install inside my pc by wondows explorer/BIOS?

No, but you will need to enter disk manager(control panel/admin services) and partition and format to new drive. Once you do this if you open up windows explorer you will see your new drive and your old drive. If you select my computer in windows explorer and make sure the view setting(at the top) is set to details you will see each drive listed with total size of each drive. You can also get this info and a pie chart readout by right clicking on the drive and selecting properties.

I don't know if Compaq still lists this PCs specs(it's quite old) on their website but you could check there to confirm the max specs I provided above. Windows 98 limits disks to 37GB however your computer has other limits attached to it assigned at the factory(in your BIOS). The limit for your machine is 32GB per disc. There is no BIOS setting or read out that will display/change this.

[kschang]

You can "sorta" make the drive bigger by partitioning the new drive first, into a 32 GB chuck and someother chunk, then use one of those migration programs like DriveCopy or similar programs to move everything from your older 10 GB HD to the new HD's 32 GB partition. Then swap the HD's and you will "sorta" have increased your C: drive's capacity.

But it appears that you are missing an bit understanding on how PC work on the fundamental level, which indicates to me that you should pay an expert to do the upgrade for you rather than attempting this yourself.