HELP needed with the installation of a second Hard Drive!

[gary11364]

I am buying a New Dell E520 computer with the following configuration:
1-Intel Core 2 E6320 duo Processor( 4MB L2 cache, 1.86GHZ, 1066FSB)
2-XP Home OS.
3-2GB memory.
4-250GB Serial ATA HD(7200RPM)
5-Dual DVD drives.
6-256MB Video Card.
7-I will be using it for encoding, Burning DVDs.
I am going to add a second HD. I am considering the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive.

What are your thoughts on this and is there anything else that I should consider?
Thanks in advance!!

[edsmith77]

Not to much to worry aobut save a couple of items.
1. you do have an extra power connector to plug into the HDD
2. you do have a second SATA MOBO connector.
3. you do have storage space inside the desk top case to hold the new hdd

Aside from these items you should not have any problems. The OS should detect the new drive and if not formatted ask you to format the drive.

[Krispy Kritter]

Or since you are apparently already spending extra money with Dell to customize a pc, just have them add the 2nd HD.

[gary11364]

I was mainly concerned about a possible heat problem. I am buying a Dell because this will be my third one and they seem to be well made and seem to be made for expansion.

[redwudz]

If your case has the option of a intake fan in front of the hard drives, that might be worth considering. Blowing air across the hard drives will keep their temperatures down, and helps with airflow through the case. SATA hard drives generally run cooler than PATA drives. The main heat producer in newer computers seems to be the video card.

Does that motherboard support SATA 2? SATA 2 drives are backwards compatible with SATA 1 controllers, but SATA 2 controllers will give you the best performance.

If you are encoding, I would look into a faster CPU, if your budget supports it. CPU speed sets the encode speed. Memory and drives have very little effect on it. Video cards have no effect.