Killer Deal, but "Bare Drive Only"..Do I Need More??

[chuckiechan]

"Fry's" here in Calif has an IBM HDD 18.0 Gig, UDMA 66, 7200 RPM, 2Mg buffer. $199.00!
I figure this is an OEM item, less cables, etc. but are there and special drivers I will have trouble getting for WIN 98?? I have cables & such (unless UDMA 66 uses a different cable??)
I haven't bought the MB yet, I'm still collecting parts..
Am I digging a hole for myself??

I called Fry's and they said to use "f disk" in the windows start up disk, he said it was easy (now THAT scares me!). I am interested in IBM due to their reputation for quality and over all performance. I hope they don't unload "seconds" on Fry's...Thx2.

Thanks in advance....

[This message has been edited by chuckiechan (edited 10-05-99).]

[CMonster]

Hello chuckiechan;

If you haven't bought the motherboard yet then BIOS support for the new drive should not be a problem (since I assume you are buying a new board). Also Windows 98 (actually Win95b OSR2 and up) can support up to a 2TB (terabyte) drive. However, cluster size will go up as the partition size goes up so more space is wasted by slack, I suppose you could save some space by having partitions on that drive no larger than 8GB each.

UDMA 66 cables are highly recommended for this drive. They generally cost 5 times as much, usually about $20 for the cable, but it is money well spent. These cables have 2 conductors for every pin so you are insured a good quality connection.

Good luck on the build.

~edit: one more thing - if you buy it at Fry's you better test the drive while you can still take it back, or purchase the 2 year no quibble warranty for $30

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 10-03-99).]

[socalgal]

Hi chuckiechan ~

If your Fry's is like mine, sometimes they they won't include the software with the bare drive, so if they don't make sure you ask for it at the checkout window and they will give it to you.

There are mainboards out now that support UDMA/66 so you may want to look at those boards. Otherwise you'll be running at ATA/33 unless you get a controller card for ATA/66 such as the Promise Ultra 66.

Hope this helps!

ditto CMonster on testing anything from Fry's! /forum/wink.gif


~~EDIT: chuckiechan - did you get that drive? I was at Fry's and was told that IBM shipped no software with the drives. Did you get the same story?

[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 10-03-99).]

[MDHerman]

In addition to what's been written above, you may be able to download any needed software (drivers, bios overlays if appropriate, etc) from IBM site. Western Digital has such software downloads at its site, so I would think competitor IBM does as well. The cable by the way is a 40-80 cable: 40 extra ground wires for data integrity during transer, we are told...

[Roy]

The special ribbon cable is not required at 33MHz, but definitely is at 66. The 40 extra ground wires are between the data wires and serve as "shields" against crosstalk at the higher frequency.