Thetownend.com

does anyone own or have any experience of using one of these?

i'm thinking of getting this one as my laptop only has 20gb:

http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=3446&referrerid=WS

No but some computer geek told me you save ££ if you buy an internal hard drive and an external case (with USB connectors) and put the hard drive in the case. Apparently internal hard drives cost nearly half as much and the case isnt much. Don't really know the technical side of things but I guess you could look it up on t'internet or I could ask the geek how to do it

you need 1 x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Removable_Hard_Drive_Racks.html

(Ice Box down the bottom)

23.49 inc vat

and

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/maxtor_ide.html

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB 6Y160PO ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-012-MD)

£57.52

save about 20/30 quid. with that money you could get a bigger disk drive, watch some football, buy some porn or get drunk/high. Your choice.

 :doobie

Yeh what Whits said he knows what he's talking bout (unlike me)  8)
Wow 300GB thats a lot more disk for your £  :D

i've got 80gb of rubbish on one hard disk and my 40gb is filling up. If anyone has a spare hard drive kicking about feel free to donate! I'll set up a server with all my porn + music vids!

You have to be careful what type you buy. You have to get the rpm's to match ro something like that.  Other than that i wouldn't have a clue about it

Cheers, Whits, I'll look into it.

im 99% sure that will work, never done it before but according to the specs  it will all fit together

all delivered a couple of days ago and have just got round to trying it out.

one problem though, i've put the hdd in the external box, plugged in the power and data cables to the hdd/plug/laptop. it's a usb connection. i can hear the hdd working away and the box lights up. when the usb is plugged in to the laptop, it recognises it and tells me it can perform faster (i have 2 usb ports, tried it in both) but definitely knows that there's a "mass usb storage device" attached. however, the external hdd is nowhere to be seen in 'my computer' or windows explorer. according to the instructions provided, as i'm running xp it should recognise the new drive when i plug it in and display it in my computer, i've also tried using the cd to install drivers which should only be needed for win98, but that didnt work either. i've also tried moving the jumper on the hdd to all 3 of the positions (master/slave/whatever) possible.

any ideas, whits or others?

have a gander  @ http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1150023,00.asp

just follow the instructions, might be to do with the master/slave settings on the drive but it covers it on the above.

did you go for the icy box?

http://modtown.co.uk/mt/review2.php?id=icybox&p=4 guide on installation but doesn't really say what to do if its not workin

it's set to master.

yes, i got the icy box.

i bought this for the extra storage but also because my laptop could do with being reformatted. i was going to move all of my stuff over to the new hdd and then do it but this means i can't. i can't archive my stuff to cd and then do it as my cd burner is playing up. my laptop's got driver problems (which probably contribute to the new hdd and existing cdrw drive not working).

just got his off the icy box website

Q: I installed a Seagate 160Gb HDD as instructed, but when i turn it on it lights up then just flashes/beeps at me like it hasn't enough power going to the drive, the drive is ATA 100 160Gb which is apparently supported by the enclosure as it supports "big drives >250Gb".
A:
 The HDD that you have bought and tried to use with the Icy Box is compatible. The Icy Box will take all IDE ATA 100/133 HDD up to 330GB, so it is clearly not a compatibility issue. Firstly, please ensure that you have partitioned the new HDD as brand new HDD aren't initially partitioned. Secondly with Windows it does not recognise drives larger than 137 Gigabytes in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and XP Service Pack 1. So if Windows does not recognise your HDD as it should this is the reason why the light might be constantly flashing. To solve this problem you will have to search the Seagate website for the utility that takes the guess work out of editing the Windows registry. I know with Maxtor they provide a utility called Big Drive Enabler, link as follow: Maxtor


http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/ATA%20Hard%20Drives&downloadID=11

Maxtor's Big Drive Enabler is a one step executable that enables support for drives larger than 137 Gigabytes in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and XP Service Pack 1. This utility takes the guess work out of editing the Windows registry. The Big Drive Enabler fixes an operating system limitation. This utility is needed anytime a Hard Disk Drive larger than 137 GB is connected to the motherboard's ATA bus, regardless of any system BIOS that supports 48-bit LBA.

That link above should be the baby - "big drive enabler" (if you went for the maxtor drive?)

oh testicles. i thought that was the one too, but when i run it, it says i've already got it enabled. feck.

the only other thing i think of is the formatting of the drive, have you tried plugging the drive into someone elses pc and formatting it?

try M$'s answer - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

i'm going to get this sorted by the end of today!!

This is the guide to doing the partition/format Should make it visible

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1335&p_created=1042574998&p_sid=BUnDEoth&p_lva=960&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MzQyJnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9c2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0mcF9jYXRfbHZsMT04MyZwX2NhdF9sdmwyPSZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=

its currently formatting now and that should sort it.

cheers whits, top bloke once again. i owe you a few drinks should we ever meet.

hurrah!! glad its getting sorted fella!

let us know when your converting to the mighty reds and you can buy me a pint at your first game  :wink:

one more question then please whits.

when i plug in the hdd it tells me it can run faster and that i need a high-speed usb hub to achieve this. do i just need a 2.0 usb hub like this one and then it'll run faster?:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=3920693016&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=72374

You don't need the hub.

it depends on the speed of cable supplied with the HD enclosure and the speed of the USB port on your computer/laptop. Do you have the manual that came with the laptop or the model number of it?

I'm 99% sure this will come with a USB2 cable so the cable will be fast enough. (look in the manual it came with) if it comes with a 1.1 usb cable then you can buy - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=75657 which is a faster cable.

I'll have a gander see if i can find a usb tweaking guide somewhere