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Question

Replacement of hard drive

May 21, 2011 12:45PM PDT

I have an older desktop with an 160GB hard drive that I want to replace. Do I replace it with the same 160 GB or should I go for larger. If larger, what size is recommended? Thx

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
How much space have you already used on that drive?
May 22, 2011 1:05AM PDT

If you're no where near full, I wouldn't get anything larger as you may run into BIOS issues. Do you know if the drive is SATA or PATA? I know that drives of that size are still available but may not be for long. 160 GB easily holds any Windows OS and tons of software. Any greater need might be better filled by supplementing it with another drive such as an external.

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Answer
It appears you have been getting along ok with 160G, so...
May 22, 2011 1:00AM PDT

any capacity should do. I would probably go with 500G because it doesn't cost that much more than a 160G, of coarse you might not be able to find a 160G harddrive nowaday. It's probably more important that you get the correct type, ide or sata. Your older desktop might use ide harddrive. Newer computer generally uses sata. So check to be sure.

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Answer
Recap
May 25, 2011 1:45AM PDT

Buy the exact type of HD i/f required, either EIDE(PATA) or SATA. I suspect EIDE type is what you have, but VERIFY