[soilman 1]

This will be a first time experience for me. Before I replace my 20 gig hard drive, I have the following questions.
1. How to determine how much bigger a drive can an old computer handle?
2. How will I identify (model no. size etc) looking at the actual HD
3. Where/how do I find the ID of present hard drive on the computer? system-device manager hard ware ?
I realize I have to back up all data I want to see again and reinstall xp and all applications. Any other bits of information needed would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Michael in Oregon

 

[IT-Tech]

Hi Michael and welcome!

If you could provide your system specifications it may assist us in determining any size limitations for that specific system, if any.

If your system is a mainstream system such as HP, Dell, Acer, Emachine, Gateway etc you can provide the true model number of the system. Depending the manufacturer, you can look on their website for support information which will most likely provide the details on any drive size limitations also.

Your system build date and BIOS revision number may also play a factor in determining this depending on how old your system is also.

If you look on the hard drive itself, there will be a model number on the drive. You can then do a search on GOOGLE or your favorite search engine using that model number. Of course, you can go to the manufacturer’s website and do the same thing.

If you want to ID the drive on your computer, you can do a number of things to determine it. If you are running Windows, you can look at the device manager, disk drives, and it will list the model number – this should pretty well match the model number on the drive itself too. Another option would be to install Everest or even BelArc Advisor which will also ID your hard drive for you along with many other items on your system.

Thanks!