[dandrewk]

I am thinking of adding some more HD's to my HTPC. I currently have a Barracuda 120 and WD 200, and want to take advantage of a current HD sale. I could fit one more into the box, two more if I remove the floppy. I have an ATA card, so between that and the MB I could swing it.


Is 4 too many internal drives? How many do y'all have?

 

[Pestilence]

i presently have 4 drives in mine totalling just over half a terabyte. I've got no plans to stop until i've got 8 stuffed in there, even if it means adding fans and a bigger power supply and bolting drives to the sides of the case and then eventually moving it into a closet someplace to get it to shut up

 

[Krynos]

I have one Seagate Baracuda IV in my HTPC - just to hold the OS and apps. It's very quiet.


I have a separate file-server full of music and movies in a different room.


Silence is golden


- Rick

 

[Karnis]

2 physical drives....one 60GB partitioned to 3 logical drives: c:system (6GB), d:storage (10GB), and e:audio (44GB), and one 120GB for f:video (HDTV recording).

 

[tellis007]

I did have 4, but now I built a new HTPC and made that one a fileserver--too noisy!!! The fileserver has 480G of redundant storage. More than enough for now--for me at least.

 

[dandrewk]

Just curious - I have three, going on four drives in my box now. Why does adding more drives add to the noise? I understand the main (system) drive needs to be quiet - lots of disk access, speeding up and slowing down etc. My Barracuda is very quiet that way.


But what about the data drives? All I have on them are ripped DVD's and .ts files. When they play, there is hardly any "seeking", so I notice very little noise emanating from them.


Or is it because more drives=more heat=more fan noise?

 

[dcdell]

4 120 GB Maxtor Drives on a Promise Raid Card, 2 120 GB IBM Drives as standard IDE Drives, and 4 External Maxtor 120 GB Drives sitting on top. Yes, a bit noisy but hey, its a Terrabyte Media Server tucked away in a closet so I am not worried about noise.

 

[tellis007]

I have 4 160G Maxtor drives that are about a year old. They all make a sort of high pitched whine. It's irritating, so I stuck that machine in a closet and put a new machine in for my HTPC.

 

[EricN]

In my HTPC? Zero drives.

 

[thuan98]

Hi all,

I see some of you has 160 GB hard drive or greater install in you HTPC

I currently bought a WD 200GB HD, but upon installed it, I can only see it as 128GB ! I have been search thru out online and find some solution such as:

- From Microsoft: To enable 48 bits LBA

- From Intel: upgrade BIOS

- From Intel: install Intel Application Accelerator


Well, I did enable 48 bit LBA but nothing changed!


How did you installed yours ?


BTW: My PC is Dell Dimension 4550 (Pent4 2.53Ghz), the WD 200GB HD come with Ultra ATA100 controller card installed


Many thanks

Thuan

 

[dandrewk]

Thuan - ever thought about contacting Western Digital? You may need to use their software, or you may have a jumper that needs to be changed.


XP will only see 137GB unless you use the software that came with your drive to format it.


I believe that the SP1 upgrade for XP (free download) also fixes the 137 GB problem.

 

[thuan98]

My XP come with SP1

I did visit WD forum, and found out a lot of people with same issue.

WD create forum but they don't response here! Have to call them direct. Several guys have try but none of them satisfy the support WD tech provided. I just don't want to waste time with them, I rather call Dell support

Thanks

Thuan

 

[DAK]

Thuan,

Did your WD drive come with a Promise ATA100 controller card? I have a Dell similar to yours, but a little older. I do not think my BIOS supports ATA100. I installed the controller card and the software driver and I have no problems. I have 2 200GB WD drives connected to the card and both format out to the max size (186GB or something like that).

 

[brianblank]

Quote:

Originally posted by EricN In my HTPC? Zero drives.

Details please!