Upgrading the Tower! Help Choose!

[midnightsky]

I have a compaq presario 5410us I need more space in the tower to add drives I don't know if all towers are compatiable or not..i want some thing that everything will bolt into (mother board etc)...I would also like to know if I would have to re-insall my operating system as I don't have a disk (did not come with it) and what precautions do I need to take..thanks

here is a tower found on ebay..would one like this work with no problem? thanks!



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3669&item=3457920957

 

[Jiminy777]

I've used Western Digital Hard Drives and they have a nice utility that transfers your files from the old HD to the new one.
Therefore, you would not have to go through the headache of reinstalling.

Here is their link:
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

>>> UTILTY: Data Lifeguard for Windows or DOS.

>> Nice case by the way... For the price, you can beat it. A bit high on the shipping & handling.
Compare prices @ http://pricewatch.com

 

[ekÆsine]

if what you are doing is tranfering your hardware to the new case than yes you should worry about where all the wires and connectors should go. they probably will not be the same configuration as your current motherboard.

make sure you have the pin assignments before you start plugging the USB headers and LED indicators in. someone fried their motherboard trying to plug them into the wrong one. if you know nothing about setting up a motherboard you should get a professional to do it for you or ask someone who is knowledgable. know exactly where to plug what into what, don't guess.

also you will need to buy another power supply as your HP power supply is either proprietary or micro ATX. you need a standard ATX power supply for that case.

 

[midnightsky]

I want to transfer everything including the mother board from my old pc case..If I remember what plugs in and where would I have any major problems? does the case i mentioned above comes with a mother board? Is there any other way to add a drive to my current pc case? I don't believe there is they made no room for upgrades only made room for an extra floppy...thanks

 

[ekÆsine]

not all cases use the same labels for their USB header or LED. these wires come from the case and attached to pins on the motherboard. you may have to have a manual of the pin assignments for your board.

if there is no manual i would look at at wires and make a detailed diagram of what goes where. map every pin location and include the label of each wire so you know what goes where.

if you are not sure what to do use a camera and take a picture of the wires from the case and a picture of the pins on the motherboard. or scan in the pin assignments from the manual.