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[sonicwind]

first of all why did you go for such a fast drive that cost more and you really needed the storage not the speed which is only for someone in dire need of a 20sec. windows boot.  And just open up the computer and get an ide cable its really simple.  Remember when you were smaller and built legos?  Same thing plug the cable in where it will fit, then plug the other end into your drive.  Either that or your going to have to get an external casing for it.  Figure it out now and save the money later because external hard drives are wayyyy more expensive than internal ones.  You should be getting atleast 4GB/1$ on your hard drives these days.

[falseadress]

Well get a new ide hard drive.
installing it on  a comptuer is really easy. Plug in the cables and then put it in the motherboard and mount it on the computer.
A 80 gb hdd is just 53 bucks Canadian.

[Hi]

sonicwind, I got a hard drive that was the size I needed and the price I needed. I didn't check the speed.

I HAVE opened my computer in the past to install some new ram, a new video card, and to try to fix my dvd player (falure, I've got no working dvd drive now). But I really don't want to open it again. It's just a big pain. The shell of my computer has tons of screws, not to mention that I have to spend houres, litterally, unpluging the wires of the tangled mess I have that somewhere includes my mouse, keyboard, speakers, cf card reader, gba flash card reader, camera, zip drive, monater, printer, microphone, Ugg!

Even with all this, I probably would open my computer just to save the money. But I don't have the time. Plus, I'd need to get my dad to help (I can't open the computer myself. Not allowed) and he's got less time than me. It takes my family months before we complete errends that we know we have to do. One year, I didn't get my birthday present until 6 months after my birthday.




Okay, so should I...

1. get that external adapter and use it for the hard drive I just bought
2. get that external adapter and use it for a different hard drive (are you saying I bouht a bad hard drive sonicwind?)
3. Just open the computer to install my hard drive (Obviously, I'm really trying to avoid this for the reasons I mentioned above)
4. Start over and buy an external hard drive (again, trying to avoid this one because it would cost yet more $$)

Also, one of my questions is being ignored. Isn't it bad to let this hard drive sit around and collect dust? And if it is bad, how do I solve this problem. I've got nowhere to put the hard drive!

[uzumakishade]

ok you say your short on cash, yet you spent that much on only an 18gb hard drive, when you could have paid an extra $10 and bought a dvd burner and just burned them to dvds. If you wanted to have more space it would have been smarter to buy a larger hard drive that cost more than a cheaper one with less space, but thats just me.

[sneef]

guys, please don't make him feel worse.  remember, Hi is pretty young, and all this is a pretty big deal to him.  You can see that spending 20 dollars on something he may not be able to use was pretty upsetting for him.

Hi,

The Hard Drive you bought is a SCSI hard drive.  If you plug it in, you will still need to buy a SCSI card, unless your PC already has one, which I doubt.  SCSI is different from IDE, so those cables and adapters mentioned earlier won't work with your 18GB hard drive.

It will not harm the drive to let it "sit around collecting dust", as long as you put it back in the anti-static bag it came in, and store it somewhere dry, and don't let it get banged around.

If you really dont want to open your computer, you're gonna have to spend more money.  Either way you'll probably have to spend money, but less money if you're able to install an internal IDE hard drive.

there are cheap external attachments for IDE hard drives, that connect to the USB port on your computer.  The cheapest ones leave the drive exposed (there's no case) and simply provide power to the Hard drive, and an interface connecting it to the USB port.  I can look for a link to one later, but I'm busy at work right now.

[edit] saw some $20+ SCSI to USB adapters on ebay, but not sure if they are compatible with your situation.  I have no experience with external SCSI, except in a hard drive stack[/edit]

[Hi]

Okay sneef, I'll be waiting for the link. Thanks.

I put the hard drive back in the bag it came in. The problem is, I ripped the bag quite a bit while opening it, so I'm not sure whether the bag is still doing it's job.

Just as a side note, if you happen to find one of those adapters at best buy for not to much that would be preferred over anywhere else. I have a $25 bestbuy gift card and I would be able to afford an extra $5-15. (I'm not sure EXACTLY how much money is in my bank account right now, I'd have to check. I KNOW however that I have at least $5 and it's really unlikely I have more than $15

p.s. Where can I get a $30 dvd burner uzumakishade. After my birthday this may be a good thing to spend my money on if it's only $30. It would have to be external. Even if I opened my computer, My computer doesn't have a spot to install a new dvd burner, reader, or a cd burner of reader for that matter. I pretty much think I'm out of luck as far as dvd burners go. And external ones are way more expensive right? (this turned out to be a pretty long p.s. Hmmm...)

[uzumakishade]

well even if you already have 2 drives in your comp you can take out the cd burner and replace it with the dvd burner, thats what i did when i got mine, because you can still burn cds with a dvd burner in case you didnt know. i dont think youll find an external dvd burner for $30 if thats what your looking for though.

[sneef]

Hi,  in regards to the link, the product johnny9562001 linked to earlier is the same one I was talking about.  in his lower post, on newegg.com.

sorry i'm super busy at work and very stressed out right now.

[Hi]

But that's the thing. It's impossible to take out the cd burner or brocken dvd reader without taking out EVERYTHING else. It would be possible, but most likely I'd end up not being able to figure out where everything went and break my computer completely. I don't want that! I'd rather get a hard drive! That's why I have so many avi files. Because I've ripped many of my dvd's with a different computer and put them on my computer.

[Hi]

First, get your work done sneef. I can wait.

You said your not sure that the adapter will work in my situation. Will it work?

Last, I REALLY want to check bestbuy, as it would be extreamly convinant if I could just use my gift card. What exactly should I search for? I can search myself.
_____________________________________________________________
edit: wait, will the adapter allow me to plug the hard drive I have right now into the computer, or will it allow me to plug a hard drive I get in the future into my computer? (It says IDE converter not SCSI converter.)

You see, there are a few things I'm trying to avoid here. Here is what they are, though I think they are pretty obvious. Realise I'm trying to help myself by writing this as well as I can get my thoughts organised and for some reason it's easier to get things organised that other people will see.

Here is the list. 1 is what I'm trying to avoid the most. notice that there are two 1's. this is because I can't decide which I'm trying to aviod more.

1. Opening the computer
1. Getting a new hard drive alltogether
2. Buying anything more than I already have (And I can see this is unavoidable)
3. Buying something more than I already have that is more than $10 (which also seems unavoildable)

So, I think that adapter is the way to go. But will it work for the hard drive I have now??? and if so, what will?

I appriciate the help. I realise it gets annoying to keep helping someone who asks question after question.

[sonicwind]

Hi, I wasn't saying it was a bad hard drive its just you pretty much paid for more than you need and it was refurbished and eh...... unless its from someone credible like nintendo I usually avoid them just a lesson for next time.  The adapter he said would probably mean you would have to open your case I don't deal with scsi drives b/c I don't need to.
http://search.ebay.com/scsi-to-usb_W0QQfnuZ1QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ3QQxpufuZx
ebay is going to  be cheapest and even with that bestbuy giftcard, bestbuy stuff is overpriced so you would probably pay the same amount after using the giftcard unless you have a bigger one.
And when you buy the adapter from ebay assuming you do you still have to keep the hard drive safe.

[Hi]

Okay sonicwind. Thanks. Actually, many of those look real cheap. It doesn't make to much sense to look at this quite yet since I will need to deposit a bit of money into my bank account, and maybe earn a little to. I won't be able to do this until the weekend, and since things are getting sold and new things are arriving for sale all the time on E-bay (being a market place) it doesn't make sense to look until I have the $$

So, I guess the quest for a new hard drive is now on hold for a little bit. Thanks for your help so far.

[onekelly]

Hi, also take a look at www.pricewatch.com . You may find what you are looking for there as well.

[Hi]

So, this thing (http://cgi.ebay.com/IOMEGA-JAZ-USB-TO-SCSI-ADAPTER-NEW_W0QQitemZ140108597834QQihZ004QQcategoryZ51078QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) is only for jazz drives and won't work for my external hard drive right?

After selling my broken nds, I have $19.00 in my paypal account. I plan on selling more stuff (like the sd card I'm selling right now) so I can get a bit more, since it seems I'll need it. I can't use my bank account any more since some problems with it caused me to louse my debit card. outside of paypal, I've managed to earn $50 (I was also suprised when it all added up) but can't spend it online (sigh)

[sneef]

do any family members have credit cards or paypal accounts?  you could give them your 50 dollars, and have them send you 50 via paypal.. just a suggestion