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New hard drive for HP

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jplot

Technical User
Mar 17, 2008
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Can anyone tell me what I need to look for as specs on a box a new 500 G hard drive would come in. I have a HP Pavilion 7955 and have already bought one drive that my cables will not fit. Thanks
 
You need to find out what type of hard drive interface it has.
I'm willing to bet it is an IDE or EIDE interface. Wide cable flat cable, so you would need to get a new IDE drive. You probably purchased a SATA drive which uses a much narrower cable, and a different power connector.

Second, You have to make sure your PC can handle the 500GB. I would not think so as its old enough to have an 80GB drive. As such you might be better off buying a smaller drive. Or you might need to look for a BIOS update so it can recognize the full size of a new 500Gb drive.





----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
 
Your PC (and thus BIOS) is older and might not be able to recognize a 500GB drive even when you get the proper EIDE drive. The original drive was 60GB. Regardless of what size drive you go with, make sure you update the BIOS if there's a newer one for your machine.
 
Thanks for the info on hard drive and the bios. I will be much better prepared when I renew my search.
I am wondering if there is information in the bios that advises of maximum the computer can handle? Thanks again.

jvp
 
I just used Google to find (HP Pavilion 7955 Hard Drive)
and found this.







This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.
 
Thanks Ace. What an interesting spec sheet for an old computer. According to that sheet I can go up to 250 G drive and be safe.
I have an email into HP at this time, asking about HD upgrades, and it will be interesting to see what comes from them. Thanks a lot to all, for all the kind help.

jvp

LOST TIME IS NEVER FOUND AGAIN!
 
I wouldn't buy a drive from HP, there to expensive, I always goto a superstore like Fry's, Bestbuy, Circuit City Or Ebay. I bought my last 4 HD on Ebay and they where 500Gb and brand new and worked fine.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.


 
That's a great web site for HDD reference, but I hope their info is correct. You'd hate to order a large HDD and the BIOS wouldn't recognize it.

Yes, I second the motion that you buy the hard drive from a retail store or online (I use New Egg, but others are CDW, PC Mall, PC Connection, Tiger Direct). At least compare the size/price of what HP mentions with the same spec drive at one of those stores.
 
The HP Specs usually are for what was available at the time the PC was built and doing a BIOS upgrade makes it able to use larger drives.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.


 
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