Hello all-
I'm trying to replace my HDD with a newer faster one. The current HDD is an 80 GB IDE. Plenty of room left, but it's about 5 years old so I thought I might as well replace it with a bigger one. I plan to clone the present HDD as my WinXP came pre-loaded & I do not have discs for it.
This is on a HP Pavilion 734N which has a AM37 motherboard of uATX formfactor. I don't play games or do other processor-intensive things, so I have no performance problems with this old beast.
It also has only IDE inputs on the motherboard, being an older pre-SATA model.
I have seen at least one adapter that plugs into the rear of a SATA drive and yields IDE-type power and data connectors so I can use the present cable. I do NOT know what other options there may be, or what the performance consequences of using such an adapter may be.
I am looking at something like the WD 3200KS Caviar 320GB SATA drive because it seems to be highly regarded and is cheap ($75 at J and R).
So here are the questions:
1. Am I right in thinking that I should go with a SATA HDD rather than look for an IDE drive to replace the present one?
2. If SATA is the way to go, what is the best way to connect it to my motherboard?
3. Any strong opinions out there about my proposed replacement -- the WD 3200KS Caviar 320GB?
Thanks in advance for your help!