PC Hard Drive upgrade

LCPete said:
thanks Neil:)
I did a quick google and then checked on my pc in
Start" button > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound
Device Manager
"IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
and it shows intel sata AHCI contrloller so it looks good:)
Click to expand...
i would check the bios anyway, the device descriptions can sometimes be a little misleading and may not be an indication of what mode they are running in.
 
neil_g said:
i would check the bios anyway, the device descriptions can sometimes be a little misleading and may not be an indication of what mode they are running in.
Click to expand...


Thanks Neil can you explain how to check the bios please
is it something that you do when the machine starts up?
 
it'll vary on what motherboard you have but normally when you power on you should see something like "press F1/F2/del" to enter set up. it'll be under the chipset/storage settings in there. look for something along the lines of SATA modes.
 
According to the two photographs here (scroll down page) - it's F2 at startup screen, then Advanced tab in bios screen's top blue bar, then System Configuration in left pane.

SATA mode line (on left) should read 'AHCI' (on right)
 
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Just checked the bios and the Sata mode is ahci so I should be good to go
thanks Neil
the 4tb drive has just arrived just waiting for the adapter brackets so I can fit it into the dvd drive bay
I've just got to decide what size ssd to get probably will be a 500gb
I have got my photos uploaded to carbonite cloud storage and if I move them to a different drive number on the PC I will have to upload them again
I'm assuming that if I clone the c drive carbonite will recognise the folders but have asked them for confirmation
 
Ozei said:
According to the two photographs here (scroll down page) - it's F2 at startup screen, then Advanced tab in bios screen's top blue bar, then System Configuration in left pane.

SATA mode line (on left) should read 'AHCI' (on right)
Click to expand...
Thanks Ozei
Yes it does say AHCI
just waiting for the brackets to fit the drive into the dvd caddy
 
LCPete said:
I have got my photos uploaded to carbonite cloud storage and if I move them to a different drive number on the PC I will have to upload them again
I'm assuming that if I clone the c drive carbonite will recognise the folders but have asked them for confirmation
Click to expand...

Instead of uploading them again, you might be able to redirect the existing Carbonite setup (online) to wherever the photos are once the new hard drives have been installed.

The quickest way to find out if this is possible is probably to ask Carbonite support. http://www.carbonite.com/support
 
Thanks Ozei have already looked into it and apparently if I move the folders I will have to re upload them
its in their terms and conditions
its a bit rubbish to be honest but I didn't notice before
 
That does seem a tad silly - I'd have thought it was just a case of redirecting their server to the new drive location.

Oh well, at least you've got a decent excuse to have few beers during the upload. :)
 
Ozei said:
That does seem a tad silly - I'd have thought it was just a case of redirecting their server to the new drive location.

Oh well, at least you've got a decent excuse to have few beers during the upload. :)
Click to expand...
yes it does seem daft
I have just phoned them and she was very helpful but said that they couldn't do anything about it
never mind we are on broadband now so it wont take so long this time
a few beers is a good plan:)

I have ordered the ssd I went for the 250gb Samsung one:)
 
Evening:)
I've fitted and installed the new 4TB hard drive (in addition to the 1TB C drive) so am halfway there:banana:
I fitted it into the DVD caddy had a bit of a nightmare as the Dell case is riveted together so had to take out the power supply and some cables to get the DVD drive out but its done now
Unfortunately it appears that the 4TB drive isn't completely compatible with my PC as it only recognises 1.63TB of space
I did set it up in disk management I initialised the 4TB drive as GPT but I'm guessing that my motherboard isn't compatible with larger drives
I will live with it for now as I want to get set up ready for the SSD drive
am copying all of the folders over to the 4TB drive at the moment
and am having a clear out of a lot of programs that I've accumulated and don't use any more ready for the C drive to be cloned onto the SSD when it arrives
I will live with the reduced capacity on the 4TB for now until everything is set up onto the SSD and is running OK
 
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might very well be a limitation of the motherboard.

might be worth checking for updated bios (http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd, go to downloads and drivers and use the service tag on your machine). if not it seems you can partition as 2x 2TB GPT.

also get to the intel site and run the automated driver checker, update your storage controller drivers.

some vague suggestions on google that updated bios and storage drivers may get it showing correctly. i cant guarantee this though.
 
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LCPete said:
Evening:)
I've fitted and installed the new 4TB hard drive (in addition to the 1TB C drive) so am halfway there:banana:
I fitted it into the DVD caddy had a bit of a nightmare as the Dell case is riveted together so had to take out the power supply and some cables to get the DVD drive out but its done now
Unfortunately it appears that the 4TB drive isn't completely compatible with my PC as it only recognises 1.63TB of space
I did set it up in disk management I initialised the 4TB drive as GPT but I'm guessing that my motherboard isn't compatible with larger drives
I will live with it for now as I want to get set up ready for the SSD drive
am copying all of the folders over to the 4TB drive at the moment
and am having a clear out of a lot of programs that I've accumulated and don't use any more ready for the C drive to be cloned onto the SSD when it arrives
I will live with the reduced capacity on the 4TB for now until everything is set up onto the SSD and is running OK
Click to expand...

Some of the reasons I use external drives now - so much easier on several fronts especially if you have USB3.
 
neil_g said:
might very well be a limitation of the motherboard.

might be worth checking for updated bios (http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd, go to downloads and drivers and use the service tag on your machine). if not it seems you can partition as 2x 2TB GPT.

also get to the intel site and run the automated driver checker, update your storage controller drivers.

some vague suggestions on google that updated bios and storage drivers may get it showing correctly. i cant guarantee this though.
Click to expand...
thanks Neil when Ive got the SSD installed and OK I will have a look at partitioning the drive and the £20 sata controller card sounds good too:)
Just had a google and the sata controller card slots into a spare PCI-E port which I have on the motherboard next to the graphics card
will this recognise the full capacity of the 4TB drive ?
 
petersmart said:
Some of the reasons I use external drives now - so much easier on several fronts especially if you have USB3.
Click to expand...
Know what you mean Pete but I was using external drives and although its hassle free and easy to do it does slow down when I'm editing files in lightroom that are on the external drive
now that the pictures are on the internal drive the PC is noticeably faster and I haven't even installed the SSD yet:)
 
LCPete said:
Evening:)
I've fitted and installed the new 4TB hard drive (in addition to the 1TB C drive) so am halfway there:banana:
I fitted it into the DVD caddy had a bit of a nightmare as the Dell case is riveted together so had to take out the power supply and some cables to get the DVD drive out but its done now
Unfortunately it appears that the 4TB drive isn't completely compatible with my PC as it only recognises 1.63TB of space
I did set it up in disk management I initialised the 4TB drive as GPT but I'm guessing that my motherboard isn't compatible with larger drives
I will live with it for now as I want to get set up ready for the SSD drive
am copying all of the folders over to the 4TB drive at the moment
and am having a clear out of a lot of programs that I've accumulated and don't use any more ready for the C drive to be cloned onto the SSD when it arrives
I will live with the reduced capacity on the 4TB for now until everything is set up onto the SSD and is running OK
Click to expand...

Some of the reasons I use external drives now - so much easier on several fronts especially if you have USB3
 
LCPete said:
Know what you mean Pete but I was using external drives and although its hassle free and easy to do it does slow down when I'm editing files in lightroom that are on the external drive
now that the pictures are on the internal drive the PC is noticeably faster and I haven't even installed the SSD yet:)
Click to expand...

Well I have a 250GB internal SSD drive which does speed up things but I also use a 500GB SSD USB3 external drive which really speeds things up and I also use another 2TB HDD in a USB3 caddy if I need extra space and find this arrangement gives me quite a bit of speed for editing pics or films etc - although I don't use Photoshop or Lightroom.
 
petersmart said:
Well I have a 250GB internal SSD drive which does speed up things but I also use a 500GB SSD USB3 external drive which really speeds things up and I also use another 2TB HDD in a USB3 caddy if I need extra space and find this arrangement gives me quite a bit of speed for editing pics or films etc - although I don't use Photoshop or Lightroom.
Click to expand...
thanks Pete:)
I think part of my problem is that my PC doesn't have a usb 3 socket
 
neil_g said:
might very well be a limitation of the motherboard.

might be worth checking for updated bios (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/xps-8300/drivers). if not it seems you can partition as 2x 2TB GPT.

also get to the intel site and run the automated driver checker, update your storage controller drivers.

some vague suggestions on google that updated bios and storage drivers may get it showing correctly. i cant guarantee this though.
Click to expand...

Here's the download page for the XPS8300 - link (click Drivers & downloads) - there appears to be a recent update to the original bios. Also, there are 6 downloads listed in the 'Serial ATA' section - the last one adds 'Intel Rapid Storage Technology' - maybe this is what's needed.

It might be worth phoning Dell support and asking why the drive is not showing as 4TB when it's set to GPT. Looks like they're in Bracknell - 01344 373727 / 01344 860456.

Someone here had the same thing - link.
 
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Thanks very much Ozei:)
I will have a look at that, I'm installing the SSD at the moment
I'm cloning it with macruim as I type this
Will then move it to sata slot one (actually 0)
Then will move the new 4tb drive to slot two (1)
When it's up and running ok I will sort out the bios and downloads
I'm going to keep the original c drive as a backup in case I have problems with the SSD but I guess that's unlikely
 
Well I installed the new SSD and cloned the operating system and programmes onto it and fired it up this morning and its working great
really fast and windows boots up in seconds
am really pleased its like having a new PC
I've not done anything like that before
thanks very much everyone for the help its really appreciated
I'm going to live with the 4TB drive showing 1.7 TB
at the moment ive got to reload all of my cloud backup to carbonite which will take a while
for now I don't want to mess with it anymore and a bit nervous about updating tbe bios tbe instructions on the Dell site looked complicated
I will eventually get an additional internal hard drive and sort it then
 
Glad to hear you're please with the SSD Pete.

Dell's instructions for bios installation might look complicated but they've shown three different methods and only the first one is for Windows - I've labelled it 'A' below. Bios updating is usually quite straightforward but it can render your PC useless if it goes wrong (e.g. a power cut half way through!).

Anyway, I wouldn't touch the existing bios without talking to Dell support first. They'll tell you if the new bios (TR-A06_QS.EXE) will solve the 4TB issue - or if there's another way round it.


Dell instructions

BIOS Update Executable for Windows/DOS Download

1. Click Download File, to download the file.
2. When the File Download window appears, click Save to save the file to your hard drive.


A. Run the BIOS update utility from Windows environment

1. Browse to the location where you downloaded the file and double-click the new file.
2. Press "Yes" to confirm the BIOS version you want to update and start BIOS Update process.
3. After BIOS update finished, press Yes and then system will restart to take effect.


B. Run the BIOS update utility from DOS environment, if Legacy Boot mode (Non-Windows users)

1. Copy the downloaded file to a bootable DOS USB key.
2. Power on the system, then Press F12 key and Select "USB Storage Device" and Boot to DOS prompt.
3. Run the file by typing copied file name where the executable is located.
4. After BIOS update finished, press "Yes" and then system will restart to take effect.


C. Run the BIOS update utility from DOS environment, if UEFI Boot mode with Load Legacy Option disabled (Non-Windows users)

1. Copy the downloaded file to a bootable DOS USB key.
2. Power on the system, then go to BIOS Setup by pressing F2 and go to "Boot > Boot Mode" Option.
3. Change "UEFI" to "Legacy" Boot Mode.
4. Go to "Exit > Save Changes and Reset" and then reboot system.
5. Press F12, then Select "USB Storage Device" and Boot to DOS prompt.
6. Run the file by typing copied file name where the executable is located.
7. After BIOS update finished, press "Yes" and then system will reboot to take effect.
8. Go to BIOS Setup by pressing F2 and go to "Boot > Boot Mode" to change Boot Mode from "Legacy" to "UEFI".
9. Go to "Boot > Secure Boot Control" to change Secure Boot from "Disabled" to "Enabled".
10. Go to "Exit > Save Changes and Reset" and then reboot system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1: You will need to provide a bootable DOS USB key. This executable file does not create the DOS system files.
Note 2: Please make sure you suspend BitLocker encryption before updating BIOS on a BitLocker enabled system. If you don't enable BitLocker on your system you can ignore it.
Note 3: Do not turn off power or interrupt BIOS update process during flashing BIOS
 
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Thanks Ozei and Neil will do that then
thanks again for your help am amazed the difference that the SSD has made
 
I've updated the bios and drivers from the Dell site so I'm all up to date now:)
the 4TB drive is still showing as 1.63 but will live with it because my cloud storage Carbonite has recognised all of the backed up files that are on it, 400GB !
these were on my old c drive and I moved them onto the new 4TB drive
Carbonite support said that I may have had to upload them all again but with luck their systems may find the files on the new drive
this has worked and is great news as I wont have to upload them again, it would have taken ages:)
I suspect if I reinitialised and formatted the drive it would show as 4TB
I don't want to chance messing about with the drive though just in case this affects the Carbonite system
1.63 is plenty and I've got a space ready in the case for another internal drive will go for a 2TB one this time:)
thanks again:)
 
I'd still ask Dell why it's not allowing 4TB. You've already initialised the Hitachi as GPT so either the new bios or the motherboard is restricting it to 1.63 (unless there's something else we haven't thought of). If it were mine I'd have to find out the reason - it only takes a phone call and it wouldn't commit you to doing anything that messes up Carbonite.

This is one of my Hitachi 4TB drives in Disk Management - yours should be the same.

6276-1407258195-faaa3d8fe9a652e1d61a73c7730ca168.jpg
 
Thanks Ozei yes you're right it won't hurt for me to give Dell a ring it may be something simple
 
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