Hard drive installation?

[DaJe]

I myself have my computer, and everything attached to my computer, plugged into a big insdustrial power strip, and that strip plugged into a protector on the wall outlet. I'll look into getting a UPS later on.

[nil8]

A UPS is a good idea period. Not only does it offer the ability to shutdown your computer safely, it also protects from dirty power, brownouts, and lightning strikes.

If cost is problematic, get a certified refurbished APC UPS. They still have a warranty, they are certified to work and cost about half as much as new ones.

Also, it's a good idea to keep a spare working lead acid battery for your UPS just in case. It takes companies a couple of days to ship out batteries and cost a good amount to ship.

Your hard drive should fit in the hard drive cage. If it fits in the floppy and doesn't bother you, leave it. No harm, no foul.
Congrats on learning more about the PC.

[Arden]

are the surge protectors on those power strips with like 8 outlets good enough?

[slytherock]

killed a mobo once with them during a storm, should I continue?

[nil8]

Not really. Most of the time those are 1 time fuse setups. After the fuse gets popped, it's worthless.

They don't protect against brownouts or lightning strikes. They also don't protect your incoming data lines most of the time.

On top of that, they don't offer you the ability to shut your equipment down safely. I would suggest using one behind a ups, not in place of a ups.

[Arden]

[color=red]jeu guys, another question...i wanna know where on my floppy and optical i connect the cable to my mobo? they seem to use the same kinda cable and theres only one slot?

[slytherock]

3 things:
1 Floppy? still alive?
2 The cables for the floppy is smaller then the Optical/hdd ones. Same kind of ribbon cables, but the optical ones are larger
3 It would help to know the Mobo you own...

Hope it helped

[Arden]

BFG Tech BFGR7950512GTOCE GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143071

eVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $259.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188009

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $249.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227139

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - $221.50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115004

Enermax EG701AX-VE-SFMA 24Pin Power Supply / Noisetaker 600W - $127.95
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556018988.html

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140

APEVIA (ASPIRE) X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-AL Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144103

SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151133

D-Link DWL-G510 IEEE 802.11b/g 32bit PCI2.2 2.4G Wireless Adapter up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA - $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127145

MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive Model FA404M BLK - 18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16821104104

Dual Blue Cold Cathode Kit - $7.99
http://www.xoxide.com/bluecathode.html

BELKIN F8E093 Anti-Static Wrist Strap -$5.49
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16899888207

18" UV Sensitive Single Device Round IDE Cable - $3.49
http://www.xoxide.com/uvsesichidec.html

Microsoft Windows Vista- Unnanounced
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

could someone post pics of the right cable?

[Fear]

If you plug you're $500+ computer into the wall socket directley, you're an idiot. You're better off throwing it out of the 2nd story window when a small little lightning storm hits.

It has holes man. It happens alot. You're either installing the hdd the wrong direction, the ide pins has to be facing to the motherboard and you might have installed it too low. Thats what happens to me, I put the hdd too low, if you put ur hand under it and push up it'll eventully get there.

Arden, you should make this page you're homepage - http://www.buildyourowncomputer.net/learntobuild.html

[Arden]

ya, the cables im trying to use are the HDD cable for the optical drive and an FDD for the floppy. those are the only ones that'll fit...and i think my mobo only have one port that'll take those!