Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 30th Jul 2017 at 8:45 PM
Default I think I need a new HD... do I replace it with a new version of what I had?
Hi and thanks for helping my tech-feeble brain

In 2008, I bought a new 'gaming' rig PC from CyberPower (I was lucky, but I won't do that again!) It has served me well for almost 10 years.
I use 2 OSes:
- Windows Vista/without internet for TS2 (and related programs) - installed on my internal HD
- Linux Mint/Cinnamon for business and internet stuffeths - installed on an external "MyBook" HD

A couple of weeks ago my Vista side crashed (while building my Performing Arts theme lot ) and could not be restarted.
From Linux, I can open my internal HD and see the files on that drive; however, my PC tower makes a really odd ticking sound, and it sometimes won't let me in at all.
Therefore, I can correctly deduce, my internal HD is dead. Right?

The 10-yr old internal HD is a: WD 500GB SATA II 3.0GB 16MB 7200RPM - when I open the case, the unit is labelled: WD5000AAKS.

Questions
Do I just buy a new WD5000AAKS and swap it out for the old one?
The old one says nothing about being "blue" - does that matter?
Should I be 'upgrading' to something better?

Thank YOU for thinking with me

Please ~ support my TS2 habit! Shop at my Etsy shops:
CatherinesJewelry ~ Artisan Jewelry
Catherine's MOUSE ~ Up/Recycled Jewelry
and Vintage Stuffeths
Advertisement
Scholar
#2 Old 31st Jul 2017 at 4:50 AM
Yes, ticking sound usually means a problem with the hard drive. Stop using the hard drive, you'll only damage it further. Pull the files you need using Linux as quickly as you can.

You just buy another hard drive. You'll probably only be able to find SATA-III, but it's fully backward compatible with SATA-II. I would recommend getting this one: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...N82E16822236339 it's double in capacity, and has 4 times as much cache for only 7 dollars more.

"Blue" is just the manufacturing company's (Western Digital) quality category. They use categories to give slight differences to their hard drives and market them better to buyers. Blue is for everyday consumers, Black is high performance, Red hard drives are for connected systems and multimedia, Purple are for surveillance systems and gold are enterprise grade.

To install the new drive, you just open your case, disconnect the only power cable, disconnect the old SATA cable, removed the old hard drive. Then put in the new hard drive, screw it in place, re-connect the cables.

You will have to re-install everything from scratch.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 31st Jul 2017 at 5:26 PM
Thank YOU!!!
Good to know SATA III will work where there was previously a SATA II - I wondered about that...
I will go with your recommendation for the bigger drive - I was wondering if I could 'upgrade' like that.
Will the bigger drive have better TS2 performance? Maybe I'll be able to use my CC again?

Please ~ support my TS2 habit! Shop at my Etsy shops:
CatherinesJewelry ~ Artisan Jewelry
Catherine's MOUSE ~ Up/Recycled Jewelry
and Vintage Stuffeths
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#4 Old 31st Jul 2017 at 6:40 PM
The capacity of the drive won't make much difference to performance, but the speed of the drive will - a faster drive means faster loading times. The one ajax linked to is 7200 RPM, which is a good speed for a traditional hard disk drive: you can buy 10,000RPM and 15,000RPM HDDs, but they're very expensive - for example, this one is the closest equivalent to what ajax linked to but runs at 10,000RPM, and costs more than $200 extra!

The other option to consider, if you want to reducing loading times for TS2, is an SSD. SSDs are more expensive than HDDs but they run much, much faster - my game loads from my SSD in about a minute and a half with 6.5GB of CC. A 1TB SSD is very expensive, so if you were considering this option, I would suggest you get a smaller SSD for your TS2 stuff and then a larger HDD (such as the one ajax linked to) for your other stuff. If you put Windows on the SSD then your computer will also start up very quickly - I don't know if you care enough about boot times to spend money on improving them!
Here are a few SSD options so you get a feel for how much that would cost:
250GB WD SSD - $89.99
120GB SanDisk SSD - $59.99

If you're worried about other aspects of performance in TS2 - stuff like freezing, graphics quality etc. - then your storage probably isn't going to make much difference.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 31st Jul 2017 at 7:26 PM
Thanks Nysha
Eventually, I want a dedicated TS2 machine - built to play the game with as much CC as possible. I'm hoping to start building that project after Christmas, if Etsy picks up like it should...
For now, all I want is my game back the way it was a few weeks ago. If I can do that for 50-bucks right now, I will. Hopefully the rest of the PC will hang on for a few more months! LOL!
Thank you for thinking with me

Please ~ support my TS2 habit! Shop at my Etsy shops:
CatherinesJewelry ~ Artisan Jewelry
Catherine's MOUSE ~ Up/Recycled Jewelry
and Vintage Stuffeths
 
Back to top