My Computer won't/find my new hard drive (internal)!!!

[Vivace]

I have an Windows XP HP Pavilion 732c and for recent reasons I've had to replace the hard drive

The new hard drive I bought isa SATA 640 Gb, but uncompatible with my current motherboard. SO... after some technician recommended to buy a IDE to SATA Converter I tried putting everything together. And yes, I'm sure I plugged everything correctly

The problem is that my computer still does not even recognize or detect my new hard drive, what should I do?
I'm willing to TAKE ANY SUGGESTIONS because I'm scrapping the thing in a week if nothing works.

[fat_basterd21]

seems like a decent copmuter to scrap just because of a HD. Did you buy the SATA HD new? Can you exchange it for a IDE HD?

Was this the problem that led to you replacing the HD?

Obviously the connection is failing somewhere. Maybe the adapter.

[Vivace]

Yeah, I bought the SATA HD new, just in case

I am not sure where the problem really lies..., I'll be quite disappointed if I'm forced to scrap the computer just because I can't get a new HD working in it

[BC_Programmer]

without a computer the HD won't be very useful.

[fat_basterd21]

I'd say get a IDE HD and if you realy need 640gb of storage get an external USB HD.

Plus I bet you could pick up a used 100gb for $20 at a computer shop.

[Vivace]

Is it possible to have an external hard drive act as the internal hard drive?

[killerb255]

Is it possible to have an external hard drive act as the internal hard drive?

Yes and no.  It depends on whether the computer can boot from a USB hard drive. 

I wouldn't recommend it, though, as the USB bus will only slow you down.

I guess you may want to ask yourself if it's worth buying "duct-tape fixes" for your computer to get it to recognize a SATA drive (i.e.: an IDE to SATA connector, which you found didn't work; a PCI SATA controller card, which may or may not work, depending on whether the motherboard's BIOS can boot from a PCI controller card). 

If you really need 640 GB, get an external hard drive and DO NOT use it as a boot drive.  Use it as a secondary hard drive for storage.

Otherwise, get the largest IDE drive you can get.

...or save up the cash and get a new computer...

[fat_basterd21]

By default you cant install windows on a usb drive. You need a hacked windows disk. I've done it and I will agree its not much use. USB is far slower than IDE. Its usable but still slow.