So you are using IDE drives then? Can you provide some system specs? You can't really get new IDE drives any more. They are outdated and if your motherboard doesn't support SATA you should consider a full upgrade of your system (hate to say it but it's true). With SATA drives (which are the current standard) you don't need to worry about all that jumper nonsense. You can tell whether you have an IDE or a SATA by looking at the data cable. If it is a ribbon cable or a largish round cable with a wide connector it is likely an IDE. If it is a thin, flat cable with a small approx. centimeter wide connector then it is likely SATA. Sadly I have an old IDE system I thought I could bring up to modern standards but alas no. Just the way the tech world works unfortunately. Now almost a couple grand later I am up to day... for a few years anyway. Ooof. :-/

@craigb... Yeah, Geek Squad blows and an independent shop is more likely to have some old IDEs kicking around to keep you moving until you get yourself into a position to build/buy a new system. However thos guys can be sharks so I'd recommend asking the forum after getting an initial estimate and description of what they told you they plan to do to your system. We'll sniff out any scammers for ya. Cheers.

I have to disconnect it and look inside at this point. I'm pretty sure it's SATA system but I don't remember. It might be time for a new DAW whether I want it to be or not. Which would mean a fresh install. Yuck.

There's a Frys not far from here, I'd trust them first. Simple swap for a tech but I'm not fluent in that hardware. My main concern is losing all the work on the DAW.

If it's SATA it's probably modern enough to keep going. There are a couple guys here running X1 on very old and not so powerful systems and they say it's fine with the right optimization.In fact one fellow was describing how I could turn the POS low powered laptop I am current typing on into an X1 system which would be awesome. Anyway, if it is currently working as you want just keep rolling with it and start a computer fund for when you REALLY need it. I dropped some serious coin into my build but I could have made X1 run flawlessly for about $800. I just went the "Swat a fly with a Buick" route because I wanted to use the thing for as long as possible and have it handle any ridiculousness I throw at it. So yeah... if it is still working for what you need and it is SATA, you're golden as far as the HDD swap. If it's IDE you could still maybe pull it off but it will take some doin'. BTW you can snag IDE drives on ebay if you really need to. Cheers.

Oh... now THAT is where you can use DVDs. Just save all the important project files you want as CWBs (batch files which snag all the audio as well as the project info) and save them to DVD. You could take a sledgehammer to your system and be able to restore your files whenever you wanted (after you got a new computer of course). External USB drives and flash drives are great for this stuff too. Tons of options for backup and storage these days.

BTW... I wrenched my back last night so I'm stuck more or less immobile at the moment. This thread has kept my mind occupied so thanks. Cheers.

I'm glad you you can use this thread as a pain pill lol. I looked in the BIOS today and apparrently It might be a IDE. There was a listing, ATA configured as IDE. The only other choice was AHTA which is for Vista. SATA was listed but I'm not sure what it exactly means. Guess I'm going to have to unplug the box and look inside. The C drive was listed as a 160 GB in the Bios, so I'm guessing that 36 GB of the 160 have been reserved by the operating system and system files with administrator privelages.
I did finally do the core parking fix which resulted in a slightly faster boot up and more equal loading of the 4 cores. I could probably drop X1 Expanded on the C drive but I'm not sure what kind of resources it's going to reserve in the process.

Hi, craig. I found another vid/software for you to check out (in fact I think I might use it because it's free) but it's the first time I've heard of this program so I can't guarantee it's solid but I'm sure you could research it more yourself. http://www.youtube.com/wa...HCzdDA&feature=related Also if you are looking to get some more power out of your system the Cakewalk tech guys (I called them when I was first trying to get set up) recommended the Sweetwater system optimization guide (WARNING: PDF file)... http://www.sweetwater.com...Optimization_Guide.pdf It worked quite well for me (although my system is very modern and a powerhouse I had some power management crap screwing things up) but there is one step in there that is apparently not good for Sonar. I believe it is the File Caching section so just skip that. Also here is the Focusrite optimization guide for extra just so you have two sources. http://www.focusrite.com/...en/article.php?id=1071 Back is feeling a little better today so hopefully I can get some work done myself this week. Cheers!

Oh and you CAN actually still get old IDE drives like I said through ebay (I just checked) but they are either refurbs or old stock and I'm not sure if you'll find anything bigger than you already have. However there seems to be IDE/SATA adapter kits but I have no idea how those work or if they will do what you want. You may want to take a harder look at want you can move from your current C drive to other drives on your system. If you can snag some extra IDEs and use them for extra storage and create a full clone of your current C drive incase of failure that could keep you running a while longer. I actually have to do the exact same thing on my old DAW so I can keep it running.