My hard drive has finally given up, and I need to replace it.
I am told it is an "IDE" and hard to source now. I can find several suppliers advertising, but they describe them such as "IDE/Pata, IDE/Ata" which doesn't mean a lot to me! Can anyone tell me what I should be looking for please?
The computer is an old Medion running XP, which I only use to run progs. that W7 doesn't like.
The old drive has 39 pins on the main connector plus 4 pairs for jumper plug.
Any advice would be most welcome!

Computer Mug, October 2012

Thankyou Electro!

Computer Mug, October 2012

Your old drive was realy an IDE/ATA drive, also named PATA for Parallel ATA.
Get any IDE/ATA or IDE/PATA drive no smaller than 300 Gb. You may get up to 3 of those installed along with the CD or DVD unit.

Don't forget to detect them in the BIOS as you boot after installing them.
If you have more than one unit on a cable, set both to "Cable sellect".
You'll also need to format them and install your OS on any one of the drives if you have more than one.

So, as long as you don't get a SATA drive, you are OK. Those have a 4 pins power connector, a small squarish data connector and NO jumpers.

Electro, October 2012