I have an older T6524 which we bought new and my son was using but he just upgraded so I have the older one now and he was not using the sata connection and I wish to use a sata drive but the bios does not see the sata drive when I connect it. It just isn't there at all. I was thinking I might update the bios so it can see the drive? What else may help?

If you're not sure if a module is right for your system, use the Crucial Memory Advisor tool for a list of guaranteed compatible modules. first you will need to select the manufacturer from a drop down list then select your product line from a drop down list then select the model then click find it will take you directly to compatible ram also you will have an option to scan your system

Your motherboard is the main component to your computer, so if you're thinking of re-using your RAM and CPU, you'll have to make sure you get a motherboard with the same RAM type (ex. if you have DDR2 RAM, you'll have to get a DDR2 motherboard) and the same CPU socket. My recommendation is that you find a motherboard that fits inside your tower, and buy a processor and RAM that is compatible with your new motherboard. If your hard drives are SATA connections, you should be able to reuse those on a new motherboard, but if they are IDE (big, flat wire) then you'll need to made sure the new board can accommodate your IDE hard drives. CD ROMs are also mainly SATA now, so if you have an IDE CD rom drive and IDE hard drives, it will be difficult to find a NEW motherboard with more than one IDE connection, meaning you'll have to change jumper settings, or simply buy a SATA CD-rom drive.
As far as software goes, you'll most likely have to reinstall your operating system if the upgrade is a substantial one. Video card is another thing to consider. Your motherboard might be using the older AGP technology, whereas new motherboards are useing PCIe connections. So to sum it up, when you upgrade your motherboard, it affects a lot of other hardware, but if you simply swap your motherboard with something compatible with the rest of your hardware, it isn't really an upgrade.

XP cannot be installed natively on an SATA disk without the appropriate driver which must be loaded during the install - an extremely complicated maneuver. The best way to deal with that is to just add the new SATA hard disk: install XP on the PATA and use the new SATA for your files as a separate partition. The adapter cable can be bought for about $5 from the same shop as the hdd.
All the other modifications are just fine - just remember , the RAM will not be fully recognized and used because of the limitations of the 32bit XP.

most SATA hard drives have both the molex and SATA power connectors to work with every PSU (power supply unit). There's a good chance that your third connector is the Molex one, don't worry about it.

The size hard drive you can use is not determined by the hardware, but by the operating system. With any Windows version, you could even upgrade to 1TB with no problem. A 500GB drive would work fine. Just be sure to get the right type of drive to connect to your motherboard. Most new drives are SATA, and have different power supply and data connectors from older IDE drives. You need to make sure the motherboard and drive can connect.

You should have been supplied a SATA cable if you have bought a new DVD drive. On your motherboard you will see 2 orange connectors just underneath where the older IDE grey cables plug in. Thesae are you 2 SATA connectors. They will be labeled as 0 and 1, if you are not using of these at moment connect to SATA 1 incase you decide to hook up a SATA HDD drive at some stage. Power cable just plugs in as usual. If PC doesnt recognise the drive you will need to go into the bios ( press DEL or F2 at startup) and it will be listed under something like drive configuration and just enable SATA there.

It's not just the connectors - it's a whole different system. You should have bought the older type drive.
There may be adaptor cards that can fit internally but I don't think you'll get the benefit of SATA if the motherboard is not SATA compatible. (I might be wrong though - I'm a mac specialist)

What mother board is it? you have sata and ide drives.. new technology is sata which is connected with sata cable to *********** board and appropriate pover coard, the older teconlogy is ide, which is connected with ide (master slave) cable frm you motehr board to you drive... just post what mother board and i could be more specific...

ATA, or (PATA) hard drives use the older "seatbelt" 40 or 80 pin ribbon interface cable, whereas SATA is fairly new using the small, thin interface cable found in most computers manafactured in the last 12-18 months, hope it helps

check if the hard drive you bought is an IDE or SATA hard drive. if it is SATA you cant use it on your laptop. it should be IDE