Computer folks, what to do?

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 7:17 pm

I need more hard-drive space on my laptop! My Toshiba has a 40gb drive, and I want more.

Trouble is, that it's one of the tablet PC's with the lightness. Doesn't even have internal disc drives (which works well for me).

I really like this computer though, and I don't really want to pony up and get another one for a while.

So where should I look for larger hard-drives for laptops? External drives are not an option. I'd like something in the 80 to 100 gb range.

Anyone? What are some good hard-drive companies too? Who should I stay away from? What other specs should I know about to be an informed consumer?

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Fri May 12, 2006 7:30 pm

Western Digitals and Seagates are pretty much at the tip of the HD sword for the consumer market, right now. Take note of the speed when you're pricing them out. . . going from a 4200rpm to a 7200 rpm might give you some sticker shock, but it all depends on how much performance you're looking to get out of your notebook.

You'll have to find a way to transfer your HD image to the new one. . . via EZGIG, Norton Ghost, etc. That'll be the real challenge. If you have a PCMCIA slot on that thing you're in good shape, if not then I'm not sure what's new on the market that'll utilize USB.

In my experience, Newegg.com has always had a good selection of hard drives at very competitive prices. And their service is top-notch.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri May 12, 2006 7:38 pm

I would personally get Seagate instead of WD -- I've never been particularly impressed with WD drive failure rates on the desktop side, and the Seagate drives all have 5-year warranties. This 120 GB 5400 RPM drive looks good:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822146231

The Seagate 80-100 GB drives on Newegg are all either 4200 RPM or SATA, so you don't want them.

Once you replace the drive, get this for your old one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817146604

It will allow you to use it as an external drive, giving you even more capacity.

sammydafish · Post by **sammydafish** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:02 pm

thefultonhow wrote:I would personally get Seagate instead of WD -- I've never been particularly impressed with WD drive failure rates on the desktop side, and the Seagate drives all have 5-year warranties.

I agree

For your laptop, make sure you get a drive that's the right height, there are 9mm and 9.5mm 2.5" laptop drives, the wrong one won't fit.

No doubt get something that's at least 5400 rpm, 7200 is a pretty good performance jump too. Most laptop drives are 4200rpm which just kinda sucks. 80 and 100 gig drives in this size are getting more poular and are competitive in price now (a year ago you'd have paid double)

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:04 pm

Are laptop hard drives fairly universal?

I've got a PC card slot dealie and a smaller slot. I can probably talk to a few computer friends of mine to figure out how to transfer.

120gb looks good, and 170 bucks is worth it, for sure.

5400RPM is fast enough? Is there a noticeable difference? What would a 7200 RPM 120gb drive cost?

5 year warranty is a good thing.

That external drive thing sounds good. I'd use it to store all my movies and stuff. That'd be neat.

sammydafish · Post by **sammydafish** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:41 pm

BAC5.2 wrote:Are laptop hard drives fairly universal?

as long as they are the correct physical size, yes, pretty much every laptop drive is IDE.

to shop for good prices, just check www.pricegrabber.com

Post by **DLC** » Fri May 12, 2006 9:09 pm

Let me guess, you have an M200? I have one of them too.

This is a 2.5" SATA test, but the inteface doesn't really make any difference. Notice that 7,200 doesn't actually make for a faster drive in some cases:

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/mo ... dex.x?pg=1

Go with Seagate

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:14 pm

When DLC says the interface doesn't make a difference, he's probably speaking from an all-other-things-equal performance standpoint. An SATA drive won't work in your laptop.

A 120 GB 7200 RPM drive would cost a ton and a half, if you can even find one (it seems like 100 GB is the largest 7200 rpm notebook drive Newegg sells).

To transfer over your data, you have two options:

1. Reimage the new drive with the Toshiba restore DVD, and then use the USB enclosure to copy files over.
2. Buy two 3.5" to 2.5" IDE adaptors (around $7 each) and hook the drives up inside a desktop PC. Use Ghost to do a disk-to-disk copy. Just dragging over all the files won't work, as you'll lose stuff like the MBR, which is important for booting.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:21 pm

Dave - It's actually a Portege' 3500. My mom has the newest hotness tablet that weighs even less than mine. I'm happy with mine though. It's got a bit more hard drive than hers, and since I take mine EVERYWHERE the added durability is key. I don't know how my moms would hold up to backpack carrying (in padded pocket) on a motorcycle, lol.

David - 5200 is acceptable though, right? I mean, it's probably an improvement over what I have, right? Is there a way to tell what I've got now?

I need to make a bracket to mount the laptop in my car for GPS/Map use and music control when in the Legacy.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:24 pm

I'll probably do option 1 you mentioned. That sounds easy enough.

From that I just copy the major files, and re-install everything?

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:31 pm

BAC5.2 wrote:I'll probably do option 1 you mentioned. That sounds easy enough.

From that I just copy the major files, and re-install everything?

Yep. You get the additional bonus of a clean install. I'm sure you've had the laptop for at least a couple of years and crud tends to build up.

I had a 5400 rpm drive in my last laptop (Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2), and have a 7200 rpm one in my current one (IBM ThinkPad T43p). The other major performance specs are equal (2 GHz Pentium-M 760; 1 GB of RAM), and to be honest I see very little seat-of-the-pants difference.

They do sell car laptop mounts -- check whether there is a universal one or even one made specifically for your model.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:04 pm

A universal one would be cool, but I want it mounted with minimal drilling. I want to switch between Forester and Legacy.

I've had the laptop since the beginning of this semester. It was clean when I got it, and now I have 4gb left, and that's just not enough. Some crud has built up, and programs I wish I hadn't installed, etc. So a fresh start would be a good idea.

With the spare hard drive, would I just re-format it and wipe it clean? Or do I need to leave the OS on it? I imagine I just wipe it clean and use it like one of those flash-drive things.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:12 pm

Yes, you can wipe the seconary drive clean.

Take a look at this:

http://www.ram-mount.com/nodrillsystems/rampodiii.htm

You might be able to get it cheaper form a third-party.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:19 pm

Only trouble with the mount is that I have a manual transmission in both cars, and I need to have access to the radio in at least the Forester.

Manarius · Post by **Manarius** » Sat May 13, 2006 12:52 am

Note: More RPM = less battery time. Think about it...it takes more power to spin a HD faster. So, faster is NOT necessarily better when it comes to battery life.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Sat May 13, 2006 1:21 am

I am plugged in 99% of the time, so it's not THAT big a concern for me.

When it goes in the car, I plan on hard-wiring an Inverter and get an additional charger that I can shorten solely for car use.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Sat May 13, 2006 1:54 am

Just get an Auto-Air adaptor -- they're straight DC, as opposed to DC-AC-DC.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:26 am

There isn't an auto-air adaptor for my computer though

. Plus, they cost a lot more than a power inverter, lol.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:39 pm

Did a little research; this is listed on Toshiba's site as being compatible with the Portege 3500:

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process ... AR+APD10US

isotopeman · Post by **isotopeman** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:20 am

One thing that I can't help but wonder: what do you use your computer for?
I wouldn't spend too much for speed or cache (and go more for size) if you do little more than word processing, playing music (or videos) or just using the internet.

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Computer folks, what to do?

Computer folks, what to do?