View Full Version : New hard drive required
My Laptop is rather sickly :cry:
On startup it gives me some message about impending failure of my hard drive, and once it's booted up it doesn't really do anything useful that you might reasonably expect of a computer.
Was thinking of buying this. (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330058179460&fromMakeTrack=true)
Can anyone please advise me if this is a sensible route to take? - anything else I should need to consider? - offers of help fitting?
Many thanks
Stu
chazzyb
06-12-06, 02:37 PM
Dabs have 40GB Toshiba 2.5" drives in stock - £26.99 + P&P + VAT.
I know where I'd rather buy from.
Mr Toad
06-12-06, 02:51 PM
I'd buy the one from dabs
They're very easy to fit - look around on the bottom of the laptop until you find a plate held on by a few screws - undo these and the hard disk will come out quite easily - unless it's a spare battery in which case put the plate back on and try the next one . . .
You'll next need a 'bootable' CD with whatever operating system you're going to install, and then away you go - should take less than 2 hours even with a full format of the new HD
hth
I was just going by the fact that it had my computer model number in the listing :roll: So they are more compatible than that - thanks.
Is this really going to pep up the whole system and be running like new again?
chazzyb
06-12-06, 03:38 PM
They're very easy to fit - look around on the bottom of the laptop until you find a plate held on by a few screws - undo these and the hard disk will come out quite easily - unless it's a spare battery in which case put the plate back on and try the next one . . .
The existing drive may be in a frame which you'll have to remove and fit to the new drive. On the other hand, it may not. I think I changed a drive in a Tosh laptop and had to do that. I recall fitting a Samsung drive, whereas it had been a Hitachi unit which went tits up.
I was just going by the fact that it had my computer model number in the listing :roll: So they are more compatible than that - thanks.
Is this really going to pep up the whole system and be running like new again?
If you get a hard drive with a faster spindle speed such as 7,200pm yes it probably will plus coming with a larger cache.
Check out ebuyer.co.uk as its where I got mine, hard drive laptops like desktops are pretty standard and its only the actual caddy bit that holds the drive in thats unique, simply unclip it and put it on the new drive.
Any help needed give us a shout
SoulKiss
06-12-06, 04:11 PM
Just remember that 7200rpm drives use more power - hence less battery life.
5400 are generally ok
David
Mr Toad
06-12-06, 04:56 PM
Just remember that 7200rpm drives use more power - hence less battery life.
Run hotter as well - be careful you don't burn your willy :lol:
Just remember if you by a 3rd party hard drive to make sure it is compatible, i.e. same form factor ATA100, SATA, etc Also you need to format it and install windows. You may even want to consider an external 2.5" drive caddy to make life simple for transfering all you files from the old drive after you have swapped them. They aren't expensive less than £10 I think
As above Ebuyer can't be beaten for price.
Good Luck!
mysteryjimbo
06-12-06, 06:27 PM
Just remember that 7200rpm drives use more power - hence less battery life.
5400 are generally ok
David
Only if you have enough ram, enable superprefetch and dont mind waiting 15 minutes to start up. Which in itself justifes the faster drive, what you lose in battery you gain in start up time.
Alpinestarhero
06-12-06, 07:22 PM
Just a question; Why would a hard drive wear out, so to speak? It seems in this case there is no damage other than to that of the disk itself? Is this due to constent reading/writing of the hard drive?
Matt
mysteryjimbo
06-12-06, 07:27 PM
There are numerous contributing factors to harddrive wear. It all revolves about the MTBF. Mean Time Between Failure.
Other things which would speed failure on a laptop:
Packing up whilst still shutting down.
Excessive heat from poor ventilation
Heavy use of a Fragmented drive
General knocks and bashs whilst in use.
Loads more than that though.
timwilky
06-12-06, 09:13 PM
preference, but i prefer to buy from scan as I can collect and get same day/no delivery
Last time I had laptop disc fun dumped the drive onto one of my desktop systems and a quick disc to disc using ghost to make everything as it was before. Really I needed a larger drive but the principle is the same to image copy a donor disc
Tis true if you live near any of these large hardware outlets you can usually collect, saving a fair amount in waiting time and postage costs. Unfortunately I live in Somerset :(
As for transferring data there's always more than one way of skinning a cat :D
Basically cloning the hard disk onto the new one saving all the hassle of re-installing windows as Tim said.
I'm always wary of a hard drive that's on its last legs 'cos they tend to corrupt Os files which you then transfer over to the new drive potentially causing probs from the off. So I will nearly always do a clean install. :lol:
Just remember that 7200rpm drives use more power - hence less battery life.
Run hotter as well - be careful you don't burn your willy :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
They were discussing this on bbc breakfast the other day - apparently its not good for your sperm count either
chazzyb
06-12-06, 10:23 PM
apparently its not good for your sperm count either
I never could count sperm. Guess that's why I've got too many kids. :roll:
netsurfer
06-12-06, 10:54 PM
should take less than 2 hours even with a full format of the new HD
lol... "should" but never does :twisted: :roll:
Seriously though, I had a tosh laptop and when I went to change the drive I was faced with a strange problem. Some 2.5" drives are thicker than others. The one in my old tosh' was 9mm as opposed to the more common 13mm
They are still available on general sale, just not as popular.
Pete
Alpinestarhero
07-12-06, 12:24 PM
There are numerous contributing factors to harddrive wear. It all revolves about the MTBF. Mean Time Between Failure.
Other things which would speed failure on a laptop:
Packing up whilst still shutting down.
Excessive heat from poor ventilation
Heavy use of a Fragmented drive
General knocks and bashs whilst in use.
Loads more than that though.
Ta :)
Matt
Wow, what a response - many thanks all.
As to why it's failed - that list pretty much cover's the life this poor laptops had :cry:
definitely agree with my old system being so f'd up there's no way i want to copy it :roll:
yup - got too many kids to worry about count as well :D Plus I also qualified to post in a certain other thread as well :roll:
SoulKiss wrote:
Just remember that 7200rpm drives use more power - hence less battery life.
5400 are generally ok
David
Only if you have enough ram, enable superprefetch and dont mind waiting 15 minutes to start up. Which in itself justifes the faster drive, what you lose in battery you gain in start up time.
not a clue what this means, - it certainly is a mystery to me Jimbo :roll: but the plan is to carefully check the spec of what's in there and not go for anything too much better :D
OK I've got the hard drive out of my computer if anyone can tell me what I should replace it with.
It says
Hitachi Travelstar model IC25N020ATMR04-0
4200RPM
5V 1.0A DC
20GB
ATA/IDE
Dated 8Sep03 :oops:
OK do I just get the cheapest of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/index.html?rb=23626037218&strSearch=&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=19&intCatID=4&intStoreID=33&bolShowAll=true) or get one of the bigger cache ones or any recommendations.
Thanks
again
Most IDE 2.5" laptop HDDs are the same. Being that age its going to be a PATA (Parallel ATA) drive.
Look here http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=16&FilterCategories=41&Thumbnails=yes
Personally in your case I would probably put a 40Gb 5400rpm drive in. If you go too big in capacity the laptop may not recognise it all. Should be ok upto 120Gb but not sure on this. Just make sure it is ATA100 and not SATA because they are completely different interfaces. This one should be fine.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23626359948&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=95606
HTH :lol:
Most IDE 2.5" laptop HDDs are the same. Being that age its going to be a PATA (Parallel ATA) drive.
Look here http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.ASP?CatID=16&FilterCategories=41&Thumbnails=yes
TSM
From ebuyer (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=110847) £32.32 delivered
or your site (https://secure.scan.co.uk/Shop/ViewCart.ASP?WhereTo=UQ&TooMuch=False)
£37.89
Will the ebuyer one work? ( can't see pata or sata) :roll:
Thanks
check the specification, it says ATA100 which is PATA.
:lol:
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