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    What hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Russchilds, Sep 28, 2010.

  1. Russchilds

    Russchilds Notebook Consultant

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    Hi,
    Firstly thanks for everyones help yesterday with processor choice. Just one last question before I order.
    What hard drive is best? In my price range I can choose one of the following:

    500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
    or for £20 more - 320GB (7200 RPM) Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 "Stripe" Dual HDD - (2x160GB)

    Cheers!!! :)
    Russ
     
    Russchilds, Sep 28, 2010
    #1
  2. alexnvidia

    alexnvidia Notebook Deity

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    get the 500GB 7200rpm or better yet the new 640GB 7200rpm drive and buy a SSD down the road if i were u.
     
    alexnvidia, Sep 28, 2010
    #2
  3. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    Be sure to check newegg.com and look at HDDs there. It may be cheaper to pickup your own HDD and install it, which is a 10 min job involving 10 screws total. You'd need to remove the bottom cover (2 screws) remove the HDD caddy (4 screws) and remove the HDD from the caddy (4 screws). Very easy.
     
    DR650SE, Sep 28, 2010
    #3
  4. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I would recommend getting a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB. It's much faster than normal 7200rpm 500GB drives. See the review in my signature for details.
     
    Phil, Sep 28, 2010
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  5. anodize

    anodize Notebook Deity

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    What Phil said. ^
    Get the cheapest possible drive and buy an aftermarket drive(SSD or Momentus XT) for better performance.
     
    anodize, Sep 28, 2010
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  6. Russchilds

    Russchilds Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the replies!! I'll think these options over. Very helpful again - cheers!!!
     
    Russchilds, Sep 28, 2010
    #6
  7. ACHlLLES

    ACHlLLES Notebook Virtuoso

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    ACHlLLES, Sep 28, 2010
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  8. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    +1 for the Momentus, I havn't used it, but heard great things about it. Definately a good investment if you can swing it.
     
    DR650SE, Sep 28, 2010
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  9. dave-p

    dave-p Notebook Deity

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    +1 as well

    I have the Momentus installed in my Sons Inspiron, definitely improved the boot up times with it
     
    dave-p, Sep 28, 2010
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  10. Luminair

    Luminair Notebook Consultant

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    My Momentus XT is fantastic - I would go with whatever the cheapest option is that you can scrape by with from Dell, then go aftermarket. Personally, a small SSD boot drive + a large capacity HDD seems like a great choice.

    If you aren't in the market for an SSD at this point, I would suggest a Momentus XT for the time being, then upgrading to an SSD if you'd like sometime in the future.
     
    Luminair, Sep 28, 2010
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  11. devoidx

    devoidx Notebook Consultant

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    I have two of these in RAID0:

    WD Scorpio Black 500GB Notebook Hard Drive Review

    M17x-R2 Black | i7-840QM | 8GB-1333MHz DDR3 RAM | ATI Mobility Radeon HD5870 CrossFireX | 17" 1920x1200 RGB LED | 1TB Raid0 7.200rpm HDD | Bluetooth 370 | Intel WiFi 6300 | Windows 7 Ultimate
     
    devoidx, Sep 28, 2010
    #11