S5n Bigger HDD

I avoided it for years, but it seems I have finally joined the world of gigabyte gluttony. This is really stupid, but the reason is because my S5 doesn't have an optical drive I've gotten in the habit of copying some of my DVDs (yes, I own them and don't share them, so don't ask) that I want to watch when I'm on the road or something and putting them on my HDD so I don't have to deal with the external DVD drive. Like I said, I know it's stupid, but it's easier this way, especially when flying. I usually delete the file when I'm done watching it, but I've also employed this method for games that require the CD to play like some older versions of SimCity etc (thank you SlySoft). Anyway, my HDD is now full. Also, because I'm a bit of a photography junkie, my photos are taking up a lot of space. I've been on the road for three weeks now, so my notebook is bearing the brunt of my HDD hogging activity.

I want to reimage when I get back to Canada, so I might as well throw in a new HDD. Any suggestions? I probably want to go with 5400 or 4200RPM to avoid overheating, right? Any brands that stand out? Any one particular notebook HDD that is perfect for the S5?

Thanks!

 

Hello Sencha

You can always buy a w3v.

I would never buy a lappy without a CD-RW [8D]

 

The new seagate line is getting alot of praise at the moment, these maybe worth alook...I have always found their desktop drives to be very good.
The other option that may help is to rip you dvds into divX or something similar...this will save alot of space, alternately use dvdshrink to get rid of the extras, and compress it a bit which can also help on space too.
And lapboy as for the suggestion...I have a dvd drive on my lappie but I still do the same esp for games, it just works alot better than no cd keys, and saves having to carry alot of disks around all the time...thus I am also running outta space, so the suggestion is not really helpfull as the issue would still exist regardless of a dvd drive.
a




ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

lapboy,

One of the reasons I bought the S5 was because it lacked an optical drive which I didn't *think* I needed, but I failed to consider the scenario of watching movies on my laptop. I'm still glad I don't have a built-in drive because I really wouldn't use it much (I don't ever burn anything, even on my desktop, so why have it on my laptop?) and the only time I've missed it is when I have wanted to kill time by watching a movie while on the road.

I don't regret not waiting for the W3 (I couldn't have afforded it anyway) because I think my expectations would hvae been so high for it that I would have been totally disappointed. It is definitely a good computer but could never have lived up to my expectations. I love my S5. No regrets there.

Underpantman,

Thanks for the suggestions. I forgot about divx. That's definitely something to look into. Thanks for the Seagate recomendation.

 

I'm curious about this. Can you do it with CD-ROMs as well? I have various educational CD-ROMs that I take to school for teaching. But using them means the optical drive is quite often spinning, so that it can access the various pictures/words needed. It would be easier and better for battery life if I could somehow copy the CD to the hard disk, at least the 4 or 5 I use most often. Also, there are sometimes delays when the disk spins down, and then it needs to get a word quickly, but it has to wait for it to spin up again, and that produces long weird pauses in the middle of phrases or sentences. So copying it to the HD might solve that as well.

But how do I do it? Do I image the disk the way I would for burning it? But then, how do I make the programme realise that I want to use the version on the HD, and not a disk in the drive? It always tries to look for one there, and will complain if there isn't one.

Is it similar for DVDs? If you copy one to the HD for viewing on the plane or whatever, do you need a special reader/player for them?

 

Well when I took my S5 on an international trip last year and to save room, I didn't take dvds, I just ripped them to divx and saved them on my hard drive...... much better for weight and it honestly saves battery life too since the optical drive isn't always spinning.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Oh yeah..... certainly... Just need the right programs to rip it and then that software that you always need to put in the system... the program will look for the file instead of the disc.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I personally use alcohol 120% it does a great job of imaging cds/dvds and then mounting them on a virtual drive.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Well I have the Nero software that came with the laptop. That makes a copy of the CD for burning - can I just save that to the hard-drive instead? But what do I need to do to the programme to make it look for that instead of the actual disk? That's the bit I don't understand. The programme came with an installation programme that installed it to a particular folder on my hard drive. But it still expects the CD to be in the drive, and I don't know how to get it to look for a file instead.

 

alcohol 120 ???

is it a programme?

Pardon my ignorance !!

 

yep its a program.
http://www.alcohol-soft.com/
it has a 30 day trial period to test out if you like it or not.
I have found it to be a great tool for backing up games that I have purchased and or running software that requires a disk, just create an image of that disk and then mount it on a virtual DVD-rom drive that the program creates!
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

cheers, I'll give that a try. I sounds like just what I need. Though with only a 40Gig hard drive, I probalby can't do too many..,.

 

You can try SlySoft too (www.slysoft.com). They have some good programs like Clone CD, Clone DVD and Virtual Clone Drive which all work together. It's not freeware, but the programs are excellent and you get a 30 day full-functioning free trial to see if you like them. There are a lot of programs out there you can try, just be sure to get one that is reputable. I'm sure you can imagine how many spyware ridden programs like this are out there.

Justin, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who does this!

 

I'd rather be in weird good company than bad normal company.

 

You're still weird....... but yeah... you're in good company.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Yep, those are th 80gb drives we use..... I wouldn't call that a great price, but I don't know what retail usually goes for on these things.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

By the way, would this HDD fit in my S5n?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146219

Just want to be completely sure. Great price there and on zipzoomfly and I'm in the U.S. so I can get it! Yay.

 

No? I like the free shipping though. Where would I get it cheaper? It's running $202CDN if I were to buy it up there and I'd have to pay tax on it. So you can see why $130USD with free shipping and no taxes is looking pretty sweet.