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    Upgrading A8JP Hard Drive - What should I be looking for?

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by SBHawk, Oct 1, 2007.

  1. SBHawk

    SBHawk Notebook Consultant

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    Hi:

    I was wondering what type of hard drive I should be looking for to upgrade my notebook? (And also if it is possible without corrupting my computer)

    I know I have to get a 2.5" but what kind of hard drive specs does it have to have? And is there a maximum amount of memory?
     
  2. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    You need a SATA hard drive, and the max memory is 4gb, but you're gonna need a 64bit OS to put all that RAM to use.
     
  3. SBHawk

    SBHawk Notebook Consultant

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    i can have 4gb of ram?? I thought the max was 2GB. Well anyway, won't having a 64bit OS take out the benefit of having 4GB RAM?
     
  4. ClearSkies

    ClearSkies Well no, I'm still here..

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    2gb sticks weren't available for Asus to test when they first QA'd the A8j, but the BIOS will take them. There are potential problems with hardware component compatibility in Vista64, so be careful if you go that road.
     
  5. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    Indeed I suggest you do not add 4 GB of RAM, it's not clear even that the motherboard can address that much ram (although it accepts it). But the main reason is that incompatibilities and driver issues simply make it not worth upgrading to 64 bits currently.

    As for a HDD, you need a SATA 2.5 and that's pretty much it.

    I recommend Seagate HDDs, very quiet and more than often require less power to run than the competition. Probably you will settle for a 5400 RPM, it's sufficient for a notebook, a 7200RPM, although better performing, heats up more and draws more power.
     
  6. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    Where'd you hear this wild and crazy idea? A 64bit OS is no more resource heavy than the 32bit version. But you need a 64bit OS to address all that ram.
     
  7. Jason

    Jason Overclocker NBR Reviewer

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    32bit OS's only address ~3GB's give or take.
     
  8. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    On top of that, some motherboards that ACCEPT 4gb of RAM only ADDRESS 3.something because they do not have enough addressing bits.