The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    500GB notebook drives

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by SeeYouInTheER, Oct 3, 2008.

  1. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    i cant find any on newegg, i know they have 5400 rpm 500 gig drives on the net somewhere, somebody post a link please?
     
  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,133
    Messages:
    6,399
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
  3. big_coop69

    big_coop69 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    They are at Tigerdirect.com

    I was thinking about getting 2 of them and runinng them in a raid 0
     
  4. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    no they dont
     
  5. big_coop69

    big_coop69 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
  6. tallan

    tallan Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    122
    Messages:
    896
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Couple of things:

    They are also available here, starting at $179 but with a $30 rebate (net $149):
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A53487/

    Second these drives are all, from what I can see, 12.5mm thick, rather than the more standard 9mm, so you need to be sure they will fit in your laptop.
     
  7. Quadzilla

    Quadzilla The eye is watching you

    Reputations:
    7,074
    Messages:
    8,376
    Likes Received:
    94
    Trophy Points:
    216
    They are not the standard laptop harddrives as they are abit to fat to fit into our machines.
     
  8. big_coop69

    big_coop69 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Oh well I guess I am just going to have to stick with the (2) 320GB HDD's for now...
     
  9. stamar

    stamar Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    454
    Messages:
    6,802
    Likes Received:
    102
    Trophy Points:
    231
    stay tuned apx a week for the wd 500 gb hds to be out at apx 159 usd

    the samsung 500 gb drive will fit in our machines the hitachi ones will not

    the samsung one is 3 platter though, and the wd and then next hitachi and seagate ones are 2 platter. they will be faster than the 320 7200 rpm one you are considering, cost only about 50 more and of course they will be 500 gb

    wait about 2 week i pretty much promise they just reached the canada market yesterday.
     
  10. iaTa

    iaTa Do Not Feed

    Reputations:
    1,328
    Messages:
    2,675
    Likes Received:
    197
    Trophy Points:
    81
    Seagate 7200rpm 500GB 9.5mm drives will be here very soon too :)
     
  11. kaltmond

    kaltmond Clepple

    Reputations:
    699
    Messages:
    1,454
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Still no tests of any 7200rpm 500gb drivers....
     
  12. big_coop69

    big_coop69 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hmm...What is the difference between a 2 and 3 platter hard drive when it comes to performance...???
     
  13. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,133
    Messages:
    6,399
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
    A 3 platter HDD at 5400RPM will have 3 166GB platters, giving the same R/W rates as the 320GB 5400RPMs (which have 2 166GB platters), but an even worse access times due to the increased no. of heads.

    A 2 platter HDD at 5400RPM will have 2 250GB platters, giving R/W rates much higher than the 320GB 5400RPM, if the extra data density in the larger 250GB platters is only in bits per track.

    So, basically, the 2 Platter 500GB drives will be alot faster.

    Benchies....
     
  14. big_coop69

    big_coop69 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Thanks alot...Now I understand...
     
  15. Kamin_Majere

    Kamin_Majere =][= Ordo Hereticus

    Reputations:
    1,522
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yeah 2 platter 500GB drives make me happy in my special area....my bank account. Geez get your minds out of the gutter :p

    Whats more interesting is Western Digital is claiming by next year X-mas time they expect to roll out a 1TB laptop drive. That will be bloody amazing.

    I cant wait for next X-mas HD slot 1 sporting super fast SSD, and HD slot 2 sporting 1TB worth of storage. Thats going to be sweet :D
     
  16. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    oh wow, 1TB lappy drives, gets me erect, but why SSD, i know for performance and everything and to boot stuff faster, but are they dropping prices on them soon cuz they are still a tad too bit expensive for the performance gain you get
     
  17. Diablo

    Diablo Metalhead

    Reputations:
    772
    Messages:
    1,471
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    simply put: people addicted to speed when it comes to boot/program loading want SSD.

    eventually, when the $ per GB goes down to like........a dollar, ill consider getting an ssd. but right now...im content with my dual 320 gb laptop drives and 1TB external storage
     
  18. Kamin_Majere

    Kamin_Majere =][= Ordo Hereticus

    Reputations:
    1,522
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    The SSD because the speed, pure and simple. With Intel in the game the speed of the new drives makes RAID look last gen and the prices have dropped about 40 percent a year pretty constantly. It wasn't too long ago SLC drives were the only option @ 3000 dollars for a 64 gig drive. MLC is finally being proven and the size and speed being achieved is finally increasing to acceptable levels.

    By next year i wouldn't be surprised if 512gb drives are available for around 800 dollars. So lower capacity drives will be almost dirt cheap (comparatively in any case) so would be perfect fo an OS/application drive while the larger capacity "normal" hard drive can be used to store everything else.

    Though truth be told if there are 500GB solid state drives i might just go with those RAID'ed and gawk at the fact that now the SATA II port is a bottleneck to a system :D :p :D
     
  19. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
  20. stamar

    stamar Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    454
    Messages:
    6,802
    Likes Received:
    102
    Trophy Points:
    231
  21. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    out of stock already? what the sh*t is this
     
  22. Kamin_Majere

    Kamin_Majere =][= Ordo Hereticus

    Reputations:
    1,522
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Truth be told... its kinda a big deal. I was originally going to get the 3 platter 500gb drives. But they stayed out of stock to long for my taste and the preformance was quite honestly crap for the price so i've stuck out for higher capacity 2 platter drives.
     
  23. stamar

    stamar Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    454
    Messages:
    6,802
    Likes Received:
    102
    Trophy Points:
    231
    ok next comes the 2 platter hitachi drive that should be the best one, and a 2 platter seagate.
     
  24. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    since when are hitachi drives better then WD?
     
  25. Kamin_Majere

    Kamin_Majere =][= Ordo Hereticus

    Reputations:
    1,522
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I dont think they are. Some drives are faster or use less power than WD, but none of them are necessarily "better"

    I've almost always trusted WD for all of my data storage needs for as long as i had a choice in the matter.

    Though my family records (pictures and important documents) i'm entrusting to a SSD. Seems to be the best way to guarentee the intergrity of the data short of DVD cold storage.
     
  26. SeeYouInTheER

    SeeYouInTheER Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    ive seen SSD's fail though, alot actually. but anyway, yeah WD always for me, ive never had a WD drive fail. ive got a 30gig IDE drive from 2002 in my dads computer and its still running great.

    thats why i was a little disappointed that the 7811 came with a seagate drive. its running so i cant really complain, i would of preferred WD, but im still gonna buy another drive for RAID 0
     
  27. Kamin_Majere

    Kamin_Majere =][= Ordo Hereticus

    Reputations:
    1,522
    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    SLC SSD's rarely ever fail...even when exposed to conditions like plane crashes (hence their use in the modern day "black box")

    So its not like i'm going to entrust all of my important documents and picture histories to a partiot or ocz with shoddy usability. It will more than likely be a 32gb mtron or something along that. I'll have to first see the overall size of everything...but 32GB should be plenty.

    But yeah WD drives are great... but its really experience that gives us these facts about the hard drives. While i've never had a problem with WD there have been others (on this very forum no less) that have had nothing but problems with WD. With all HDD its pretty much the luck of the draw. The one time i bought a seagate it dies on me about a month into use so I wrote them off without actually caring that more likely than now i just got a bum drive.
     
  28. Starcub

    Starcub Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    10
    Messages:
    287
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I was impressed with the IBM drives I had, so when Hitachi bought IBM's HDD business I went to Hitachi. I've been buying Hitachi's exclusively since then and I've not been disappointed.