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    6860 hard drive upgrade question

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by wtburnette, Oct 1, 2008.

  1. wtburnette

    wtburnette Notebook Consultant

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    So, I'm looking to toss a 2nd hard drive in my laptop, but not sure whether to go 5400RPM or 7200RPM. I won't be reinstalling windows, at least not anytime soon, so the new drive will definitely be for storage more then anything else. At Newegg, I noticed the difference between the WD 320GB drives are only $10. Should I spend the extra for the higher spindle speed, or does it really matter? I know, I could use search and find out but I'm about to head out for work. Opinions are appreciated... ;)
     
    wtburnette, Oct 1, 2008
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  2. WarlordOne

    WarlordOne Notebook Evangelist

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    The stock hdd is the wd3200bevt. If you plan on going raid 0 you want to use twin hard disks. If you don't plan on ever using raid then you can get whatever 2nd hdd you want.

    I haven't found any good comparisons between the 320gb hdd's as of yet but maybe I just didn't stumble upon them yet.

    BTW, the best price I've found on the 7200 rpm wd3200bekt is $96 with free shipping.
     
    WarlordOne, Oct 1, 2008
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  3. Quadzilla

    Quadzilla The eye is watching you

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    where did you see that price warlord?.
     
    Quadzilla, Oct 1, 2008
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  4. WarlordOne

    WarlordOne Notebook Evangelist

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    buy.com

    they also have the wd3200bevt for $83 free ship
     
    WarlordOne, Oct 1, 2008
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  5. Starcub

    Starcub Notebook Consultant

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    Since you are going to use it as a storage device, you will probably be storing large image files (backups) to it. Large file transfers are where the increased RPM's really come in handy. However, the 6860fx suffers from high HDD temps and increased RPM's usually means higher HDD temps. You might want to think about getting a 7k drive and running it in an external USB SATA drive enclosure that also has an ESATA interface. You can find a good enclosure online for about $20.
     
    Starcub, Oct 1, 2008
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  6. Voodoofreak

    Voodoofreak Notebook Deity

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    WOW!! Thats a great deal for getting raid running on this machine. Just ordered a drive for myself :).
     
    Voodoofreak, Oct 1, 2008
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  7. wtburnette

    wtburnette Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the info Warlord, I'll probably go for that drive. That's a great price.

    Well, I do have an external 640GB hard drive hooked up to the system at home with eSata, but I want extra storage for while I'm mobile and I don't want to have to carry more then I already do. I haven't had any heat related issues with the system and using the bottle cap method of cooling as worked well for me thus far. I'm going to try the internal drive and if it gets too hot, I can always get a 2.5" eSata enclosure for it... ;)
     
    wtburnette, Oct 2, 2008
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