Adding second hard drive to P7811FX

Hey I am going to add a 320 gig hard drive to the second bay of my P7811FX. Do I need to do anything special or buy anything special? I hard something about there not being screws, what are you guys doing when you add the second drive?

 

First you will be reprimanded for starting a new thread.

Then you will be scolded for talking about screws.

Your existing drive has 4 screws. Use 2 of them in the new drive.

I am considering starting a new thread, "I am now turning on my P-7811 FX."

 

hey mang...not everybody here are a$$holes. but seriously, with the new hard drive, it should come with screws. i ordered another 320 gb from newegg and it came with screws.

 

You totally should.

OP-Some have gotten screws in the package and others have not. It's kind of a gamble. I didnt get any when I got my other two Scorpios.

 

Maybe this will cheer you guys up, this is the drive I bought:

http://www.buy.com/listing/sellerlistings.asp?sku=206895460&buy=1

Toshiba MK3252GSX Hard Drive - 320GB - 5400rpm - Serial ATA/300 - Serial ATA - Internal - HDD2H01

$85.99 from buy.com

It lists for $110 from newegg....

300,000 Hours MTTF , not bad for my storage drive...

 

I'd personally get a 2nd of the already installed drive. Just in case you ever wanted to go to a RAID setup, assuming they update they BIOS. (Which I think they will, or someone will).

 

I considered that, but thought 2 7200 rpm drives might be overkill. I really wanted storage space honestly, but I did consider buying the same drive again.

 

Spoken like a true engineer... er... wait a minute, didn't I say that before? I think I'm having deja-vu.

 

LOL I would have credited the original poster but the 2 screw technique has been suggested by more than one.

I would just have stuck it in and forgot about it. Then I would have not taken the laptop dancing, ski jumping or sky diving.

 

nah, u dont need screws at all, open that **** panel and take a look at the hd compartment.

im just browse the forum for new drivers for p7811.
nvm!

 

Umm, what?

 

See, this I don't get. In the build it yourself desktop world the average drive is 7200rpm, 5400 is generally considered a bad drive.

In the laptop world 7200 seems to be a bit on the rare side. Either way a 7200rpm drive with 16MB cache is a good solid drive, and the ability to switch to raid later would be a huge perk.

I can understand if you just want more space, but I like to keep my options open personally. Although I do have trouble filling drives. I've never managed to fill even a single 200GB drive. But I use partitions and storage drives and like to setup a network drive on my systems too. To each their own I guess.

 

I thought 250 GB hard drive space was enough... a year later, I found myself buying a 750 GB hard drive (desktop computer).

 

Music and video can eat up your disks in no time.

As to my original disk that came with the laptop, the C drive(programs) is half gone already after a week and I haven't put too many programs on it. In fact I've uninstalled some stuff the computer came with.

 

My "C" drive is also getting pretty full. I think I have 25 GBs left. But I have all the office/programming software that I need already installed... I think.

 

I replaced the Microsoft 2007 stuff with Open Office, which takes up even more space. But it's free, so what the hey. I'll see how I like it.

Am thinking of putting in photoshop and some other stuff though. I can see myself feeling this disk is too small within the year ... heck, I hope it takes that long! You can always plug in externals, but as if a 17 incher weren't unportable enough ....

 

Yikes, I just noticed WD has a 500GB laptop drive.
http://www.techpowerup.com/71177/WD...ips_500_GB_Capacity_Notebook_Hard_Drives.html
So 1TB of space on my laptop. I like it.

 

Yeh 5400 tho.

 

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

 

Who cares if its 5400rpm...its a 2 platter 500gig drive!

It will probably runn a bit faster (or at least the same speed) as the 7200rpm scorpio blacks due to the 90gb more per platter its packing.

I was excited as hell over a 2 platter 400gig gdrive and this is WAY better than that.

I'm floating nice with the 640gb of storage i have now. But come the Nehelam die shrink i will be looking for a new lappy, so heres to hoping they can squeze 1TB into a laptop drive by then (oh yeah and a 280gtx )

 

I usually end up with 5400 because I'm too CHEAP to buy 7200 for lappy's. I like um, quiet, cool ... what can I say.

Here is 7811 stock drive. Let's see some 7200 posts to shame me into buying a new drive.
Edit: A 7200 drive after all. So maybe we need some 5400 comparisons.

 

umm...last i knew the 7811 had a 7200 rpm drive...

but here goes anyways...

 

You are right, I forgot ... my first 7200 notebook drive, whoopie.

Let's see some 5400 then.

 

on another note, im almost mad because newegg now has the 320gb 7200 rpm western digitals for $140. if they had been that price when i ordered my second drive, i would have bought 2 of them for raid instead of 2 5400 rpm drives.

dammit.

 

I'm still in awe of how many people are still in the "OMG RAID 0" camp after it's been proven that not only does it provide any real noticeable performance gain, but in notebook drives that already have a tendency to run at or near the top end of their performance temperature range...it just doesn't seem to make a tremendous amount of sense.

Personally my solution would be to add another larger 5400rpm drive and wait for the third/fourth-generation SSDs.

 

Yep - that should start a fight.

 

Nah. No need to fight. This is simply an example of ignorance.

 

Dook is French. Declaring victory without a fight (or amidst loss, either way) - it's a national tradition.

 

That 320 gigs at $140 sounds pretty cool. My C drive is down to 23 gigs already. I'd like to get rid of this D partition and have that 320 as my new D drive. I have a feeling I'll be down to nothing on the C in no time. I've only had the darn thing for two weeks.

 

Nah. No victory to be had. I'm just saying there's no need to fight with someone who clearly doesn't know any better.

 

+1 for that.

people should try it out before nay saying that there is virtually no performance gains....pssh. not to mention the only time the right wrist rest even gets warm is when its not on the cooler and that is very very rare.

 

raid is cool and all, but one drive fails and your stuck like chuck. waiting on a replacement. and the recovery part is murder if your not mirrored or backed up.

 

Well I'm subscribed to get the johnksss guide on RAID-0 recovery when one drive dies.

 

yeah, had to do this for 2 of my clients. took about 5 days each on both projects. running at 24 hours a day. and the backups had the disk errors in them so they we're pretty much useless.

edit: this is why the sager NP9262 is a good desktop replacment with raid solution. it uses 3 hard drives.

 

So you were not able to recover RAID-0. I would think it impossible.

 

i recovered them, just takes a very long time and a whole lot of patients.

 

Ok let me get this straight.
One drive went down ....
Then what?
You were able to recover "them." How is there a them when one is gone.
I know I'm missing something.

 

here ya go... a test between a 5400 rpm drive vs a 7200 rpm drive i did.










and yes..the 7200 went right back after the test we're done. not enough performance gain for what i was doing. network file transfers mainly.

 

That's why you image your current install(and make regular backups) and in the event of a drive failure, you image back to a single drive until you replace the bad one. Pretty simple, actually. And with the major headway HD manufacturers have made in reliability, this is much less of an issue than it used to be. If the machine is jolted bad enough to damage a hard drive, it's more than likely both drives will be taken out.

And of course recovery is murder if you're not backed up. This goes without saying and applies to ANY setup, not just RAID. Thus the reason backups are so important.

 

yes...you have to recover them as a whole and not as one drive independent of the other.

 

yes dook..that's why im in computer repair and see this all to many times.
1: most people do not make backups! sorry, but that's a proven fact.
2: bumping a hard drive does not always take out both drives
3: hard drive reliability no one can really tell. if so, we wouldn't have forums with people constantly asking about how good they are.
4: raid is for some just like over clocking is for others.
5: recovery is no where near as hard on a single drive as it is on one that has been stripped.
6: i run raid setups, i just dont prefer them. so i know and can speak on them. i do way to much changing and crashing of systems to help others find the answers they need, to run raid. like i said before. it's cool and all. not downing it like that. but i would rather have space than save 5 seconds of copy time when copying 20 to 30 gigs of data at a time. and since i use my computers for more than just gaming. raid is not beneficial for me.

 

Hey,
Just got my P7811 FX and am starting to set it up. Want to try RAID 0. Came with one seagate momentus HD. Ordered a second matching HD from Newegg. Any body tried or have tips on setting up RAID 0 on the P7811 FX?

Sorry if it's already been covered. Just tell me the forum and page........Raymond

 

here ya go bud. raid is not available on the 7811 at this time

 

Right, so if one drive goes down you have to send it in for repair and hope the data remains in tact. Otherwise it's all toast. Backup is cheaper than HD repair.

In laptops with only 2 drives I agree things are somewhat more sensitive. Like flying a plane with 2 engines, you are twice as likely to have engine trouble. Engine trouble on any aircraft is exciting.

RAID or not, any valuable data must be backed up. On a desk top with 3 or 4 drives I don't use the RAID for data and even that data I back up (usually). So either way backup is the issue no matter what HD configuration one runs.

Conclusion: Backup is the issue, RAID is not the issue.

PS: Thanks for the comparisons.

PPS: I do RAID because I can and I like higher test numbers. Do I really care if I have RAID ... Nope. Would I use it if possible? Probably.

PPPS: I see we are discussing the general public and not backing up. These people don't even know what RAID is. But in that case I agree, do not RAID.

OK done PPing and SSing.

 

thats the most "Post Scripts" i've ever seen in a single post...or well anything for that matter.

Good job Syngensmyth!

As to RAID, i used to not, but since i now have 3 floating back ups of all of my data i figure what the heck, i mine as well get better preformance for free.

But i am waiting for SSD's to come down on price and up in capacity, i would love a more secure drive to keep data in and not have to worry about it one day just screwing up for no good reason...either that or PMC tech to finally get up an running...cant wait to get a 20tb laptop hard drive

 

norton ghost with nightly/weekly backups to the other drive. that way nothing goes missing

 

John, I mean no disrespect but you being in "computer repair" doesn't mean you know everything there is to know. I started out in hardware back in 1989 with basic computer and server builds and have made my way through the ranks and up to Network Engineer. I'll bet I have personally built, administered and/or fixed over 800 RAID arrays on everything from Sun Sparq workstations to high-end servers and I STILL don't know everything there is to know. People throw the "I'm in computer repair/I.T." moniker around like its a friggin baseball and usually with very little merit. This doesn't mean they are the end all be all of computers. This being said, here are my responses/opinions/suggestions to your numbered statements based on what I have learned over the years:

1.) This is not a valid argument for or against RAID. If most people don't make backups they are just as likely to loose data running one hard drive as they are with two.
2.) Correct. However, the chances are if a hard drive is in operation(ie not parked) and a hard-drop occurs, there's a good chance there will be damage to either the head and/or platter. This applies to running a singe drive or a million drive RAID.
3.) Hard drive reliability has noticeably improved over the years, this is a fact. Feel free to research this. I don't mean a hard drive is never going to fail, but the chances of non-impact failure have been drastically reduced thus making hard drives a lot more reliable then they were just a few years ago.
4.) Again, correct. But that doesn't mean people who choose to not run RAID should be making questionable statements about it's performance and/or reliability. Especially if you aren't running, or have no experience running an array on the machine currently being discussed.
5.) Incorrect. Generally, recovery is just as easy on a single drive as it is on an array. Especially if you back up/image like your supposed to. To the OS it's just a single, large, fast drive. The only time you could possibly run into a snafu is if you're using an older OS(ie Windows XP) and are doing a fresh reinstall instead of an image restore. This is still incredibly easy with the likes of nLite around.
6.) "but i would rather have space than save 5 seconds of copy time when copying 20 to 30 gigs of data at a time" Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but a RAID 0 array properly configured has just as much space as two separate drives would. Maybe you're thinking of RAID 1.
"and since i use my computers for more than just gaming. raid is not beneficial for me" Actually, RAID 0 is less beneficial for gaming than most other tasks.

Again, I mean no disrespect towards you with this post. You see things your way and have stated your opinion and I am simply stating mine. My only problem with this whole RAID argument (not really an argument per se) is the ones that do not actively use it and still feel it necessary to provide incorrect information to steer others away, for some reason. I, of course, am speaking in generalities and am not aiming this solely at you.

 

So much for little quips ... the real Dook has arrived and he is kicking butt and taking names.

 

By the way, RAID is making my lapp too hot! or was that my 7811? Nevermind...

 

kind of why i said.... i have nothing against raid. thought that covered all that....and i should have said.."problem solving" and not computer repair. i know you can relate to this..

and again...i run raid servers, just not a raid laptop. it's used for a bunch of things. from testing drives to fixing them. (ergo I.T. statement which should have been.. problem solving) and i would be defeating the raid purpose if im constantly taking the raid down.

tell the truth dook, you know you didn't back up your system today. *LOL*
j/k

again with the backups ...like i mentioned. "IF you do back ups" and like i mentioned as well. "that most do not" and in the examples i gave, they had no valid back ups. guess that's why i have them now as a client and not the last I. T. guy. and since most of my clients run databases, you need more than just your standard raid partitions (os/data/vss) so running just a backup is not going to please the accounting department if they have to go back and input all that info from a back up on friday and the server crashes on monday late afternoon and checks we're printed already. server database backups are ran every 10 minutes throughout the day. so you lose ten minutes and not 24-48 hours of information. but that is all another story...

sorry for my haste in space about the raid. you are correct. my apologies. it should have been explained that i use this laptop to repair others and if it we're raided, then i would have to remove both drives instead of just one. esate is very nice, but as you know...some drives that have to sit for a long time..you generally like to have them connected internally. but u knew this.

and raid still can not travel faster than your network will allow it. remember, i said network transfers in my case. (running 1 ghz network)
im impressed with your knowledge! i have been doing this since 86, but got truly serious about it in 92-94.

last but not least....i never ever profess to have all the answers...but i can gernerally speaking...find answers to most. and that includes but is not limited to...asking you for advice. since you have that background knowledge...i will be asking!!! *LOL*

and again..no disrespect to you as well!!


oh yeah, i could have ran a raid on a 7811fx, but i don't have one!..lol
i had a 6831 and now a 6860...