Can you use a Seagate USB to replace a Dell D820 hard drive

Hi all,

I've searched and can't find an answer to this question:

Can I replace the 40 gb EIDE Drive in my Latitude D820 with the drive from a Seagate ST90000U2 100 gb USB powered external Hard Drive?

Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Why not upgrade the IDE HDD ? There are some good, fast, cheap IDE HDDs available from Samsung and WDC.

Do you mean power via USB or connecting via USB ?

Booting from the USB HDD would depend if the BIOS supports booting from an external HDD, and due to the limited bandwidth, performance won't be the best. You can verify this, by first connecting the HDD via USB, then enter the BIOS and check if it is visible in the Boot Order.

 

I would have sworn the D820 used SATA hard drives...

 

Greg is right. The D820 does seem to use SATA drives. You can confirm this be checking the driver installed in Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers > Ultra ATA or Serial ATA ??

 

Hi, guys,

Thanks for the responses. When I bought the Laptop in 11/2006, the invoice said it had the EIDE drive. I'm running XP.

I guess I wasn't very clear on what I want to do.

My laptop has the "Antivirus XP" virus/trojan, and I just can't get rid of it. So, I'm going to have to nuke the hard drive and start all over. As long as I'm doing that, I thought I might as well upgrade the HDD. Since I already have the Seagate that I've been using as an external USB HDD, I thought I might open it up, remove the 100 gb HDD, and put it in the Laptop (replacing the 40 gb that came with the laptop), then install XP, etc., then I would have a 100 gb internal. But, I've searched all over, including Seagate's website and I can't find out whether the Seagate would work in the D820, so I was hoping someone else might know.

Sooo, any ideas?

 

Antivirus XP isn't that hard to remove. I removed it completely using Lavasoft Ad-Aware, and KIS 07.
Anyway, instead of using something like DBan, why not use GParted to delete all the partitions after backing up the data, and then make new partitions using the OS install.

I think opening the external isn't a good idea, as you might void your warranty, and I am not sure about the Notebook and external HDD's interface.

 

oldjarhead,
can you get to the harddrive of your laptop. If you can take a picture of it or tell us the exact model number we can let you know what kind of hard drive you can use.
A friend of mine has a D630 and that came out at the same time as the D830, and I know that both use SATA drives.

Also formatting the drive will get rid of the virus, but if you want a faster harddrive let us know what drive you currently have, so we can help you find a much faster drive.

K-TRON

 

That was easy - 3 screws and the HDD slides right out.

It's a Hitachi Travelstar SATA (so much for believing the invoice) 40 gb 5400 rpm.

The model # is HTS541040G9SA00

 

You could have found out the drive's interface before within windows itself, anyway that HDD is slow and old. Get a new SATA drive, any 9.5mm 2.5" SATA drive.
I am sure Phil, K-Tron, etc. can recommend some good ones.

You can checkout the Seagate 7200.3s which are super cheap atm.

 

One question I have on replacing the HDD: The Travelstar appears to be an "enclosed" drive - i.e. it's just a box. The drives that I've found on line for $75-80 are "open". Do I need to buy an enclosed drive? They cost about $250-300, or can I enclose the "open" ones?

Is there a thread that would tell me how install the "open" drive?

Thanks again.

"open": http://www.pcuniverse.com/Seagate-M...20-GB-internal-2.5-SA/ST9320320AS/pd/p4650913

"closed": http://www.pcuniverse.com/CMS-Easy-...nal-2.5-SATA-300-5400/SATA2.5-320/pd/p4528388

btw, it looks like the old Seagate USB external is an IDE drive, and is therefore, not compatible.

 

Don't worry about the images. Its marketing. You'll get a closed drive, whichever you buy. Go for the "open".

 

Yes, that is just imaging. No reputable online e-tailer will sell a drive without the top on it.

How much are you willing to spend?
For less than $100, you would be best to look at the Hitachi 7K320 (160, 250 or 320Gb models) the Seagate 7200.3 (250Gb model) or the WD Scorpio Black (160, 250 or 320gb model)
The Seagates are by far the cheapest of the drives, and they are actually a slight bit faster than the Hitachi and the WD line of 320gb drives.
If storage is a concern, go for the larger capacity 320gb drive, but if speed is not a concern and you would rather get a greater bang for the buck, go for the 250gb or 160gb models.
I bought my 7K320 160gb drives for $90 after rebate, but that was about a month ago. Now you can get the 250gb Seagate for about $100 so that is definitely a great drive to upgrade to.

I have the 160gb version of the drive ou currently have, and it scores rooughly 34mb/sec. Yours may score lower, since yours has limited head movement.
Another good upgrade would be the Hitachi 7K200. It is a last generation 7200rpm drive, and it should be going for pretty cheap now.

All of these drives mentioned use about the same power as any 5400rpm drive, so dont worry about battery life, these drives are very efficient.

K-TRON

 

Hey, guys,

Thanks for the info. I really like my D820 and would love to upgrade the HDD, but I have only upgraded towers, so I don't want to make a mistake.

Now. I don't want to start a "religious war", but I've been told by many people that a laptop can't really use the extra speed a 7200 drive has over a 5400, so I should just save money and get the 5400.

The link on the "open" is a HDD I'd like to buy cuz the price is right.

But now my question: is there something on the drives that makes the 7200's better? Like more reliability, last longer, whatever?

Or, would this Seagate 5400 be a good one to buy to stick into my D820?

Thanks again in advance!

 

For $75 320gb 5400rpm drives are probably the best drive you can get. Its performance will be noticeable over your current drive, since it has double the drive density. You will be looking at average speeds of 52mb/sec or so.
The Hitachi 5K320 is a quieter drive, if you are looking for something which is quiet 320gb and affordable. It is also a 320gb drive, but people here who reviewed it said it is quieter than the WD, Seagate or the Samsung 320gb 5400rpm drives.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008232
After rebate it is $70, which is cheaper than the Seagate drive.

K-TRON