Compatible HDD for Dell 1720

I Just oredered a refurbished Dell Inspiron 1720 through the Dell Outlet. This is my first Dell purchase ever.
Order details:
Inspiron 1720 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
90W AC Adapter
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate Operating System Label
Remote Control for Media Center
Dell 1505 Wireless-N
Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software Edition
9 Cell Battery, Primary
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
Bluetooth Wireless Card 355
250 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Web Camera
17 inch WXGA+ TrueLife Glossy Notebook Screen
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

Since this machine has a EIDE HDD instead of a SATA HDD, what are my options for upgrading the hard drive? What are the differences between EIDE and SATA hard drives? Are there any limitations or concerns I should have? I would like to upgrade to a 500GB or 750GB internal hard drive depending on cost. Where is the best place to buy a replacement hard drive?

 

The Inspiron 1720 uses SATA HDDs, like almost all the current laptops. Are you sure you have a 1720 or a EIDE HDD?

 

That's about as big as you can get unless you get an external hard drive. Also, EIDE and SATA are different plugs so you wouldn't be able to match them up.

edit: Just looked, ya shouldn't 1720 be SATA?
edit2: The 1720 is SATA...but right now the only biggest size for notebooks on HD options is the 320GB WD Scorpio, unless you add another one into the second slot, then your max configurable would be 640. Honestly, just keep that and get an external HD.

 

I think the confusion in terminology lies in the fact that SATA *is* IDE. For some reason, it became popular among BIOS developers, tech journal writers, et al to refer to PATA drives as IDE, and the convention seems to have stuck despite being incorrect. The fact is that both PATA and SATA drives are IDE drives.

And actually, Hitachi has announced 500GB notebook drives, and at least one manufacturer has announced a 1TB (2x500GB RAID) notebook model.

 

SATA is not IDE. PATA is a correct designation for IDE drives. Like the poster said above, they have different connections and move off differing technologies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Attachment

The OP needs to find out if he actually needs an IDE drive, since the 1720 uses SATA.

 

Well, this is a refurbished 1720 not a new one. I don't have it yet, but my order details are:

1 FP438 Base,Notebook,Core Merom T7500,2.2,1720
1 3E476 Information,Equipment
1 CF874 Module,Adapter,Alternating Current,90W,Liteon,Power Factor Correction,World Wide
1 DP687 Module,DVD+/-RW,Corsica Gilligan/Sapporo/Yebisu Hlds,Insp
1 DR146 Module,Software,VU32,Inspiron English,Dell Americas Organization,No Docs/diskettes
1 DR464 Module,Label,Microsoft,WindowsVista Os,Premium,Inspiron
1 F6652 Module,Remote Control,MCE05 DAO
1 FK244 Module,Software,DT-ICLNR Dell Americas Organization
1 FT222 Module,Software,America On Line,Factory Install,English United States
1 FW069 Module,Card,Network DW1505,Inspiron,United States
1 GM519 Module,Software,ROMMEL Inspiron
1 GR997 Module,Battery,Primary,85WHR 9C,SIMPLO
1 HN123 Ship Group,Notebook,United States,England,1720,DAO-MDS
1 JP927 Module,Software,DELL-WELCOME Transactional Line Of Business
1 K2967 Module,Information,Software, Internet Service Provider, AOL 8.0,DAO,ARB
1 K2972 Module,Information,Software, Internet Service Provider,AOL,PRI-OOBE
1 MG952 Module,Dual In-line Memory Module,4G,667MHZ,2X2G
1 MM281 Module,Software,DSPRT-CTR,1.0
1 MU827 Module,Card (circuit),Network Bluetooth,355,Windows Vista Os,Dell Americas Organization
1 NN655 Module,Hard Drive,250GB,5.4K W125,Inspiron
1 NR602 Service Install Module Software,MANT,1720
1 NX186 Module,Software,DSPRT3.4 Gteck0,Dimension,Inspiron
1 NX328 Module,Media,Digital Video Disk Drive,Driver,Resource Dvd,1720
1 PM601 Module,Keyboard,101,United States,English Gilligan/Yebisu,Dell Americas Organization
1 PN175 Module,Software,Works,8.5 English
1 PN732 Module,Label,Intel,No Bios MEROM
1 PU870 Module,Software,VU32,Digital Video Disk Drive,England,DAO
1 RT085 Module,Liquid Crystal Display Cover,BLACK,W/CMRA Gilligan/Yebisu
1 RT879 Module,Information,Liquid Crystal Display,Cover, Corsica/Gilligan/Sapporo/Yebis
1 RY577 Module,Liquid Crystal Display 17WXGA+,Samsung,True Life Gilligan/Yebisu
1 TK051 Module,Software,Adobe,Acrobat Reader,8.1,English
1 TX354 Module,Assembly,Base,Discrete 1720
1 UN078 Module,Software,Windows Vista Os,Hypertext Markup Language GUIDE,World Wide
1 UY392 Module,Information,Liquid Crystal Display,Cover,WCMRA Corsica/Gilligan/Sapporo/Yebis
1 7146C Ship,Minitower,WorkStations 610,United States,NO,Dell Americas Organization
1 WK528 Module,Software,GOOGLE,Search Consumer
1 XM252 Module,Card (circuit) Graphics,Nvidia,G84,256MB
1 XM387 Module,Software,Roxio,Creator Dell Edition,9.0,TransactionalLine of Business
1 XM544 Module,Software,PC-RESTORE Transactional Line Of Business
1 YK857 Module,Software,Dell Media Direct,3.3,GILLIGAN
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 987-5457 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Initial Year
1 987-8119 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 983-3120 Type 12- Mail-InService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
1 960-2780 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 3E476 Information,Equipment

Did the older 1720's ship with EIDE hard drives?

 

Computers haven't shipped with IDE HDDs for quite a while now. I don't see where EIDE is mentioned on that list.

 

Pata is a retroactivly given name. It didn't exist pre-sata.

But yeah, it should be Sata. Can you find a link where we can see that it says EIDE?

 

This is from the order confirmation email I received:
Estimated Ship Date: 01/15/2008

Item Number Quantity Item Description
1 Inspiron 1720 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
1 Certified Refurbished
1 90W AC Adapter
1 8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
1 Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate
1 Operating System Label
1 Remote Control for Media Center
1 Service Software
1 AOL Software
1 Dell 1505 Wireless-N
1 Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software Edition
1 9 Cell Battery, Primary
1 Shipping Material
1 Software CD
1 AOL Software Documentation
1 AOL ISP Software
1 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
1 Dell Support Software 1.0
1 Bluetooth Wireless Card 355
1 250 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400RPM)
1 Software
1 Support Software
1 Resource DVD
1 Notebook Keyboard
1 Microsoft Works 8.5
1 Processor Label
1 Operating System CD
1 Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Web Camera
1 Jet Black
1 17 inch WXGA+ TrueLife Glossy Notebook Screen
1 Adobe Acrobat 8.1 Reader
1 Base Assembly
1 Reference Guide
1 Documentation
1 Shipping Material
1 ISP Search Assist
1 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
1 Roxio Creator LE
1 Image Restore Software
1 MEDIADIRECT 3.3 Software
1 Insp 1720 STD: 1 Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service


It lists EIDE HDD here. You can only select SATA HDD drives when configuring new 1720's on Dell site. Not sure what I'm getting now...

 

Here's the thing. For them to give you a EIDE 1720, they'd need put in a new motherboard. And stock up on 2 different kinds of Harddrives. That would be more expensive for them, so they go the easy route (and the smart one). Dell keeps motherboard differences to minimum, hardware differences to minimum, etc. I'm 100% sure that's a typo.

 

Just get the Sata HD.

 

That makes sense. Once I get it, is there an easy way to verify what type of HDD is configured?


Thanks.

 

Run everest home. I'm not on windows, as my main laptop died, so I can't check if there's a faster way of knowing. Though you could go into the device manager, check the drive model number, and then just google it.

 

Fastest way is probably unscrewing the bottom and reading the text on the HDD, though it's pretty impossible for it to be EIDE since the 1720 has a SATA connection.

 

Okay, not to press the issue, but IDE = Integrated Drive Electronics. The term was used to differentiate then-new IDE drives from old MFM/RLL and SCSI drives that did not include on-board controllers. Old drives were mostly dumb pieces of mechanical equipment with no buffers or logic -- everything was done in a separate controller board installed in the computer. EIDE was simply an extension of IDE to support larger drives, and IDE itself later evolved into the ATA Standard (the "ATA" part of both SATA and PATA). Early SATA devices were PATA/EIDE drives with SATA bridge chips on the back. Functionally the on-board controller may be different between PATA and SATA, but they're both "Integrated Drive Electronics" in the literal sense.

So if you take the history of the standard combined with the literal meaning of the "IDE" acronym, I stand by the statement that both are IDE. I do agree though that there is enough ambiguity and confusion in the market, if not the industry itself, that a greater distinction between SATA and IDE might have been intended, but due to the somewhat muddy history, it doesn't literally read that way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Drive_Electronics

On the other hand, one could interpret the same text to say that neither is PATA technically (E)IDE either, since the EIDE standard only supported 8.4GB. In which case folks referring to PATA as (E)IDE are still wrong, even if I'm also wrong in calling SATA IDE.