Is this HDD any good?

Hi guys,

I want to purchase a HDD as soon as I can; just like to get some reassurance that what I'm getting is suitable for my notebook (nc8430). Heres the HDD: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/160gb-sata-ha...ryZ16178QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Everything in order?

 

Well let's see ...

Notebooks use 2.5" hard drives, and that is a 2.5" hard drive.
HP says the nc8430 uses a SATA hard drive, and that hard drive you link is a SATA HDD.

Before buying, I would make sure that

(1) The warranty still applies to this eBay item
(2) The seller is trusted and won't take your money, etc. etc.

I don't see any problems.

 

Digit Life concluded that WD hadn't done very well with this HDD.

If you want the best performance go for Hitachi and Seagate. If you something cooler and quieter then go for Samsung or Fujitsu. (You can use a utility to reduce the noise on the Hitachi HDDs).

You can compare many features of 2.5" HDDs at Tom's Hardware.

A couple of retailers for 2.5" HDDs are PC Nextday and Komplett.

It looks like the 160GB Samsung is not due in stock for another week but the Hitachi and Seagate are both in stock.

John

 

Is this one sata?

If so, £10 off takes care of delivery cost plus its Seagate which imho is the best

 

Agreed, go for a Seagate, not WD.

 

Thanks for the replies guys! I really appreciate all of you putting up with my bombardment of elementary questions . I've just bought that Seagate HDD from Komplett in the link you provided John which came to £76. Then a few mins later LFC (btw are you also LFC SL at head-fi?) posts that eBuyer link... Oh well.

btw is this a good deal on RAM? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CORSAIR-1x1GB...8QQihZ018QQcategoryZ80202QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks people

 

Yes, this is he. Small world

You can cancel the order before they touch your account or dispathc maybe? - but only after more knowledgeable members tell you whether the Seagate HDD is sata or not. I don't know what the connection types mean. All jargon to me

 

SATA = Serial Advanced Technology Attachment which is method of connecting the HD to the MB. PATA (Parallel ATA) is a faster method of connection and is not the same (and therefore not interchangeable) with SATA.

edit: I second going with the Segate HD. They run cool and come with a longer (5 year) warranty for piece of mind. I would do as LFC suggests and look to see if you can cancel that order.

 

Komplett have the same Corsair module for £32. If you can add it to your order then you save one delivery charge.

Scan has various DDR2-SODIMMs. There's some Corsair modules at below £30 but not in stock, but the Samsung 1GB module comes to £36.40 including delivery.

John

 

John's listed some very good RAM. You could also try ebuyer.co.uk. They seem to have roughly the same priced RAM, but they do have some cheaper Kingston RAM priced at £28 for a 1 GB module. The only thing is that ebuyer delivery is a little slow, but appart from that, alot of RAM is available from there, at pretty good prices.

 

Once again thanks for the continued help

I'll probably just stick with my order at komplett now (its the Seagate HDD)

I was looking at PC5300/5400 RAM because (I think) thats the intial RAM in the nc8430. Would mixing different kinds of RAM cause any issues? And is this the module you're referring to Zero? http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/83934/rb/27973053309

Regards

 

What about this stick? £10 off, couple quid postage and I think still a little less than the Kingston ram but faster?

 

Mixing PC5300 and PC4200 RAM should not cause a problem. Each module contains a lookup table called SPD with the appropriate timings for different speeds. See the attached example. The BIOS then looks for the fastest speed supported by all the modules and uses that.

I would not recommend that you buy PC4200 RAM if you already have some PC5300 RAM. The latter is faster, but not by much.

John

 

Thank you John and LFC.

Using that CPU-Z utility I've confirmed that I've got PC5300 RAM so I'll purchase that stick in the link LFC provided.

Once I get the components I'll report back with some impressions e.g HDD performance etc (this Hitachi Travelstar I have now is really noisy)

Regards

 

Actually, it is reversed. In notebooks there is no significant advantage of one over the other, but SATA drives have a higher data throughput than PATA (which can be properly utilized on desktop setups).

 

The Seagate Momentus arrived today and I'm currently in the process of transferring my files over. My notebook is back to to fast boot-up times even though I've yet to get to optimisation (bootvis, clearing unneeded services and start-up routines etc). Its also very quiet-the Hitachi Travelstar sounds like a garden full of crickets in comparison. Haven't tried performance during games yet so I'll report back with (if any) differences. BTW I've got 149GB total HDD space-sounds about right (damn manufacturers and their warped standards )?

And my RAM stick arrived as well but it was a desktop module...oops

 

Erm which ram did you end up buying?

Sorry but I only glanced that it was in the laptop ram section, so presumptions and all...

 

I went for a stick from komplett, not the one in the link you provided so its not your fault . I should've noticed the picture-desktop RAM is like a metre ruler when compared to the dinky notebook modules.

 

I like the "garden full of crickets". Excellent description of the Travelstar noise.

Yes, 160GB (G meaning 10^9) ~ 149GB (G meaning 1024^3).

Shame about the desktop RAM. Can you swap it?

John

BTW, Komplett are now listing the new 200GB 7200 and 250GB 5400 drives. I've ordered one of the latter.

 

Link? Having trouble finding it

 

Thanks for the comments. I sent back the desktop RAM today, some intial problems over getting an RMA number but should be fine now. And I did notice the new drives the day after placing my order . But my 160 + 80 should be adequate. I see you went for the higher capacity but slower HDD. Its always been debated around here that 7200rpm is better for the power user but some have been saying the option you went for John is better overall-more HD space (and a thankful wallet) with marginal speed differences. I have definitely noticed an improvement in load times overall, especially in games. Much faster than my previous HDD even though its the same speed.

I ordered this: https://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=308362 when I should've got something like this : https://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=318078