Laptop upgrade: which new ide hard drive to make apps load faster?

Hi!

My old laptop has a 2.5'' ide hard-drive which 40 GB and 4200rpm (hitachi DK23EA-40). Because it is corrupted I want to replace it by a new one. Now I want to use this opportunity to get a significantly more responsive and snappier system. As operating system I use linux.

More precisely the main requirements (*) for the new hard-drive are:

- optimize cold (and warm) start of applications
- optimize boot time.

Now my questions are:

1) Which technical data or benchmarks are good criteria for (*) ?
(I think for example pure data transfer rate does not say so much about how fast apps load...)

2) Do you have concrete recommendations of hard drives which meet my requirements (*) above well?

I don't know if it is a good idea to buy an ssd because I don't know if there are any good ide ssd's out there and if linux is already ready for that.

Perhaps I should add that the base system is a Sony FR215E but with 1GB RAM.

And size of the hard drive is not a primary requirement. Everything above 32GB is ok.

Thanks
dcm123

 

Looking at your need for fast boot times and application loading, SSD is the way to go.

There are good IDE SSDs available. Mtron Mobi is one that comes to mind.

 

Don't worry about performance, worry about cost-effectiveness. The cheapest 2.5" IDE drive on Newegg is $54.99 + $6.29 shipping (plus tax, potentially). I am fairly confident that is more than two-thirds of the value of your laptop.

My suggestion: get a cheap used IDE drive for $10 or less off Craigslist or such, anything else is a wasteful overinvestment in a legacy system.

 

If you want the fastest traditional HDD I'd put my money on this one:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...WRFZC8ywWq98n4AQ&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

 

I think you're missing the big picture here. The cheapest IDE SSD worth buying will be ~$100 (cmiiw). In fact, Mtron Mobi with capacity of >32GB (which is what OP requested) is considerably more than $100. At that price, OP could replace his entire laptop with a much more modern used laptop.

 

I got your point the first time you made it. The OP is running Linux, so his system might be perfect for his needs.

I'm giving the OP what he asked for: he asked for good ide SSDs. And yes upgrading the whole system is a valid suggestion too.

 

Phil I'm surprised you didn't suggest a Momentus XT having that review in your sig

Best price erformance ratio out there right now IMO. Definitely something to consider.

I have been asking myself the same question for something to replace the OEM Fujitsu in my DV5. I had been looking SSD but I think I am gonna go with the MomentusXT. What sold me is this. 95% of what I do on the computer involves the same data set, Windows 7, Chrome browser, Thunderbird email, and Winamp. Easy enough to get the majority of that into the 4GB SSD portion of the XT and get great performance while only paying a slight premium over HDDs compared to SSD.

Edit: Nevermind don't think they make it in IDE.

 

but maybe OP didn't, that's why I elaborated.

True. But don't you see that suggesting the OP an Mtron Mobi is highly suspect advice? He wants capacity >32GB. An Mtron Mobi of capacity of 32GB or larger is gonna cost a fortune compared to the value of his laptop. Don't you think it would be more instructive to provide OP with some more info so that he can figure out what he *really* wants (as opposed to stoically staying true to his question)?

 

Thanks for you responses.

1) I think replacing the whole laptop is not an option, because the replacement should at least have

- a matte screen
- 15'' display with 4:3 aspect ratio
- a very fast hard drive
- a price below 250 $

And even if i find a used one (e.g. at ebay) I don't want to have an old hard drive which will get corrupted perhaps in some months ...

I should mention that I have already an DELL Latitude E6400, but i like it to have a second laptop, so it seems a good idea to upgrade the old one...

2)
@Phil: Yes the system is perfect for my needs. However I like it if applications load very fast and if the system feels snappy. I think the best options to improve this is to upgrade RAM (which I have already done) and get a faster hard drive.

3)
I should add the following question:

Do you think I can get notable improvements in boot time, application loading time and overall responsitivity of the system by using a new
a) ordinary hard drive
b) ssd hard drive
?

(notice that the ata-5 interface will low down the new hard drive)

I think up to 150 $ for the new hard drive would be ok, if it leads to significant improvements. 250$ is my hard upper limit.

 

Mtron Mobi 32GB will boot and load apps very fast, compared to any HDD.

Second best option WD1600BEVE, which will be a fair deal faster than your current HDD.

I was about to recommend it until I found out he had PATA

Well yes and no. Judging by his first post the OP seemed to know what he was talking about. And I agree, spending $200 (?) on a SSD for such a laptop seems strange. Now we know more about his reasons it's less strange.

 

Can you give me the url of the mtron website? I couldn't find it :-(. And the MSD-PATA3025-032 seems not available in germany at the moment... any idea?

 

Ah you're in Germany. That's good to know. Here are the IDE choices:
Festplatten/Solid State Drives (SSD) Preisvergleich bei Geizhals.at Deutschland

Super Talent MasterDrive EX2 32GB for 129 euro might be a good one. I'm not sure though.

 

Even though it has an MLC chip ( http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/6_176.pdf) ?

 

MLC is fine.

Some reviews here: Newegg.com - SUPER TALENT MasterDrive EX2 FHM32GF25H 2.5" 32GB PATA MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Looks good.

 

Any ideas on question 1) of my original post?

 

dcm,

I'm repeating myself but the SSD upgrade is nonsense. Since you're German, please read here what the arguably most prestigious German computer magazine (c't) has to say on the topic (it's the answer to the 2nd question). I'll summarize it for the people that don't speak German here:

We can't recommend IDE SSDs. They tend to feature slow controllers geared towards the embedded market (where reliability rather than speed matters). They are particularly slow at distributed accesses occurring during OS boot and application startup. One cannot expect high sequential speed, either--many IDE SSDs are considerably slower than modern HDDs.

 

An Mtron Mobi 32GB would boot and load applications faster than a normal HDD. Like described in this review.

As for the Super Talent MasterDrive EX2 32GB, I have no idea how fast it is.

 

Some user experiences with ssd on old laptops with PATA interface:

silentpcreview.com | View topic - SSD for old PATA laptop

SSD mit PATA/IDE-Anschluss für die "ältere" IBM-Geräte - gibt es etwas Empfehlenswertes? - Allgemeine ThinkPad-Diskussion - ThinkPad-Forum.de (in german)

 

Look at this 4K random read of the Mtron Mobi 32GB PATA:

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That's a faster 4K random read than my Crucial C300!

They seem to be very positive about Runcore. They say it has a Indilinx controller, which is a very good one.

RunCore Pro IV 32GB, 1.8", ZIF (RCP-IV-Z1832-C) Preisvergleich bei Geizhals.at Deutschland

I think you can get ZIF to PATA connectors, but I'm not sure about that.

I also don't know if you can go from IDE-44 pin to normal IDE. But if you can, this seems like a good deal:
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a435127.html

 

Another diskussion about ssd and PATA (in german, sorry)

[T4*] Welche SSD für T40 - T - Serie - ThinkPad-Forum.de

 

I finally bought the WD Sorpio Blue 320 GB. It runs pretty well. A ssd will be the next upgrade for my newer laptop , that makes probably more sense .

Thanks for your advice!

 

I see you're all set, but for other lookers out there, I would really not recommend anything more than a 5400 rpm hard drive for older laptops. With the IDE interface and old laptop processors, there's no significant performance benefit to maxing out the speed of your IDE bus. In this case like others said it is better to just save money where possible and get an inexpensive drive with the features you want.

For example, I have an old laptop with a 1.8ghz Sempron. When I went from a 4200rpm to 5400 rpm drive in it, there was a negligible difference in how quickly it booted the OS and apps. No matter how fast the hard drive, I'm always limited by the processor speed, integrated video, and slow memory speeds.

Using Linux is the best use of your resources on an old machine so good choice in Operating Systems. Just recently grabbed an old Pentium III laptop and put Damn Small Linux on there. It runs as fast as any smart phone I've ever used

 

When I replaced the 60GB 4200rpm IDE drive in my Asus A6 laptop with a 5400rpm Samsung HM160HC there was a big improvement in boot speed, application launching and overall responsiveness.

The boost in performance came from better access times, higher rotational speed and higher areal density. So upgrading old hard drives on a IDE bus can definitely make a noticeable difference.

 

Your model has dedicated video, faster ram, four times the L2 cache and two times the transistor count of my Sempron. Not to mention 64-bit support. I'm not surprised you noticed a big difference. My statement still stands that on older, less powerful laptops there is no point trying to max out the IDE bus. Once you reach 5400 rpm speeds and the typical access times associated with those drives, you can't maximize much more efficiency out of aging hardware.

I'm not trying to be difficult or argumentative, but I spend most of my technical expertise and time working on laptops that have long since seen their prime of life. My clients and friends usually can't afford new, so I try to get their computers usable in modern web and application standards.

 

My Asus A6 was over 5 years old, had an Intel Pentium M725 1.6 GHz and 512MB memory. I thought that would qualify as an 'older laptop'.

Anyway, in my experience upgrading old hard drives on a IDE bus can definitely make a noticeable difference. Even when the CPU is less powerful than a Pentium M725.

I'd be interested to hear from dcm123, the OP, how his storage upgrade worked out.

Maybe you didn't pick the fastest 5400rpm drive?

 

I'm glad I found this post, I am considering the same thing with this HP dv5000 I just bought on ebay:
HP dv5224nr Laptop/Tur64 2.0 GHz/15"LCD/P&R/1024MB - eBay (item 140502038771 end time Jan-24-11 12:23:47 PST)

The HP manual I downloaded says the Interface type is ATA-5. I've seen IDE to SATA pin converters, but would there be enough space in a laptop for it to fit? And would this slow it down to the point of defeating the purpose of an SSD

My idea was to use a smaller capacity SSD for my OS, which will be Linux (probably Mint) Then use an external hard drive if more space is needed.

The mechanical IDE drives are running $60-$100 so I figured this may be worth looking into.
Here is what I have found so far in addition to the Mtron Mobi that Phil recommends (I havn't been able to find one for less than $150) These seem to be a better value?

Transcend 32GB SSD, 2.5- Inch, IDE, MLC:
Amazon.com: Transcend 32GB SSD, 2.5- Inch, IDE, MLC: Electronics
there are reviews here on this one

RunCore 32GB Pro IV 2.5" PATA IDE Solid State Drive SSD :
RunCore 32GB Pro IV 2.5" PATA IDE Solid State Drive SSD RunCore 32GB 2.5" Pro IV PATA - IDE Solid State Drive SSD Detail Page

 

If you are running on 2GB or less RAM, the first thing you need to do is get 3GB or more.

 

i replaced my hdd (1.8" 4200rpm) with an mtron mobi. boot time from >5 minutes down to around 40 seconds, start time of firefox from 1 minute down to around 3 seconds.

oh, and, c't is not really reputable. never was.

there are even ide based vertex2 ssds by now (irritating as the bus is the limiting factor there), but they're not common and thus a bit more complicated to get.

one thing is true, though: ide lacks ncq, which sata has. this reduces the concurrent operations quite a bit. still, maxing out an ide bus is still a great performance enhancement.