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    Need help choosing a Laptop Hard Drive upgrade...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by hurricanedarby, Jul 22, 2007.

  1. hurricanedarby

    hurricanedarby Newbie

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    I have a Dell e1505, currently using a 60gb 5400 RPM drive (factory installed). I'm wanting to upgrade to something both bigger and faster (perferably 80-100 gb and 7200 rpm). Dell's website makes it sound like I can ONLY use their hard drives to upgrade. Is this true, or are their other choices out there? Thanks!
     
    hurricanedarby, Jul 22, 2007
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  2. baddogboxer

    baddogboxer Notebook Deity

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    No almost any new 2.5 inch HDD should be compatable, I suggest if you are going to upgrade go for something bigger say 160GB or 200GB!
     
    baddogboxer, Jul 22, 2007
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  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Two things to watch out for when buying a replacement HDD:

    1. Some HDDs have the Parallel ATA interface (PATA, also known as IDE) and some have the Serial ATA interface SATA). Check the type of your existing HDD by looking up the model number in Device Manager and then Googling to check the HDD details.

    2. Almost all current notebook HDDs are 9.5mm (3/8") thick. However, there are a few which are 12.5mm (1/2") thick and these won't fit into most notebooks. some of the higher capacity Fujitsu HDDs are of this type.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 22, 2007
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  4. baddogboxer

    baddogboxer Notebook Deity

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    John Ratsey
    Good points, I have PATA, it seems to me most are SATA, am I wrong?
     
    baddogboxer, Jul 22, 2007
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  5. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    The general move is towards SATA which is potentially faster (although current notebook HDD disk transfer rates are still slower than the PATA ceiling so the faster interface only benefits what is in the cache).

    Some notebook manufacturers have been slow to change because they are still selling an old hardware platform while others have been reluctant to change because SATA has a higher idle current drain so it is bad news for designers trying to achieve long battery run times.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 22, 2007
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  6. hurricanedarby

    hurricanedarby Newbie

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    Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm off to find a 2.5 inch HDD
     
    hurricanedarby, Jul 22, 2007
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