New Hard Drive for a Netbook

Hey guys,

I have an Asus EEE PC 1005PR netbook (LOVE IT), but the hard drive is a little slow, a WD 250GB 5400RPM one.

I was wondering if getting a Seagate Momentus XT 250GB would be a good idea or not? Plus, I noticed that the price for it on newegg is INSANE.

And to answer your questions, no, I don't want an SSD...that would be overkill for what I consider to be a 'backup' to my big rig.

Plus, if you don't support/like the Momentus XT, I'd like to hear some of your suggestions for other drives that I may be interested in, that are compatible with this netbook.

I'm looking for 250GB or lower (I don't need that much space, only using 40GB right now), at least 7200RPM and definitely under $75, at most. Speed is key here.

Here are the links:

Hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...8593&cm_re=Momentus_XT-_-22-148-593-_-Product

Netbook
Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1005PR-PU17-BK Black Intel Atom N450(1.66GHz) 10.1" WXGA 1GB Memory 250GB HDD Netbook

Also, I'm guessing that the best upgrade one can make for his netbook, without spending too much, of course, would be to upgrade the hard drive. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

Mr. Mysterious

 

The XT is a great choice, but the link you supplied is to a normal Momentus, not XT.

The XT is much faster. Keep in mind though that it will give some vibration to the netbook. Nothing problematic imo, but to some people it is.

 

Oops, sorry about that....I obviously missed it, so thanks for the catch. It's corrected now.

Vibration? I could care less about vibration...in fact, I think it's good, because it'll tell me if the HD is working or not....and will keep me posted on the "clicking sound of death" deal.

Ok, so now I'm on the fence...because the Momentus XT is an amazing drive, but now instead of being $75 or less, shipping included, it's now $100. Do the features justify the extra cost?

Why don't you guys decide for me?

And again, if you have any other recommendations, I'd love to hear about them. Thanks.


p.s. Someone has yet to comment if a hard drive upgrade is the best upgrade for a netbook. *hint hint*
Mr. Mysterious

 

Would an Atom netbook be able to see performance increases beyond just a regular 7200RPM drive?

 

Umm...yeah, that's kind of what I'm asking too, lol....Unless that's a rhetorical question and you're making a point?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Oh. Somehow I didn't see that..lol. I just thought you were asking if the XT was worth it's salt, in which case I agree, it really is.

 

Oh, all right then. Thanks for your input.

Anyone else have any other opinions?

Mr. Mysterious

 

It all depends on space you need. I managed an Intel 40GB G2 SSD for < $90 new retail on eBay and put it in my netbook (SU4100, Intel 4500MHD, 2GB DDR3). I think the XT is a great option for speed and cost if you need more storage space though.

Otherwise if you mainly use it for web browsing, and basic tasks, you can find 40GB or even 64GB SSD's for pretty cheap, and would be your best bet, and about same price as a Momentus XT.

 

Sounds good, but I would need (at the very, very minimum) 80GB of space, yes, even though I'm using only 40GB right now. As everyone knows, netbooks have quite limited capabilities, and I bought this machine for that very purpose. That is: surfing, chatting, watching a few vids, music, battery life, weight, portability.

I really considered going with a hybrid system of SSD for OS and HDD for storage in my big rig (see laptop specs in siggy), but certainly not for my netbook. I don't want to spend that much. Then again, I can always swap the HDD out and put it in a new system if I need to (if something goes wrong with the netbook).

p.s. Will someone please confirm if upgrading the HDD is the best upgrade one can make for his/her netbook please?? Lol

Mr. Mysterious

 

Are you running Windows 7 with 1GB? Then you should first upgrade the memory.

You could also upgrade to a single platter 7200rpm drive like a 250GB Hitachi 7K500 and save some money. The XT will certainly be faster though.

 

Yes, I am running Windows 7 starter with 1GB.

I was thinking just that! Upgrade the memory first, and then upgrade the HDD...hmmm, something to consider. I'll edit/update my post after I get some sleep and do a little more research.

edit: How do I find out how much the speed of the RAM my netbook has? I think it's in mhz? 533 or 667 or something like that? Also, how fast of a RAM could this netbook support? 2GB and all...Better yet, why don't I just be lazy and have you guys recommend me the best 2GB module the 1005PR can support?

Mr. Mysterious

 

It's DDR2 667MHz, and the max the diamondville platform will accept is 2GB. Here's one...

 

So the diamondville platform won't accept 2GB 800MHz DDR2?

Mr. Mysterious

 

It will accept it but it will not be faster.

 

Huh?? Why not? Will there be a bottleneck of some kind?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Chipset will only support the 667MHz for your CPU.

 

The 800MHz module will run too but it will run at 667MHz.

 

Awww damn. I was hoping that I might be able to squeeze just a little more speed out of the system, but I'm suspecting that the extra RAM is going to boost my system considerably and help me with multitasking.

All right then, I've got a good module from XGX, and I'm definitely going to buy the Momentus XT (it improves over time! How awesome is that?), so thanks to everyone for all their help!

Mr. Mysterious

 

If you want to boost performance a bit you could look into overclocking the Atom a little with stuff like SetFSB.

 

Lol...that's very tempting. But I'm very very green when it comes to laptops and stuff. How green, you ask? I've never opened a laptop to replace the RAM or HDD. And I'm also very careful (that is, I don't experiment with things I've never done before, at least without supervision by an expert). I'm going back to college soon enough, and there should be enough computer experts over there.

From there, it's going to be a simple matter of befriending one of them before I can REALLY start to get into all the fun stuff, like overclocking and undervolting. Yes, I know that there are comprehensive guides for this stuff all over NBR, but without someone watching to make sure I don't permanently mess up an expensive machine, I don't think I'm going to take such risks, lol.

Mr. Mysterious

 

I understand your concern. The value of overclocking the Atom is generally very limited.

Please let us know how you like the performance of the Momentus XT in the netbook.

 

Mmm will do. If I could, after I install the drive in my netbook and all that, I may run some benchmarks and post it on here. Again, I haven't run benchmarks on anything ever, lol, though I am starting to understand a lot of them. Gotta keep studying!

Mr. Mysterious

 

Well if you want to do benchmarks, I'd most interested in real life tests.

Here are some tests I ran on my netbook:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...l-wd1600bekt-review-real-life-benchmarks.html

 

Sounds good! When I make my purchases in about half a month or so, I'll make sure that I do something similar to what you did.

Mr. Mysterious