Replacing 2.5" HDD with 1.8"

I've recently bought an older laptop with bad HDD ventilation and any 2.5" 4200 RPM HDD I've put inside got hot (>50*C) pretty quickly; one even stopped working. I know Hitachi has a 4200 RPM model (4K120) that uses ~25% less power than the others, but I can't seem to find one in my country. For various reasons I don't wanna use a laptop cooler or a compact flash, and that's how I got to the 1.8" HDD. I also don't care much for speed or size, just reliability.

What I'd like to know is if anyone else has already done this - replacing a 2.5" HDD with a 1.8" and an adapter. If so - what adapter have you used, what drive, have you had any difficulties, what should I be careful about... this is what I'm interested in. Some devices seem to have trouble detecting 1.8" hard drives, so I'll try to test one before buying. Also, there aren't any ZIF-> IDE adapters where I live, so I'll try to avoid ZIF/LIF drives.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

 

I've never seen this done at all!

 

I feel like this is the wrong approach to your problem. Have you tried like dusting out the cooling solution or ensuring that other components are being cooled sufficiently? There's no reason a dinky 4200RPM drive should be heating up past 50 degrees, even in a less than optimally ventilated machine.

Nonetheless, there are quite a few ZIF to IDE adapters on ebay, though, like Greg, I've never seen this done and don't know what kind of complications you might run into. One thing I can think of is finding a method of physically securing your 1.8" drive in a tray or bay that's meant for a 2.5" drive; I definitely don't think these adapters account for something like that.

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...satitle=1.8"+to+2.5"+drive+adapter&category0=

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=219225

have you considered this? you should be able to find adapters on ebay from people who ship internationally.

anyway, some possible issues i can think of would be the extra space around the hd would give it too much room to move around in, causing either the pin to eventually bend or hd failure due to knocking around in the case. also, with an adapter, the 1.8 hd may be too long to actually fit inside the laptop.

 

I don't like flash-based media (SSD/CF). They're either expensive or way too slow and they have a limited life-time. I considered the advantages and disadvantages and now I want to try the 1.8" option. Can we move on with that, please? Pretty please?

Also, the laptop is like-new, no dust or any other problems. It just has poor ventilation.

It won't move much, it will basically stay on the desk. I'm aware of the HDD space issue, I'll try to build something to keep it in place, I don't think it's that difficult.

And I know there's everything on ebay, but I'm limited to the options available in my country. Shipping internationally takes too much time; my payment options are also limited.

Anyway, thanks for the answers.

 

What harddrive do you have in your notebook. The old 4200rpm drives took about 1.1Amps at 5V. Now even the fastest 7200rpm drive uses only 0.8A at 5V.

Check how much amperage your drive states on the top. if it says 800mah, then in it 0.8Amps.
Try finding a harddrive which has a lower amperage, because they run cooler.

K-TRON

 

Sorry, I haven't read the thread, so I may repeat what others alredy told.

2,5" to 1,8" ide hard disk adapters do exist but are not easy to find.

I advice to purchase the latest Samsung spinpoint N2 1,8" hard disk instead of Hitachi. They are cold and cheaper. Moreover they are available in volumes untill 160GB (though I have seen only 120GB sold so far).

However, I suspect that it is not hdd which overheats your system. You might try to improve the passive heat contact of hdd with the outside using heat conducting pads or like. I would also change the processor thermal paste to arctic silver, undervolt the processor if possible, etc.

 

I am suspicious of the diagnosis. I think OP has identified the symptom as the problem. Commander mentioned earlier about clogged ventilation and now K-Tron has given input, newer HDD's use less power so less heat. If it could once handle why not now? What Commander said? OP has said he has swapped so not HDD problem insofar as it is running hot (malfunction). Step back and take a second look. This is an extreme response to a simple problem. Are fans working? Sorry just had to throw in. Original thermal management system should of been spec'ed to handle so I doubt diagnosis, just my opinion.

 

Exactly what I was thinking and I'd like to reiterate the point. If this thing couldn't handle the heat to begin with, there's no way it would have made it onto the market, especially if it's a big-name brand (though there are rare exceptions, though those are usually with GPU and CPU thermals).

 

Thanks for the answers, guys.

Here's what's happening. The laptop is a Thinkpad T23. The original hard disk is an IBM 40GN 40gb IC25N030ATCS04 (now owned by Hitachi). I admit I've exaggerated a bit when I said it goes over 50*C pretty quickly - it actually does this under high load. So everytime there's intense activity the disk gets too hot - which is rather annoying. The laptop came with preinstalled OS and some stuff, I've used it like this for a while, than erased and reinstalled everything. I had just finished installing Microsoft Office when I checked the temperature - it was 54*C. I started configuring Word, when the HDD suddenly began generating a "clonk clonk" sound; Word froze, then Windows, then a blue screen appeared. Spinrite now reports that the hard disk has unrecoverable sectors which the disk can't find.

On any laptop, the CPU has a fan which for most of the time is off or slightly blowing. Only when the CPU temperature goes over a certain limit, the fan speed increases. The CPU fan doesn't care about the HDD temperature; in theory, the air sucked by the fan should also cool the HDD - however, if you do a lot of work that solicits the HDD but not the CPU you'll end up with a hot HDD - no matter what laptop you have. So why are you so suprised about a HDD getting hot?

Also, I analyzed a bit the HDD bay on my T23. There's no way air could come in - the bay cover completely seals the bay. The walls inside have no opening. So there's absolutely no ventilation for the HDD. If you don't believe me, have a look on a T23. While browsing the Internet these days I came across a page where somebody else also complained about the HDD getting hot on his T23, that it was a design problem and that the IBM people couldn't do anything for him. I tried to remove the cover, and the temperature now doesn't go over 50*C.

Now, if you do light work, the HDD will never get hot. And I don't think that the typical T23 user performs tasks that require intense disk activity. And that's probably why this wasn't an issue before and why the hard disk has survived so far. For me, this is an issue and I want to fix it.

I've also talked to various people recently who said "hey, my HDD often goes over 50-55C, but I don't worry about that". If you look at the specs, some HDD can take a maximum temperature of 55C, others 60C. Some drives are more robust than others. Which is another reason why some laptops can get away with a poor design.

Also, I've compared the specs on all 4200-5400 RPM 2.5" HDD models, and most of them eat the same power: ~5W at startup, ~2.5W seek, ~2W read/write, ~1W active idle. There are slight variations but I don't think they're significant. Hitachi is the only one which has a model which performs an enhanced undervolting (5v->3.3v) and eats ~25% less energy than the others, but I couldn't find it in my country.

There are also "extreme" HDDs that survive up to 85C, but they're expensive.

So that's how I got to the 1.8" versions.

 

A 160gb 5400 rpm drive will run much cooler. I have one in my dell, and one in my Lenovo. See sig below. The hitachi does run a few degrees warmer than the seagate.
My seagate barely ever runs above 120F.
It usually runs 105-110F, After a 40 minute AVG scan, it is about 125F.
The harddrive runs pretty cool.
My hitachi array in my Voodoo, with just passive cooling, will reach upwards of 170F after doing avg and norton scans.
WIth active cooling, the fans never run above 130F.

K-TRON