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    Trustworthy large capcity HDD for up to 65$?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Chananel, Apr 2, 2009.

  1. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    Trustworthy large capacity (Internal) HDD (320GB and up) for up to 65$?

    Does any one know of any kind of deal out there?
     
  2. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    I checked up zipzoomfly.com and came up with a few options. What should I choose?

    1. HITACHI Travelstar 5K320 0A56417 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 60$

    2. TOSHIBA MK3252GSX 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 65$

    3. WESTERN DIGITAL Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB WD3200BEVT 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 68$

    4. SAMSUNG Spinpoint M6 HM320JI 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 68$

    5. HITACHI Travelstar 7K320 0A57547 320GB SATA II 7200 RPM 16MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 69$

    6. SEAGATE Momentus 5400.5 ST9320320AS 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive Bulk - 67$
     
  3. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    The Hitachi 7K320 is the best drive you can get for your price range. Zipzoomfly has them for $50 after rebate, which is an amazing price

    K-TRON
     
  4. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks. If I chose to buy a 5400 rpm drive (I'm afraid of noise issues), what drive should I get? and BTW, I didn't notice a additional rebate to 50$ anywhere, where did you see that?
     
  5. Ozarka

    Ozarka Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think toms hardware has a list of notebook hard drive benchmarks. You might want to take a look there. Some 5400 rpm drives are still very good drives. My gf's hp tablet's hd gets 45mb/s which is pretty good.
     
  6. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    All three of my single platter 7K320's are very quiet, I do not think you should worry about it too much.
    But given the drives you mentioned, I would pick the 5K320 or the 7K320

    K-TRON
     
  7. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    and where did you see the 50$ deal???
    And do you think I should go for the "open box" deal?
    Thanks!
     
  8. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    Look at that, they dont have it for $50 after rebate anymore. Check back in a few days, they should have it back at $50 after rebate

    K-TRON
     
  9. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    And the open-box thing? (this is kind of urgent, I may not be able to wait for a few days...)
     
  10. Ozarka

    Ozarka Notebook Enthusiast

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  11. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    what's better: HITACHI 5400 rpm or Fujitsu 5400 rpm? (same price)

    what's better: WD3200bevt 5400 rpm or HITACHI 7200 rpm (dollar differnce)
     
  12. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    WD3200BEVT is a 320gb 5400rpm drive, the Hitachi 7K320 is better in all categories.
    The Hitachi and Fujitsu drives share the same platter technology, so performance would be similar.
    However Fujitsu no longer manufactures harddrives so their warranty may be annuled. I would stick with the Hitachi in that case.

    K-TRON
     
  13. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    After all this blabber, I got a WD 400GB elements 2.5" drive from staples for 59$. I'm planing to take it apart the second it gets to my door, and sticking it in my laptop.

    Thanks for all the help!
     
  14. Ozarka

    Ozarka Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just fyi that voids any kind of warranty it had
     
  15. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

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    Nice deals, for a 320 GB capacity HDD, it truly is great to buy online. There are so many dealers out there that offer to sell with such low prices... Nice thread, and thank you for all the links.
     
  16. madmook

    madmook Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm hoping he just meant "take it out of the packaging."
     
  17. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    Nope, I ment prying it open with a screwdriver (Cannibalizing it)... It's the best deal out there for a drive that size, and I'm not too worried about voiding the warranty...
     
  18. Chananel

    Chananel Notebook Consultant

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    I copied this from a NEWEGG user review (btw, If you don't get the staples deal, they have the best deal right now - only 70$):

    "Easy to open - remove the 2 black rubber sleeves at the 2 ends of the drive; pry the 2 plastic, rectangular caps at the both ends with 2 flat blade screwdrivers as they're held in via friction only--no glue & no screws; push the drive out from the case by pushing the drive inside out--use 2 pencils' eraser ends agaisnt the drive at the L and R halves of the end of the hard drive inside while pushing down on the case using both hands with the 2 unsharpened tips leaned agaisnt the carpeted floor; drive cage with circuit board holding mini-USB and hard drive is free; remove the black rubber sticky pads and unscrew the 2 screws holding the drive against the metal drive cage that's attached to the mini-USB's circuit board; swap out the drive..."

    Dosen't sound too bad to me...