HP dv9000t hard drive upgrade

Hey all im gonna be buying a new dv9000t soon and i want to get a nice 7200 rpm hdd w/o getting the dual option in customizing which costs $250. So i was wondering what type of hard drive i could buy from say newegg, that would be compatible with the hp. I was hoping to get like a 100 gb 7200 rpm harddrive in addition to the 80 gb standard one at 5400 rpms. so if someone would be able to let me know what my options are for upgrading thatd be awesome! thanks in advance!

 

Any 2.5 inch SATA hard drive will work.

 

Keep in mind that if you don't get dual HDDs from HP, you will need an adapter to put a second HDD into the notebook. You could replace the single drive with a new drive, but in order to have two drives, you need a special "holder" for the second HDD. HP obviously ships one in dual drive systems, but they're nice enough not to include one if you only get one drive.

There are a few threads that talk about what exactly you need. I seem to remember HP being the only place to get it, so you might want to take the price of that into account when deciding on one drive or two.

 

Get one of the basic dual drive configurations, swap one with your additional 3rd drive and sell the removed one on ebay..

 

i could just order the hdd bracket kit right from hp and then go buy a new one, but two of you posted contrasting responses. can i use any third party hard drive ie seagate, or do i have to order one from hp?

 

Yes, I have this Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM drive in my DV9207US:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822146053

This laptop came with one drive. I ordered the HD kit from HP ~$50 and then I put 2 of these drives in. I put the 5400RPM that came with it in an external case. I'm very happy with these Hitachis. I had a momentus in a different laptop and did not like it because it got too hot. I don't believe that it had as good of power management as this one does.

Make sure you order the SATA version of this drive! (referenced above)

 

Did you see a real difference when you swapped the Hitachi 5400 for the 7200? I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I have a 160GB Hitachi 5400 and was wondering if it would work in one of those 2.5" external enclosures powered only by the USB plug. Is the only real difference, less heat being generated?

Actually, now that I look for it, Newegg only carries the 160GB drive in 5400rpm. http://tinyurl.com/2kv26f

 

bear in mind that 7200 drives do have a more noticeable 'whoosh' sound, like a low fan, which is less apparent in 5400 and barely audible on 4200. I upgraded my old EVO from 4200 to 7200 and realized this..

 

I still think I'm going to give at shot when the 200GB Hitachi 7200rpm becomes available. I'd like to record TV shows to the 2nd HD. Maybe I could sound insulate it somehow, inside the chassis. Thin foam layer or something?

 

If I had known a $50 bracket has to be bought from HP to install a second drive, I would not have bought my dv9207us. I don't really need a second drive. I just can't stand this kind of business tactics (making the products different so people will have to buy additional parts from you.)

 

I must not be looking in the right place, but I'm unable to find the adapter or bracket you guys are talking about in regards to the dv9000t. Is there a link you guys could throw me so that I can buy the bracket?

Also, when I pulled my drive out initially I noticed it had pins sticking straight out that would line up with the connectors for the primary drive. Previously in this thread it was said that you could easily just pull the primary drive out and replace it. How is that possible with the pin setup that I saw on the drive?

 

The link to the dive caddy I bought for my DV9207 is here...
http://www.partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bi...e=&partsrch=434106-001&submit.x=8&submit.y=10

As far as the Hitachi 7200rpm, yep, you can only get a 100GB drive right now. I wouldn't expect a 200GB any time soon, although I haven't kept up with it and could be wrong about that.

On the installed drive (and included with the bracket) is a pin changer/adapter. It slips on the straight pins sticking out the back of the drive and then has 'blades' which fit the connector on the motherboard. The bracket screws onto the drive just like any drive bracket.

To remove the drive from the laptop (the one already installed), lift up with your fingernails on the metal tabs which the screws that hold the drive bay door on go through. Lift alternately right, left, right, left (wiggle it). When it comes free from the motherboard connector, lift up the back and then slide it backwards to free the two tabs in the front that hold it into the case.

To remove the pin connector from the drive, rock it back and forth between right and left gently and it will come free. What you end up with is a drive that looks like any other ide or sata drive with a bunch of straight pins sticking out the back.

I know, when I first opened it up, I freaked out because I didn't know that the pin adapter on the back of the drive was an adapter. I thought Fujitsu had made a special drive for HP. Then I relaxed and figured it out. It's very easy once you figure it out. The drive kit contains the drive caddy, the pin adapter and the screws.

Yes, it's an additional $50, but to have two internal drives is a must for me for video editing, and it works very well with the 7200 rpm drives. I paid $800 AR for this laptop in a COMPUSA sale and I didn't mind spending the extra money for the drive caddy.

Yes, the 7200rpm drives are louder, but not that loud, or I don't mind. That's subjective. Look at silentpcreview.com for actual db measurements.

P.S. I had a Seagate 100GB 1.5 years ago that I paid $250 for and it was very hot. I chose Hitachi this time and I like them just fine.

Hope this helps. It's a great laptop! 'Specially when you get quicplay rocking with the little remote!

 

Thanks for the how-to. That will be a great help. The caddy is on order $52.00
I was wondering how you setup the two drives for video editing?

Are they setup in raid or something or do you simply have your video files on a separate hard drive?

 

mbmalone,
This machine doesn't support hardware RAID and I have friends that have lost way too much data on RAID 0 arrays (I've been lucky) so no, I'm not using RAID. I simply put my OS's (XP first then Vista) on the first drive (2 partitions, push vista out to slower part of drive on second partition) and I put my AVI/video files on the second drive. When I do renders, I write back to the first partition of the first drive.

It works just fine for me. I'm not trying to do 5 layers with transparencies plus titles in real time. I just do a layer or two with some titles and transitions and it does real time in Premiere 2! I'm hoping this machine will last me a long time with the dual cores and 7200rpm drives.

One thing I've noticed about this laptop, it's very stable. I like that.

I have had problems with the DVD drive not working sometimes, have you?

 

I have had trouble with the dvd drive and bootable cds/dvds. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Also, it can be difficult to get them to snap on to the tray. I try to be gentle.

 

Well, at least I'm not alone on that....

 

what's your dvd drive model? ive got the hd-dvd drive in my dv9000 and i dont think ive had any problems with CD/DVDs

 

This notebook was recently repaired by HP, so I haven't actually had any problems with this one so far.

I have the MAT****A DVD-RAM UJ-850S

 

lol just realised why you have those **** there