HP nx9420 HDD, ram update

Hello all- I have had an nx9420 for about two years and love it. XP is getting squirrelly and I plan to replace the HDD and reload XP.

Hp wants $280 for the originally installed HDD- a Seagate Momentus 7200.1 Model ST910021AS (7200rpm, 100gig, SATA 1.5). That seems high for what should be an $80 drive. What is a newer 7200rpm drive in the 100gig+ range that will still support the HP Mobile Data Protection System? The original Seagate drive also had an HP part number on it too- HP395307-003 does that mean it was different from the standard Seagate ST910021AS?

I have 2 gig ram installed- I understand that means an extra 1 gig in the extra slot- can I increase that?

Thanks, JH

 

Hi Welcome to NBR,

The HP mobile data protection system is just an accelerometer in the notebook telling the hard drive to stop when it detects shock and vibration. This prevents the head of the disk from scratching the data platters.

HP just puts their own part replacement # to make it easier for them to catalogue. You can just buy the drive from newegg.com and save alot of money. HP overcharges way too much.

Your notebook will have 2 RAM slots, you have 2 sticks of 1gb RAM installed. If you want to increase it to 3gb, you just need to buy a 2gb stick.

 

Not necessarily. You might just have a single 2Gb stick currently installed; if that's the case, you have one empty slot now, and you can upgrade to 3 or 4Gb by purchasing a 1Gb or 2Gb stick, respectively.

 

HP always puts 2x1gb to take advantage of dual channel.

 

Thanks guys
It does seem that I only have one user accessable ram slot which has a 1gb stick in it.
I do not think I have access to the other slot even though the specs say you do. I looked up the options at purchase time, and a there was not a 3 gig.
JH

 

Have you double checked your service manual?

 

You know, this sort of thing drives me nuts- I looked in the service manual under "external memory" and it tells you to take the cover off the bottom- I didn't really need that kind of help. Nowhere in that section does it say to get to the other memory slot, you must remove the keyboard, you have to look in the manual under "internal memory" to find that out. Thanks for helping me out.