Upgrading my hard drive.

I'm planning on upgrading my DV6436nr's HDD to the Hitachi 200GB 7200rpm TravelStar.


Out of curiosoty though, I was wondering if anyone could give me the specs of my curent drive?

All that I've been able to find via HP's site and google is the obvious:160GB SATA 5400rpm.

Does anyone know the read and write times?


Thanks
-Tim

 

Just search the web using the name/model number of your HDD, manufacturers usually have spec sheets online for most of their HDD's.

EDIT: To identify the manufacturer/model of your HDD -> look in device manager or Coputer-> Right click on C: -> Properties-> Hardware.

 

Post your model number. It should be in letters and numbers

Im guessing its either a hitachi or fujitsu

 

Here it is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116025


I'm going to be replacing it with this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160


I'm hoping I'll notice a nice little perfomance boost, but even if I don't, I'll still be getting the increased capacity, and I'll be able to use my old HDD as an external one. (The Hitachi comes with a case for such a purpose.)

 

yes you will notice some perforrmance boost with the hitachi 7k200 series compared to your old drive. It also depends on what programs your gonna use it for.

Do a benchmark of your current drive now using HDtune and compare it with the new one later

 

did you read this review on that page ? not sure if right , but .......
Pros: See below.

Cons: Very LOUD, very Hot, Not compatible with the popular HP DV6000 notebooks.

Other Thoughts: Well, I was in the market for a new drive for my HP Pavilion DV6000 system. This seemed to be the perfect drive: overwhelming 5-star reviews, fast, large capacity, and at the time there was a nice rebate. How could I go wrong? I ordered, cloned my old drive, and installed. Worked OK for a couple days. Then I started experiencing a series of windows Crashes (aka: blue screens of death). It was endless. I lost all data (luckily it was backed up). I emailed Hitachi tech support only to find out that this model is NOT compatible with DV6000 notebooks! I went with a Seagate momentus and it's 10x better. Very disappointed in this. I won't be buying Hitachi again. *If you own a HP DV6000 system BEWARE of this drive!*

 

I dont see why its specifically incompatible with the DV6000

I actually remember that persons review posting here in NBR about that issue.

 

I'll post the new one when I get it, though it probobly won't be until next week.




I don't mean to be rude, but I think it is reasonable to assume that one persons bad experience is not going to be the norm.

"I had a problem with this hard drive in my DV6000, therefore all hard drives are bad and it will never work in anyone's DV6000"
It would seem that if it wasn't definitely compatible, Hitachi would have a warning somewhere, or I would be seeing a lot more than just one complaint.
There are 189 reviews on that page, with 91% being a 5 star. what are the odds that not one of those 189 people own an HP?



Does anyone else know anything about this?


-Tim

 

Try searching for the thread. That person that had that issue actually came here to NBR a while ago.

You will be seeing ~60mb/s transfer rates on a 200gb 7200rpm drive which is a good improvement. Check the HDtune thread in the hardware section. Im sure that hitachi drive has been benchmarked several times

If you have faith in hitachi, then get it. Persoanlly id go for Seagate or WD brands

 

I just read through that thread.

>_<

I spoke too soon.


I suppose it is not worth the risk.

I saw the Hitachi at my local Best Buy, and it came with an enclosure so I could use my old drive as an external, and it also came with software that would clone my old drive onto the new one.

Do most hard drives come with stuff like that?


-Tim

 

No, usually its just the hard drive. But you can buy an enclosure for like $20-30 and turn your old drive into an external storage.

You can use Acronis True Image (free for 30 days) to clone the drive

 

I'd go seagate , never had good luck with hitachi travelstar or ibm deathstars . in fact my sister just had 2 hitachi drives die on her acer , replaced under warranty , but time is money . seagate is in her comp now , hitachi is used for backups

Almost forgot , i had a hitachi 160 gb drive in my 8510-p, ran hot made a bit o noise , now running a seagate 200gb 7200 rpm and there is less heat and no hard drive noise , not that the hitachi made that much noise , but you could hear it click once in a while . heat was a bigger issue .

 

My hitachi ran very hot, thats why i try avoid it.

 

I emailed Hitachi about compatibility and I got this response:

"Thank you for your interest on Hitachi Hard Drive products.

The HP DV6436nr notebook PC was manufactured with a 5400 RPM hard drive.
Our Travelstar 7K200 HTS722020K9SA00 drives has a 7200 RPM drive.
If you want to used this drive on the HP DV6436nr notebook , I suggest you to contact HP to verify if this system can work with a 7200 rpm hard drive.

If it is found out that the said notebook can work with a 7200 rpm drive then you can use the Travelstar 7K200 HTS722020K9SA00.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance."


I also emailed HP a few minutes ago, and I'll post their reply.



As for it running hot, I do have a cooling pad.



I dunno...
I kind of hope that HP gives me a definative no for an answer.

It is a tough descision since the Hitachi is such a good price, and is the best rated 7200rpm drive on new egg, but the general concensus here is that I would be better off with something else.



-Tim

 

Ha... that's actually my review! I am the infamous "person". Anyway, I noticed there is some skepticism... I contacted Hitachi, and they sent me their official list of 7k200 compatible notebooks. The DV6000 was Not on there.

Here's what they said:

"Thank you for contacting Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
Below I have included a link to the 7K200 compatibility report
which lists known models of laptops that work with the drive, many of which
are equipped with Intel Core processors.
Thank you and please let us know if we can be of further assistance."



and Here's the List

Decide for yourself. If you want to take the risk, go for it. All I'm saying is that these are the current statistics, and they aren't all that encouraging. and my experience was that the 7k200 was a nightmare in my notebook (DV6130).

I now have a Seagate 7200.2 200GB drive in my notebook and I couldn't be happier. It's been like 2 months, and not a single problem. I should have just stuck with seagate in the first place.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Here is the intro to that list though:

The Hitachi Storage Integration Lab tested this
family of Travelstar drives for compatibility with a
wide variety of systems and Operating Systems.
Testing was to demonstrate compatibility with the
following hardware and software. Other
combinations of hardware and software are expected
to function with this product family, but have not
been evaluated. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
recommends you back up all data before installing
your new hard drive.




The way I interperet it, the reason why it isn't on the list is because it wasn't tested, not because it wasn't compatible.

"Other
combinations of hardware and software are expected
to function with this product family"

It should still work according to them. (assuming by product family they are refering to TravelStar, and not the listed laptop's product family's. maybe i'm reading it wrong)



If HP says it will work, then I'm going to buy it, not contrary to everybody's advice (which I take seriously), but because I have a gitft card for my local mall, so I can get the drive, including the transfer case and an external enclosure for $100 after the discount. That is just too good of a deal to pass up, and is worth the risk to me.

-Tim

 

Like I said man, if you want to take the risk then GO FOR IT!

 

Here is HP's reply:
"From your email, I understand that you need information regarding the hard drive upgrade for your notebook. Let me assist you in this regard.
I would like to inform you that according to the product specifications of your notebook you can install 200-GB hard drive with 4200rpm only. The hard drive which you are referring is of 7200rpm and as there is no tested information regarding usage of 7200rpm hard drives on Pavilion notebook. As the connectors present in the notebook may not support that speed, we recommend our customers only hard drive with 4200-rpm or 5400-rpm speed. As these are tested there will be no issues in using the hard drives with this speed.
However for you convenience, I am providing you the part numbers to purchase the hard drive.
200-GB (4200-rpm)-- 441424-001
160-GB (5400-rpm)--438485-001"

they don't seem to say one way or another, but obviously the notebook can support 7200rpm. there is evidence enough of that.


I think I'm going to go with the Seagate.

I want to believe the Hitach will work, but my gut tells me the Seagate is the smarter choice. and it isn't like it is worse than the Hitachi and I'm sacrificing anything.

Thank you everyone for all the help and support.

I'll let everyone know how it all went.



-Tim

 

I spoke further with HP, and they took a much firmer stance:

"However, I want to inform you that your notebook cannot support 7200 rpm drive as it supports only 4200-rpm or 5400-rpm speed. However if you upgrade the hard drive with 7200 rpm, on your notebook, please be informed that the system hangs or hard drive crashes"


I guess that settles it.

 

Thats bull, 7200rpms have worked fine aslong as its SATA interface

Seagate momentus 7200rpm range is also good too, so dont worry about missing out on hitachi

 

maybe otheres with the 6000 series can give input . i know in the old days i had to install a switch through floppy to use 5400 HD on an older system , but that was 8-9 years ago . don't think it applies now

 

I don't know why they say this... for the past 2 months I've been using a Seagate 7200.2 200GB drive with no issues at all. My computer runs a bit faster and more efficiently, but there's not a huge difference (other than space - upgraded from 120GB to 200GB). The 7200RPM drive is slightly louder, but nothing that's bothersome (like that blasted hitachi).

I would say to go for the Seagate 7200.2 drive (any size). However, if you feel concerned that it may cause "system hangs" or "hard drive crashes" then by all means stick with the 5400 drives... but from my experience, I have experienced no such things.

 

Or go for the 320gb 5400rpm, its par with a 200gb 7200rpm in terms of overall performance