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    Hitachi Travelstar

    Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by Iceman304, Aug 1, 2008.

  1. Iceman304

    Iceman304 Notebook Consultant

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    I was getting a bit curious as to why the 7200 Travelstar is the upgrade drive of choice. For example, the WD Scorpio offer 3gb/s as opposed to 1.5 and a better warranty and price. The same can be said about the Seagate Momentus series. Am I missing something here? If the goal is to maximize speed, why would 1.5 be acceptable when 3.0 is available at a better price?
     
    Iceman304, Aug 1, 2008
    #1
  2. Dook

    Dook Notebook Virtuoso

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    You can disregard the 1.5gps and 3gps comparison as neither has been reached by todays technology. That is the theoretical bandwidth.
     
    Dook, Aug 1, 2008
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  3. Iceman304

    Iceman304 Notebook Consultant

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    Good point. That leaves the better price/better warranty issue. Especially with Seagate. Five years shows a lot of confidence in their product. I guess that I was looking for some fact that I was missing while planning the upgrade.
     
    Iceman304, Aug 1, 2008
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  4. Modly

    Modly Warranty Voider

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    The Hitachi 7200 RPM drive is the drive of choice for us using ATA-6 drives, because it WAS the fastest drive available for us until the line got discontinued.

    We can't use SATA drives in CF-27/28/29 Toughbooks.

    However, in a CF-30, the ballpark has changed, and you can use one (more options!), but the hitachi drives still offer some great features that we enjoy.

    With 1.5gb/s and 3.0gb/s drives, get whichever is cheaper with the RPM/features you want.
     
    Modly, Aug 1, 2008
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  5. Dook

    Dook Notebook Virtuoso

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    Cool. Seagate is a fine company, and since you cant use SATA, I'd say the Momentus is your best bet.
     
    Dook, Aug 1, 2008
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  6. Iceman304

    Iceman304 Notebook Consultant

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    I can use SATA. I have a TB-30. That does clear things up considerably. I appreciate the responses. Thanks.
     
    Iceman304, Aug 1, 2008
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  7. Dook

    Dook Notebook Virtuoso

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    Very welcome. Just a suggestion, I highly recommend the 320gb WD Scorpios. Even the 5400 RPM model is hanging with, and in some cases beating both the 200gb and 250gb 7200 RPM drives.
     
    Dook, Aug 1, 2008
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  8. Alex

    Alex Super Moderator

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    I have a seagate sata 7200 in my cf-19
    The wd also has good specs
     
    Alex, Aug 1, 2008
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  9. Iceman304

    Iceman304 Notebook Consultant

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    I have had a lot of good luck with SeaGate. But those Scorpio drives look pretty good. The Egg is selling that 320 7200 Scorpio for about the price of the 200 Travelstar.
     
    Iceman304, Aug 1, 2008
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  10. Dook

    Dook Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yeap. And its poised to stop on that Travelstar.
     
    Dook, Aug 1, 2008
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  11. Kronk

    Kronk Notebook Enthusiast

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    Kronk, Aug 12, 2008
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  12. Zippy-Man

    Zippy-Man Notebook Evangelist

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    Here is the drive I have:

    http://www.xpcgear.com/hitachi0a25015.html

    I did not buy it here i dont remember where i got mine but they dont have it anymore as i usually buy from newegg etc none of the big sites have them.
     
    Zippy-Man, Aug 12, 2008
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  13. Kronk

    Kronk Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks Zippy-Man.
     
    Kronk, Aug 12, 2008
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  14. Zippy-Man

    Zippy-Man Notebook Evangelist

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    No problem it is a good drive just too bad they discontinued it and now they are super hard to find.
     
    Zippy-Man, Aug 12, 2008
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  15. mnementh

    mnementh Crusty Ol' TinkerDwagon

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    Actually, you guys are kindof missing the point of seeking a faster drive as we've been discussing on this forum; the reason that Travelstar family of drives was so coveted was for use with the CF-28 machines which WERE the most popular laptop here. Because of their slower CPU/Frontside Bus speeds and smaller RAM capacity, the bump from 4200 RPM Drives to 7200 RPM drives made a HUGE improvement in their overall useable speed, because these older machines really rely a lot on Virtual RAM (Pagefile on the HD). The faster RPM HD makes as big of a difference as maxing out the RAM on these models; doing both can make an 800/1000MHZ machine which for most everyday computing needs, performs as well as many machines with 2 generations newer processor and nearly twice the RAM.

    Once you get into TODAY's machines with 533-800 MHZ FRONTSIDE BUS and 2GB+ RAM, you really don't see that much difference with a 7200 RPM drive most of the time; most users will never use more than a tenth of the actual computing power of such machines (Unless they choose to use Vista - the most resource-wasteful piece of bloatware ever to come out of Richmond).

    The OTHER reason that particular series of Travelstar drives are so coveted in our circles has to do with the drive management software that comes with; it allows you to easily adjust many operating parameters on the drive to get the exact balance you want between performance/noise reduction/battery consumption.

    mnem
    Don't tase me, bro!
     
    mnementh, Aug 12, 2008
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  16. Zippy-Man

    Zippy-Man Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I already had the 100gb drive from a my retired dell laptop that needed the 7200rpm drive to bost performance. Now having it in my TB is just a bonus :)
     
    Zippy-Man, Aug 12, 2008
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  17. Zippy-Man

    Zippy-Man Notebook Evangelist

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    Did someone here buy that drive they had stock a few days ago.


    -James
     
    Zippy-Man, Aug 13, 2008
    #17