Please suggest replacement HDDs for my Dell Laptop

icebergx

Hi all,

The HDD on my Dell Vostro died a few days ago and I seriously need a replacement ASAP. I=the HDD was a Toshiba MK1646GSX:
http://www.toshibastorage.com/main.a...ives/MK1646GSX

1) Can anyone recommend a replacement that's not a Toshiba HDD (I've heard they're pretty unreliable).I'm looking to spend upto £50 so the more GBs I can get, the better (but quality is also important.)
2) Do all 2.5in HDD have the same interface across the board?

Thanks.

totalsolutions

A 2.5" drive is a drive. Its a serial ata device so don't get a pata. It a bit slow on RPM at 5200 some are faster now at 7200 but the larger capacities do drop back to the slower speed. Get a like for like if you can and swop it out.

icebergx

Can anyone help?

QQuaver

How's this?
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3516598/Western-Digital-Scorpio-WD3200BEVT-320GB-2-5-Internal-SATA-Hard-Drive/Product.html

icebergx

How do Maxtor HDDs compare to seagate and other manufacturers at the moment? Can anyone recommend any brands in particular?

posted_2

Maxtor is the same as seagate

All brands have problems sometimes. Try western digital or seagate, if you don't want to ask Dell to replace it for free

AirCooledHeaven

icebergx wrote: »

Can anyone help?

Ignore post 2, it's inaccurate.

2.5" drives are available with both SATA and PATA (IDE) interfaces. The Toshiba drive has a SATA interface. They also come in different heights, but the norm, like your existing drive is 9.5mm. Don't go for a 7200rpm drive, the performance difference compared with a 5400rpm drive is not significant (for laptop use) and the 7200rpm drive will take more power, therefore shorter battery life. I would recommend a Hitachi TravelStar drive, they are quiet, low power consumption, and have a 3 year warranty.

Best price is at CCL computers

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=15648&category_id=457&manufacturer_id=0

Hope this helps

icebergx

I've seen some drives that are SATA I, and some that are SATA II. Whus one do I need.
Also, I was thinking of going for a 320GB HDD. Can anyone recommend one? Is Hitachi the best brand to go for at this level of capacity?

Thanks so much for your help.

AirCooledHeaven

icebergx wrote: »

I've seen some drives that are SATA I, and some that are SATA II. Whus one do I need.
Also, I was thinking of going for a 320GB HDD. Can anyone recommend one? Is Hitachi the best brand to go for at this level of capacity?

Thanks so much for your help.

The toshiba drive you referred to in your OP is a SATA II drive. SATA is backwards compatible so you could also use a SATA I drive to make a cost saving with a small drop in performance.

Disk drives are a personal thing, I use Hitachi TravelStar because they have a slightly lower power consumption than the others, plus they can be software configured to save additional power. For me on a laptop a bit longer battery life is more important than out and out performance.

a.hamilton123

It all depends on your budget. If you want the cheapest option for the largest available space, then just run a search on ebay or ebuyer are also good.

Drives can be quieter and a little faster, but thats completely up to you. If your machine is old and a little slow, why spend the extra... or then again, you may want to spend the extra, so really its preference of cost vs performance and whish is most important.