new HDD for old laptop

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:46 am

Right, I got my laptop dirtcheap, cost me 70â‚¬'s, the price of new battery for it.

Its Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 with Celeron 700 Mhz, 384mb Ram, 16mb Trident integrated 14,1" TFT, DVD combo, integrated W-lan everything works.

But the HDD keeps unbearable noise. Its probably Toshiba's own 4200 RPM 10 GB 2,5" HDD. Other than that, laptop is very, very quiet.

I'd need to find some good HDD for it. 10 GB would be enough as it would be working mostly as office work and web surfing. It has Windows 2000 Pro license but no CD so I am thinking to put Ubuntu for it.... But the noise of the HDD is pretty unbearable. I am sure it has something like old ballbearing HDD. Do you guys have any recomendations that wouldn't be overshot for system.

aaa · Post by **aaa** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 4:22 am

If you're going to buy new just find the cheapest HD.

As for used, I do not know when exactly HDs stopped being so loud. I'd think 2004 or newer would be good.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:36 am

Thanks. Retailer around here has 80 GB Seagate Momentus 5400.4. That wouldn't be bad for price but I have no idea how its performance is. 80 GB sounds also bit much.

dannotto · Post by **dannotto** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 7:29 am

I recommend the one of the new Samsung M5 series. I have two drive from M5 series, one PATA 120 GB HM121HC in laptop, and one SATA 80 Gb HM080GI running in desktop. Both are verry quiet and fast enough. My advice is to take the lowest capacity from M5P series, 60 Gb HM061GC. It must be cheap.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:37 am

That laptop was made in the era of the 32GB capacity limit for HDD's, it might work with larger drives or it might not, only by putting in a drive that is larger than 32GB will you find out.

Make sure that the drive has a jumper option to limit the capacity to 32GB, if the drive doesnt offer this option dont bother.

As far as drive performance is concerned, I wouldnt spend more cash on a faster drive for the sake of it, you probably wont notice a difference in day-to-day usage on a machine of that spec.

Andy

peerke · Post by **peerke** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:14 pm

I would pick up the cheapest (=smallest) 5400 rpm drive from either Samsung or Hitachi. Those have been quiet for years so you don't need to pick a certain type.
I don't think the 32 GB limitation will be a problem if you partition in an OS part and a Data part. Keep the OS part under 32 GB and you should be fine. I've done this to several older laptops (often Toshiba's) in the past and it works.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:26 pm

Thanks for information. I'll be definately looking M5's to compeare prices. I will still keep my eyes open for good 2nd hand samples.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:25 pm

I put a 60GB in my older Compaq P3 laptop, works great, much quieter and definitely faster, though still only a 5400 rpm.

peerke · Post by **peerke** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:38 pm

I put a 100 GB 7200 rpm Hitachi in my IBM X30 (P3) laptop. Not a great success. It isn't much faster than my 80 GB 5400 Hitachi drive and a lot noisier. The review on SPCR didn't say so but I can hear a lot of whooshing and buzzing/humming. I can also feel it vibrate hard and the seeks are very noticeable. I think I'll change it for a 160 GB drive and put this one in a desktop computer.

xen · Post by **xen** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:13 am

I'm about to purchase a 5400 laptop IDE drive for my desktop and I'm going to choose between a Samsung HM060HC and a WD Scorpio WD600UE.

The difference is that the Samsung has 8MB cache vs. 2MB on the WD, whereas the WD is rated for 20dBA idle whereas the Samsung website states an idle of 22dBA.

Do you think the differences matter? If it's all the same I'll just be buying the Samsung I think. The ATA 133 interface makes me think it's a later model.

It will be a blessing to get rid of that whining Maxtor I've been enduring for the last 6 years

.

dannotto · Post by **dannotto** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:20 am

Acoustic basic rule: Don`t compare one value from a brand with other from another manufacturer. Arithmetic is easy, psychoacoustics is more complex.
To me Samsung sound better. No words about WD.
For my M5 units I find a simple way to become dead from acoustic point of view, even in the middle of the night.
Just let hdd with the face upside-down on the flat surface and under hard disk put a piece from cheap cloth mouse pad. 90% from noise is gone and if you mount inside a case then the silence arise. This mod may apply for more laptop drive.
Even without this trick M5 are quiet drive.

xen · Post by **xen** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:06 pm

Right. Well of course I was wary about using raw company supplied accoustic measurements. But another WD Scorpio (sata model) was rated 4dB higher on the same website, so that had me think. I'm pretty sure both models are quite quiet though, the Scorpio is on SPRC's recommended HD list (slightly different model maybe) so I'll just go for the Samsung if only for the extra cache. There will be another 3.5" HD inside that case anyway, as large 2.5" drives are still too expensive. Thanks for the reply.

Edit:
another thing that had me wonder; for 2.5" -> 3.5" IDE you need a data and power converter, right? Does this also apply to 2.5" SATA drives that you want to mount in a regular system?

Eunos · Post by **Eunos** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:20 pm

xen wrote:Edit:
another thing that had me wonder; for 2.5" -> 3.5" IDE you need a data and power converter, right? Does this also apply to 2.5" SATA drives that you want to mount in a regular system?

No, SATA 2.5s are no different to 3.5s cabling-wise. Ideal for a regular system.

dannotto · Post by **dannotto** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:28 am

For 2.5" IDE I use this adaptor:
http://www.roline-net.ro/product.aspx?pid=48
For desktop, SATA is most convenient interface.