Need a larger hard drive in my IBM
Jay Stevens
I need to install a larger hard drive in my IBM T42 (was new a year ago). I
only have 115 MB left and I can't clean up any more junk from it.
Could anyone please advice me on what kind, what brand name, and what
physical size etc. would fit in this laptop? I need something very reliable.
So far the hard drive in this laptop has been good.
Thanks for any help.
JS
Rich Johnson
"Jay Stevens" <J...@hbo.com> wrote in message
news:AXGZe.2714$KQ5....@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
to another drive, any one Seagate, Maxstor, Toshiba, IBM are good drives (in
general). All of course have had their bad runs, but for the most part are
good.
Before you do the upgrade though, have you compressed the disk? (You would
need to off load some stuff to get enough space to compress it though.)
Clear all caches and temp files and see if you have enough space, if not
then you need to delete or move some stuff to an external drive until you
can compress it.
Jay Stevens
I'll go with another IBM drive then.
Thanks
JS
eM eL
There are many brands - Hitachi Travelstar or Seagate Momentus (2.5") are my favs.
Hitachi bough the hard drive business from IBM so this is a good way to go.
Try to get the fastest drive possible - you won't believe the difference between a
4200 RPM drive and a 7200 RPM drive But even 5400 RMP will be fine. Capacities?
They all come from 40 to 100 G (and - soon - bigger...)
--
><eM eL><
Benny
supply, easy to move large amounts of data between computers and acts as a
stand-alone backup disc for your essential files. I run what is a relatively
ancient Toshiba, but with a RAM upgrade and a 100 GB portable drive, it's a
good little mobile office.
--
Benny
*******
Stavros Christoforou
Go for the 7k60 or the 5k100 series of Travelstar drives. Both have VERY
good reputation, the 7k60 is a 60gb 7200 drive (fastest laptop drive
atm) while 5k100 is 5400 rpm drives with size fro,m 40 to 100 gb. The
latest Seagate momentus looks nice too, but you can't go wrong with Hitachi.
Barry Watzman
generalization virutally any drive that you buy new will work.
There were 3 standard drive thicknesses, 18mm, 12.5mm and 9.5mm (the
last two sometimes given simply as 12mm and 9mm), and you cannot use a
drive thicker than the maximum depth of the drive compartment and/or
caddy, obviously, but virtually all new drives are 9.5mm, which will fit
into any laptop.
Some laptops have a maximum drive size (gigabytes) that they can take,
but this is not likely to be a problem for a modern laptop.
Unfortunately, this is hard to determine in any manner other than trying
it. If this is a problem, there are software drive installation
software products that will allow this limit to be circumvented in most
cases (not all, unfortunately).
Your real choices are capacity (size), drive rotational speed (rpm),
cache size and manufacturer. The warranty on the drive should be a
significant part of your evaluation (one and three year warranties are
both common, but only if you buy the drive from an authorized dealer).
On rotational speed, you have a choice of 4000/4200 rpm, 5400 rpm and
7200 rpm, faster is better, but also more expensive and sometimes may
run hotter and use more power. A larger cache also helps.
The major mfgrs. are Seagate, Samsung, Toshiba and Hitachi, but a few
other firms make them also (Western Digital does make 2.5" drives but is
not one of the major vendors in this size/type of drive).
Unfortunately, each mfgr., including both Hitachi and Toshiba, has had a
problem in some specific models and sizes, while at other size points
their models have been among the best, therefore it is impossible to
really give you a specific recommendation without knowing what kind of
drive (size and speed) you are talking about.
The largest drive that I know of is a 100 gigabyte drive (I've heard
stories of a 120 gig drive but have not actually seen one), but if you
want a 7200 rpm drive you will probably be restricted to 80 gigs or less
(100 gig 7200 rpm drives either don't really exist or are very difficult
to find). You pay for both speed and size, with the largest, fastest
drives going for as much as $200, while you can probably find a
perfectly good 60 gig 4000 or 4200 rpm drive for about $75.
Barry Watzman
by Hitachi, there is no particular reason for using a Hitachi drive.
They are certainly a quality vendor, but so are Seagate, Samsung,
Toshiba and others.
Stavros Christoforou
> IBM no longer makes these drives. While IBM's drive business was bought
> by Hitachi, there is no particular reason for using a Hitachi drive.
> They are certainly a quality vendor, but so are Seagate, Samsung,
> Toshiba and others.
>
Mmmm, the fact that they are a quality vendor is not a reason for buying
a Hitachi drive? Take into account the fact that they are *very*
reliable and the faster drives around, I don't see why you should take
any of the others over Hitachi. Oh, and from the other, only the latest
Seagates come close (and with a nice warranty). Toshibas are incredibly
loud and vibrating (for a laptop), and Samsung doen's have nearly as
many options as the others on 2.5"
Paul Rubin
> Toshibas are incredibly
> loud and vibrating (for a laptop),
I haven't been finding these. The 80gb Toshiba drive I'm using now is
the quietest drive I've ever used.
Stavros Christoforou
Try the 5022GAX/GAS (and similar series), the ones with 16MB cache. I
don't know if they have improved recently, but every one I have heard
was too loud to put up with, and I replaced them all.
Paul Rubin
> Try the 5022GAX/GAS (and similar series), the ones with 16MB cache. I
> don't know if they have improved recently, but every one I have heard
> was too loud to put up with, and I replaced them all.
I'm using an 8025GAS right now. I've had about 4 other Toshiba drives
in the GAS series (fluid bearing 4200 rpm) and all have been very
quiet and stayed that way, the 8025GAS being the quietest of the
bunch. One of them has gotten flaky (corrupted files, not 100%
positive that it's the drive itself causing this) so I don't use it
any more.
I've also had four IBM/Hitachi Travelstar drives of which two were
40gn's. I've had 100% failure rate where failure means the drive is
obviously not in good health (i.e. starts making awful noises when it
wasn't before), one of which was catastrophic and definitely hardware
(drive won't stop seeking on spin-up), one catastrophic and
suspicious, and two non-catastrophic (drive taken out of service when
it started making noise). The drive that won't start now, first
started making noise but IBM refused to repair it when it passed the
SMART diagnostic. It stopped working a day or so later, so using the
other ones that make similar noise doesn't seem wise.
I've no experience so far with other brands of laptop drives.
Stavros Christoforou
Just to clarify, I am talking about 5400 and 7200 drives, most 4200
drives are too quiet to bother with. And the 40gn series has long been
surpassed by the 5k80, 7k60 and recently 5k100 and 7k100 series which ar
*far* superior to it.
Barry Watzman
models. They are a good vendor, first tier, no question, but so are
several other vendors (Toshiba, Samsung, Fujitsu, Seagate among them).
I don't take any of the others over Hitachi; but I also don't take
Hitachi over any of the others.
Barry Watzman
all of these vendors have had particular models that had noise / poor
reliability / excessive heat or some other issue. There are a group of
3 to 5 "1st tier" vendors, certainly Hitachi is one of them, but overall
(ignoring specific model comparisions) I can't conclude that one of the
1st tier vendors is better or worse than the others.
Stavros Christoforou
> But you are talking about one particular, specific model of drive, and
> all of these vendors have had particular models that had noise / poor
> reliability / excessive heat or some other issue. There are a group of
> 3 to 5 "1st tier" vendors, certainly Hitachi is one of them, but overall
> (ignoring specific model comparisions) I can't conclude that one of the
> 1st tier vendors is better or worse than the others.
>
This is why I later stated that I am talking about the newer generations
of Hitachis (5k80, 5k100, 7k60, 7k100). Of course every company has its
ups and downs in products, but the last few years Hitachi has had some
excellent products with *very* low failure rate and excellent performance.
Contrary to that, for example, the 1st generation of 100gb drives from
Seagate (a well-respected company with excellent warranty on drives)
that came out about a year ago, had issues with noise and vibration. The
2nd gen has apparently fixed these problems, but it is too new to make a
conclusion. Contrary to that, the 5k80 and 7k60 series have been in the
market long enough to have a solid reputation, and it is excellent. I am
not dissing out the other companies, I am just stating that all vendors
have their ups and downs, and Hitachis are on their "ups".
John Doue
> What about a portable USB drive- very small, no need for a separate power
> supply, easy to move large amounts of data between computers and acts as a
> stand-alone backup disc for your essential files. I run what is a relatively
> ancient Toshiba, but with a RAM upgrade and a 100 GB portable drive, it's a
> good little mobile office.
reviews as a relatively newcomer in the laptop disk segment. I have
never tried a 7200 rpm drive but I have read reports about vibrations.
Drive speed may be very important for some users who rely on
disk-intensive activities, but lots of others (and probably most of
them) will prefer silence and absence of vibrations to sheer speed.
Since obviously, your laptop is where your hands rests, this factor is
to be given serious consideration and for some, heat may be a factor
too, a good male friend of mine works only with his laptop on his,
believe it, lap (hence, the name I guess). Need a picture?
--
John Doue
Jerry Bloomfield
<stg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Contrary to that, for example, the 1st generation of 100gb drives from
>Seagate (a well-respected company with excellent warranty on drives)
>that came out about a year ago, had issues with noise and vibration. The
>2nd gen has apparently fixed these problems, but it is too new to make a
>conclusion. ...
I actually bought one of the Seagate 5400.2 100GB drives. The drive
is nice for space, and speed, it is even quiet for track-to-track
seeks, but if the drive is performing a "full seek" the drive has a
loud "click" (or "clack" if you prefer). If is even louder than the
fan in my ThinkPad.
eM eL
news:8td_e.230$196...@read3.inet.fi...
> Benny wrote:
> My only advice would be to stay away from Seagate which still gets mixed reviews as
> a relatively newcomer in the laptop disk segment. I have never tried a 7200 rpm
> drive but I have read reports about vibrations.
Momentus is good. I have a 100G externally mounted 2.5" Momentus and there is no
vibration and the drive is really quiet (more so than a 60G 7200 RPM Hitachi in my
laptop.)
> Drive speed may be very important for some users who rely on disk-intensive
> activities, but lots of others (and probably most of them) will prefer silence and
> absence of vibrations to sheer speed.
Hmm... The difference of 4200 RPM vs. 5400 vs. 7200 RPM is also really noticeable
when
booting, bringing the laptop out of stand-by or hibernation and shutting down the
thing. And because Windoze - even with lotsa RAM - swaps to disk like a crazy
chickin, a fast drive with a big cache is very desirable...
--
><eM eL><
><Power corrupts. Horsepower corrupts absolutely.><