Help With Buying Laptop Hard Drive?

(I read a few threads here already. Please don't assume I have a clue about anything I may have typed below.)

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop, Windows Vista... I need a bigger hard drive. The one I have now is a 120 gig. I see some of them are very affordable at New Egg, but they don't offer much advice about compatibility.

How do I know which hard drives will work in my laptop? The drive in there now is a Toshiba MK1655GSX, which seems to be an ATA drive. If my reading is correct, I need another ATA drive to replace it with. Is that the only criteria? Are all laptop drives physically interchangeable - I don't need another Toshiba, or a Dell drive?

And feel free to steer me to a good deal.

 

THanks for the link. Can I go over 250 gig?

ANd it looks like there's s variations: SATA , SATA 1.5Gb/s, and SATA Revision 2.6 - I need just the plain SATA?




This thing is a POS - I can't believe that it actually has 4.5 stars. I'm guessing those reviews aren't unbiased.

 

uhm - bump? I took it out and measured the height. It isn't slim. Can I go over 250 gigs, and can I go from 5400 to 7200 (I think) with no issues?

 

Yes you can go over 250GB; make sure you've created the Recovery CD's from the original Dell hard drive (unless you bought it with discs or plan on using a Retail DVD).

Double-check the height of your current drive, they're made from about 8mm through to about 15mm, though 9.5 - 12.5 are commonest.

You may notice a slight increase in temperature if you use a 7,200RPM disk, make sure you clean the fans, etc. on a regular basis.

The reviewers of the 1525 probably had the top model with the best CPU etc.. It would help us compare if you posted your Service Tag details.

 

Check out my thread at:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=225024

Obviously, make sure it is plugin compatible with your laptop.

Bazza

 

Oh, the heat factor is an issue. Sometimes this gets too hot as it is. I'm best off not going with a faster drive. Thanks for pointing that out.

Service tag Express Service Code is 67SG9H1 . There's also longer number that I've never needed - 13531745269

Indeed I will! Forgive my uber-denseness, but what do you mean "plugin compatible?" How hot do they run?

Thanks!!!

 

Hi, by plugin compatible, I mean that the pin layout (Interface: SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ) that connects the drive to your PC are matched. I've no idea what that means., but it plugged straight into my older Toshiba Satellite Pro P100.

As for how hot they run, none of the reviews I read mentioned running temperature at all. So I have assumed that temps are within acceptable levels otherwise they would be mentioned.

Bazza

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