internal harddrive price differences

mkennedy

hi.
i want to upgrade the harddrive on my hp pavilon laptop from 80gb to 100-120gb.
i've looked on www.dabs.ie and i see 5400rpm 2.5' drives for less than 100 euro.

would any of these 2.5' laptop harddrives work with my laptop or do i have to specifically get a hp 'spare part' drive.

the hp 'spare part' drives cost in the region of 200 euro. why is there such a price difference between the two- would i be ok going with one of the drives from dabs instead.
any help appreciated.
thanks.

conzy

Buy an external drive, you can get 250gigs + for 100 euro, if you upgrade the laptop hdd you have to go through the hassle of reinstalling windows and backing up all your data for a 40gig hdd increase...

mkennedy

thanks.
i don't want another peripheral tbh (which the external hdd is i suppose).
do you know would the dabs 2.5' drives be likely to work with a hp laptop though. in other words are 2.5' drives standard for all laptops or do they vary in dimensions.

Ruu_Old

2.5" hard drives are the laptop standard as far as I know.

irlrobins

Any 2.5" HD from dabs will work. Teh only think you need to look out for is to make sure you get either an ide or sata one according to your laptop specs. Unless your laptop is very new it's more than likely to be ide.

mkennedy

thanks.
any idea why there is a price difference of atleast 100 euro between the 'spare part' hp drive and the dabs ones.

leeroybrown

mkennedy wrote:

thanks.
any idea why there is a price difference of atleast 100 euro between the 'spare part' hp drive and the dabs ones.

Inflated prices on HP's part.

One question: Do you know if your laptop requires S-ATA or IDE?

mkennedy

tbh no.
what's the easiest way of checking whether it's ide or ata.
thanks

irlrobins

Post the model number of your laptop here

mkennedy

irlrobins wrote:

Post the model number of your laptop here[/QUOTE

it's a hp pavilion dv1448ea.

Soundman

mkennedy wrote:

irlrobins wrote:

Post the model number of your laptop here

it's a hp pavilion dv1448ea.

If your laptop is a Pentium M 1.73 GHz Processor - 14" Screen...

Then the Hard drive type you need is IDE

irlrobins

I concur

Soundman

Nice enough price here:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=317423

mkennedy

thanks lads.
yeah i'm fairly sure it's ide.

I see though that different 2.5' ide drives have different heights e.g 7, 8 or 9mm. does this matter.

what about rpm. can that cause problems. afaik I have a 4200rpm drive now.
will a 5400/7200rpm one cause problems.


also soundman are seagate any good. haven't heard much about them.

would hitachi or samsung be a more reliable brand. there's a couple of 160gb drives of these brands at komplett as well for a similar price.

irlrobins

any 2.5" ide drive will work. The faster rpm the better but tbh most laptop drives are 5400. seagate are good, samsung and hitachi also grand. Personally I'd avoid maxtor but I dont' think they're big in the laptop HD market

mkennedy

irlrobins wrote:

any 2.5" ide drive will work. The faster rpm the better but tbh most laptop drives are 5400. seagate are good, samsung and hitachi also grand. Personally I'd avoid maxtor but I dont' think they're big in the laptop HD market

good stuff.
thanks again.

extra-ordinary_

Maxtor are made/owned by Seagate. A 7,200rpm will run hotter than a 5,400, but will give an all round performance boost.

Pull out your existing one - you'll then know for sure what type you need. Google the model number and then get a similar specced one of the capacity you're looking for.

BostonB

mkennedy wrote:

thanks lads.
yeah i'm fairly sure it's ide.

I see though that different 2.5' ide drives have different heights e.g 7, 8 or 9mm. does this matter.

what about rpm. can that cause problems. afaik I have a 4200rpm drive now.
will a 5400/7200rpm one cause problems.....

The height matters, different laptops have different drive bay heights. Look at your current drive and see what it is.

Faster drives often use more power and thus reduce battery life. I doubt you'll notice much difference in speed tbh.