HARD DRIVE UPGRADE QUESTION

paddlepop

Hi All,

I have a Compac Presario CQ70 that has a 160GB hard drive that is almost full. I want to upgrade the Hard Drive to a larger one. I did some research and found that some laptops wont take larger sized hard drives. I cant find out the max i can install. Does anyone know how to find this out?

My current HD is a Toshiba MK1652GSX ATA which is a SATA 2.5 5400RPM drive. I would like 500GB if i can but dont want to buy one only for it not to work.

I use my laptop for work so i run alot of programs at the same time, i store alot of files etc and i am its now sluggish and slow. I defrag every night and do C drive cleanups regulary so its time to upgrade!

Also is getting a higher RPM worth it or is 5400 ok?

Torqay

According to Crucial, a 500GB HDD is just fine.

Overheal

I think the cap for ole versions of windows was 2TB

Torqay

Overheal wrote: »

I think the cap for ole versions of windows was 2TB

Nothing to do with the "ole versions of windows", the limitation is the traditional BIOS using a Master Boot Record (MBR) which limits the drives to 2.2TB. However, it is not arcane science to setup a larger drive to be used with older Windows versions.

Capt'n Midnight

If you already have an external HDD you may be able to swap it in.

Don't forget to look up cloning
https://partedmagic.com/

Beware some newer external drives aren't SATA inside

Overheal

it was a typo!

The Ultimate upgrade to any laptop is a decent SSD, I absolutely guarantee once you go this route, there is no going back.

The Laptop is dated now though with a pretty slow processor.

How much ram is in it ? if under 3 gb it could make it very slow indeed, 6-8gb will make a huge difference as when you run low on ram the machine has to use the hard drive which incredibly slow compared to ram.

Now you probably have sata 2 and will not run as fast as possible on sata III, however it's IOPS that make the difference as you'll rarely be transferring large files.

So if buying a SSD look for higher IOPS as this makes the most noticeable real life difference.

I'd then get a external drive or buy a CD rom to HDD caddy converter, basically you remove the cd drive and install a hard drive in that space and you can buy an external cd drive off e-bay for a few quid.

Torqay

Deleted User wrote: »

How much ram is in it ?

2 GB DDR2 PC-5300 in the default configuration.

Deleted User wrote: »

6-8gb will make a huge difference

It would, but not an option, 4 GB RAM (2x 2GB) is the maximum supported.

Deleted User wrote: »

Now you probably have sata 2

You got that right, ICH9 doesn't do SATA 600.

Of course, the drives are backwards compatible.

Torqay

Torqay wrote: »

2 GB DDR2 PC-5300 in the default configuration.



It would, but not an option, 4 GB RAM (2x 2GB) is the maximum supported.



You got that right, ICH9 doesn't do SATA 600.

Of course, the drives are backwards compatible.

You would need a 64 bit operating system for over 3 gb so while you can install 2 x 2 gb it won't see the remaining 1gb but still 2gb is too low for vista win 7.

I wouldn't worry about sata III as my laptop is only sata II but it's still wicked fast compared to the old hard drive.

The sata III will only matter for transferring huge files but you'll need another ssd to transfer to.

The biggest differences in real life use are with small files usually in files under 1 mb in size and in kb sizes this is where ssd differ tremendously.

This is where you need to look at IOPS and not MBS transfer rate, some cheap, ssd do not show the IOPS, so keep,clear of those.

But the OCZ vertex 4 works brilliantly in my laptop.

Torqay

You're preaching to the choir here, but I'm not the OP.

32-bit Windows 7 is fine with 2 GB RAM, even with 4 GB I'd stick to 32-bit on an older computer as it is less demanding than its 64-bit cousin.

P.S. The Vertex 4 doesn't exactly shine with IOPS, although still a decent SSD (with the latest firmware) it is no match for a Samsung 840 EVO.

Torqay

Torqay wrote: »

You're preaching to the choir here, but I'm not the OP.

32-bit Windows 7 is fine with 2 GB RAM, even with 4 GB I'd stick to 32-bit on an older computer as it is less demanding than its 64-bit cousin.

P.S. The Vertex 4 doesn't exactly shine with IOPS, although still a decent SSD (with the latest firmware) it is no match for a Samsung 840 EVO.

Vertex 4 was one of the best at the time. I got it. It can be got much cheaper now. Which will still make a huge difference for the op.

I always found 2 gb of ram to be far too low for vista and vin 7, it really makes the machine too sluggish .

Capt'n Midnight

Torqay wrote: »

32-bit Windows 7 is fine with 2 GB RAM, even with 4 GB I'd stick to 32-bit on an older computer as it is less demanding than its 64-bit cousin.

Even with 64bit you'll still loose a couple hundred MB to the integrated graphics or whatnot so the difference between the usable amount of RAM on a 4GB machine for 32 bit vs 64 bit is only about 10%, and you'll loose a lot of that because 64 bit version of the OS, drivers and programs are bigger.

If you can go to 6 or 8GB then go for 64 bit , if your cpu supports it.

Other option is to see how much your laptop is selling for on adverts/ebay add to that what you'd spend on upgrades RAM / HDD and see what sort of new machine you could for that amount

No point going for 64 bit os as that will add a lot to the over all cost of the upgrade and IMO it's not worth it on an old machine.

Op I think just go with one of the hybrid drives as suggested earlier as it will load all your most used programs faster.

They when you can, get a new laptop and buy your own ssd any not a cheap one that you usually find in some laptops.

paddlepop

Thanks for all the advice I have been enlightened to the world of hard drives.
I think for now yes, I will just get a cheap upgrade to a 250 or 500GB hard drive for €60 and just see how much longer I can out of the laptop. I have already upgraded the RAM to 4GB so after this I will buy a new one.

Don't think I would get much for this now anyway? There are good buys out there from about 400€...
Thanks again )

Torqay

60-80 yoyos maybe... thing is, you would get pretty much the same from someone who has a spare HDD around. If you put in a new hard drive, it wouldn't make much difference in the price. So unless you want to flog this horse until it''s dead, you'll be loosing money here.

Another thing I would do is a complete re install of windows, backup everything so you can restore all your files.

No point making an image of a cluttered os. Only to restore it.

A good fresh install is always worth it and makes it faster.