Hard drive upgrade for Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop?

[NFS4]

I just keep having good fortune 🙂 One of the buildings that my dad oversees is downsizing again, so that means more equipment is being tossed or written off. So dad gets me a Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop:

PIII 850 (non SpeedStep)
128MB PC100
20GB hard drive
14" screen (maybe 15", I haven't measured it)
DVD drive
SavageMX graphics
USB
yadda yadda

I loaded WinXP and it's a pretty zippy system, but I am getting ready to order a 256MB PC133 SODIMM from CircuitCity ($59.99 - $30 in MIR - $8 balance on my CC gift card from Christmas).

The only thing to change now is the hard drive. The mofo is loud as hell. Louder than my Western Digital 100JB. It has a constant mind numbing ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizing. AHhhhhhhhhhhh. I was playing a DVD and could barely hear the DVD on the laptop speakers over the hard drive.

So can you recommend any good hard drives to replace this loud mofo? Some for ~$100 or so?

 

[mcveigh]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=22-146-013&depa=1

edit:

this too http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0048507

 

[augiem]

Hi,

The newer Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor drives are supposed to be quieter than the older types.
I just ordered a TOSHIBA 40GB 2.5" (9.5mm) HDD -- MK4018GAS for $114 + $3.95 fedex 3-day from Ateck.com (in New York) for an external firewire drive I'm building. I heard they were very quiet. Other FDB drives are IBM/Hitachi 40GN and Fujitsu MHS2040AT. (Just watch out for the Toshiba MK####GAP, they're not FDB. GAS and GAX are.)

Googlegear.com and Newegg.com have good prices on all of these too. You can expect to pay ~$115 for a 40GB, ~$100 for a 30GB, or ~$90 for a 20GB. You probably won't go wrong with any of them. Newegg and Googlegear have very cheap shipping on these drives too (some free, some $1)

Alternately, if you want SPEED, the IBM/Hitachi 40GB 40GNX is 5400RPM with an 8MB cache and can be had for about $145 @ Googlegear.com. (Or do a pricewatch search).

Augie

 

[John]

I just dropped an IBM 40GNX 20GB 5400 w/ 8MB cache (9.5mm drive) in my Latitude CPx 650 and it made a night and day difference. I wish I would have done the upgrade a year ago!

Be forewarned that your battery life will drop a bit when going from a 4200 to 5400 drive.

 

[augiem]

Be forewarned that your battery life will drop a bit when going from a 4200 to 5400 drive.

Boy, I can't wait for those fuel cell notebooks to come out. That will be so cool.... provided the fuel cells don't cost a ton to change.

Augie

 

[Spicedaddy]

Are the 5400rpm drives more noisy? How much battery did you guys lose by going from 4200-->5400?


I'll be upgrading mine because 30GB isn't enough... (my current HD is an Hitachi with FDB)

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: Spicedaddy
Are the 5400rpm drives more noisy? How much battery did you guys lose by going from 4200-->5400?


I'll be upgrading mine because 30GB isn't enough... (my current HD is an Hitachi with FDB)

my 5400rpm ibm 40GNX is quieter than the 4200rpm ibm GN model it replaced!

 

[NFS4]

Thanks guys

 

[John]

Originally posted by: bacillus

Originally posted by: Spicedaddy
Are the 5400rpm drives more noisy? How much battery did you guys lose by going from 4200-->5400?


I'll be upgrading mine because 30GB isn't enough... (my current HD is an Hitachi with FDB)

my 5400rpm ibm 40GNX is quieter than the 4200rpm ibm GN model it replaced!

I had a similar experience.