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New hard drive.

A

antsct

Senior member
Hello.

I am going to purchase a new laptop hard drive but I don't know whether to choose:

Toshiba 100Gb 5400rpm 16Mb - which is ATA, 12MS

or

Seagate 100GB 7200rpm 8MB - which is SATA, 10.5MS

I have reading info regarding my laptop's chipset and it seems to support SATA so it should work. My current drive is a 40gb 4200, 2mb drive. So what would be the better choice? I have an Intel Mobile 915GM Chipset.

Thanks.
 
u definitely want the 7200rpm drive
a more important stat is the 12ms vs 10ms. This is the seek time and you want the lowest number possible.
 
Thanks for the reply waylman, that's what I thought to. Any other replies would be great.

Thanks.
 
Not only is the Seagate faster but you get a 5 year warranty as well. 🙂
 
The faster drive is definitely the way to go but it takes more than just the chipset supporting SATA... you have to have the SATA connector too.

I don't know much about laptops but I'm guessing if the old HD is ATA then you will need to get a similar replacement. It may have connectors for both but I'm doubting it.
 
I'd be shocked if a laptop allowed the use of both PATA and SATA drives. Just because the chipset supports it doesn't mean there are suitable connectors or that the laptop's BIOS allows it. I'd double-check.
 
Ok, I'll definetly go with 7200 if it supports it.
This is what Everest reports:

Model ID FUJITSU MHT2040AT PL
Device Type ATA-100
Interface Ultra-ATA/100

So this drive is definetly not SATA, however this is the page for my chipset:
http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/915gm/index.htm

And it states:

"Serial ATA Provides up to 150 MB/Sec transfer rate for disk traffic."

So now what? Do I open it up and check the connection? What do I look for? Can I get some sort of converter? Sorry I'm new to hard drive connections.

Thanks again.


 
Looks like you're going to be stuck with the ATA drive. Maybe if you post the model of your laptop someone could help look up the info on it. When considering whether to get a 7200, 5400 or 4200 rpm give some thought about the extra power consumption of the drive (higher rpm normally means more power consumed which translates into using up the battery more quickly). Its a trade off! If you only operate on A/C then no big deal. If you use your laptop for extended time on battery only, then the choice of replacement HD becomes a bigger factor.
 
Thanks AmphibSailor, I was aware of that but luckily most of the time my laptop is run by the A/C adapter.

My laptop is a Compaq Presario V2325AP, if anyone could help me out with that, it would be appreciated.

I'll open it up soon and maybey take a photo of the connector and post it up here.

EDIT: Before I forget to ask, does ATA notebook hard drives only come in ATA100 or are there aslo ATA133 drives? Thanks.
 
there wouldn't be any difference either way! I would be surprised if a laptop drive could sustain transfer speeds over 50 or 60 mb/s, even a 7200rpm with 16mb of cache 🙂
~MiSfit
 
Your hard drive model number breaks down like this:
MHT-Fujitsu
2 - 2.5" Form Factor
040 - 40 gb Capacity
AT -ATA-100, 4200 RPM interface

A BH in the interface part would translate into SATA 5400. Looks like you need to get an ATA drive.
 
I don't think it is really a choice. Your laptop will take PATA or SATA but not both or either. They have different connectors.
 
The 7200rpm drive will probably consume more power and reduce the runtime of your battery. There are more trade-offs in the portable realm.
 
antsct, your pics show a regular parallel ATA drive. If I were chosing a replacement drive I would go with a <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136007">Western Digital Scorpio WD1200VE 120GB 5400 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM
</a> for $89 shipped. However if you want to go with a 100GB 7200RPM you'll need to add another $50.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I live in Australia so the prices are different down here but atleast you have helped my ensure that I need an ATA drive.

Any last comments etc. are welcomed.

EDIT: Is there such a thing as an ATA133 notebook drive or only ATA100? Thanks.
EDIT2: I just realised that I asked that before lol, but I'd still like to know for sure.
 
Originally posted by: antsct
Originally posted by: antsct
...Is there such a thing as an ATA133 notebook drive or only ATA100? Thanks....
Click to expand...

Can someone please answer this last question, thanks.
Click to expand...
I don't know for sure, but I do know for sure that there isn't a 5,400 rpm drive on earth that can transfer 100 MB/sec. That means it doesn't matter.
 
ATA7 is the same as ATA133 if that helps. However, I did a quick search and didn't find any drives with the spec for laptops. Anyhow the burst speed would not have as noticeable effect as the HDD rpm, seek times or cache size. One last thing to consider: Will the laptop support the spec? (Backward compatibility on the part of the HDD is a safe bet, but will the laptop's mobo support it?

 
I don't see why the motherboard wouldn't support it. Both have the same connections. The rest of the specs is in the drive itself.

Would this be a good hard drive:

Seagate MENTUS 7200.1 2.5" 100GB 7200RPM 8MB 10.5MS UATA100 - 5 Year Warranty.
 
Amphib, The pwr us by a 7200rpm drive is not a noticable amount over a 5400 or 4200 so never let that be an issue, the only real issue becomes connection or price..



Will G.
 
🙂 I guess newer technology may have overcome the issue, but everything I've read says that a 7200 rpm drive will drop battery life. However, I cannot speak from experience. Real life experience can usually be trusted more so than theory in cases like this. I guess you're speaking from there...(real life experience)?
 
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