[gomerj]

apparently my hard drive has failed and i have been advised that it needs to be replaced. my first question is should i replace it or should i replace my notebook? my notebook is coming up on 2 years old (in a couple months). its a toshiba satelite A70 with 40gb and 256mb.
my second question is, if i do decide to replace the hard drive, how do i choose one? i briefly looked at the future shop website and there are some with ridiculous amounts of memory (ex. 160, 250, 300 gb) and they're around the same price as ones with only 40gb. although i consider myself quite competant using computers, i dont know a whole lot about hardware.

could someone please offer me some advice??

thanks.

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Laptop computers don't use the same kind of drives as desktop computers. Desktops use 3.5 inch drives while laptops use 2.5 inch drives. You are limited to no more than a 120 gig HD as that is the largest ones made today. The best prices still seems to be newegg and heres a good replacement for your drive.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822144374

The prices seem to be very close. The 40 gigers are around $65, the 60 gigers are around $80 , the 100 gigers are around $120, The 120 gigers are around $180, and the new Seagate 160 giger is $328.

If you get a bigger drive check the toshiba website to see how large a drive the bios will see.

SRX660

[SRX660]

Laptop computers don't use the same kind of drives as desktop computers. Desktops use 3.5 inch drives while laptops use 2.5 inch drives. You are limited to no more than a 120 gig HD as that is the largest ones made today. The best prices still seems to be newegg and heres a good replacement for your drive.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822144374

The prices seem to be very close. The 40 gigers are around $65, the 60 gigers are around $80 , the 100 gigers are around $120, The 120 gigers are around $180, and the new Seagate 160 giger is $328.

If you get a bigger drive check the toshiba website to see how large a drive the bios will see.

SRX660

[FuM]

Alienware's got one thats 250 gigs =) btw keep up the good work SRX660 hope u get promoted to Staff soon

[gomerj]

so it sounds like the thing to do is simply replace the harddrive. how do i decide what size to get (other than what will fit in my notebook). am i right to say that the larger the harddrive the better (faster, etc.)?
i know i only had about 7 gb free space before mine crashed (40gb).

[SRX660]

If the computer can see the drive go larger to a 60 or 80 gig drive. ost of the new drives are 9.5 mm height and there are a few that are 12mm in height. Yours is most likely a 9.5 mm. Larger capacity hd's are not faster than the smaller drives, they usually have more disks in the drive. Speed is the same for most of them.

SRX660

[gomerj]

ive been searching to find out what is compatible but i havent been able to find out much. i think i'll just have to take it in to the shop.

im curious to know how to make my notebook faster? im assuming it has to do with the memory?

by the way, thankyou for all the help.

Edited by gomerj, 21 March 2006 - 04:05 PM.

[warriorscot]

Notebooks are very limited as to what upgrades you can do, pretty much you are limited to upgrading the memory and the hard drive. The hard drive you are allready doing, memory you can check on the crucial website they can tell you what memory is compatible with your system its the easiest way to check.

[gomerj]

im a bit confused as to the difference between the "memory" and the memory associated with the HDD? by upgrading from 40gb to 60gb i assume that allows me to store that much more information on my notebook. what is the "memory" used for then?

ps. thanks for the info

[warriorscot]

Memory is like the short term memory of the computer the hard drive "memory" is the long term it stays there even when the computer is off unlike ram, its technically called Backing storage if that helps you remember the difference.

[gomerj]

oh ok - that makes sense. am i right in saying that the ram is what you are using when you are using your computer? and therefore the more you have the faster things will run and the more you can do?

ps. on another topic - is there any point in upgrading to xp pro? im running xp home but im curious to know if pro is better? ive looked up the specs but still not sure.

[warriorscot]

Pro can be slightly faster with things like games and networking is better using it, but the difference isnt huge not worth the extra cash.

[gomerj]

thanks for all your help and advice.

my last question is do you think its worth adding some ram?

[warriorscot]

If you can get it at a good price and the laptop can take more i would if youre installing a new HD you may as well add some ram while you are at it.

[gomerj]

allright - thanks again for the help.