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Challenge: Can you recommend an inexpensive Laptop Hard Drive?

The laptop I have hooked up to my TV is giving me a very polite warning that the hard drive is about to fail. This is essentially a retired laptop, the screen on it is no good, so I don't want to spend a lot to repair it. But it does serve a function so I'd like to keep it running. All I need it to do is boot, run Media Player (pulling files from external drives), and stream videos. Does it matter what kind of machine I have? It's an HP Pavillion, maybe 5 years old, running XP.

by moondrake
asked 5 months ago

6 Answers answer

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I've never replaced one myself, but our IT guy swears by Seagate. Try newegg...it looks like you can get one for around $80:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&Tpk=laptop%20hard%20drive%7Claptop%20hard%7Chard%20drive&Order=PRICE

okham
5 months ago

vote-for2vote-against

It's most likely a 2.5" SATA drive.

One of my laptops has a 120gb WD that I plucked from its external case. This may be a cheaper route than just buying a HD these days. A clue to buying the external drive, besides physical size and usually the term "portable" or "pocket", is that the ones which use 2.5" drives do not require an external power source.

narfcake
5 months ago

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Maybe:
http://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/pid_lookup.asp?pid=97755

toshiba 60gb notebook drive, $24.

ipegot
5 months ago

vote-for2vote-against

Thanks guys. That $24 drive is a good lead. But this also tells me I need to get someone to look at it first and tell me what kind of drive I need. I purchased an onsite computer repair on Groupon and I was hoping to purchase the drive online and have him come out and install it. But it looks like I need to take it someplace and have someone tell me what type of drive to buy first.

moondrake
5 months ago

vote-for1vote-against

@moondrake: You need a 2.5" hard drive. Any size or speed is probably fine. There's flooding in Thailand which has caused all sorts of supply disruption and drastically increased pricing (at least 2x the price from 6 months ago). As long as your laptop has Serial ATA (SATA) (it has 7 pins next to 15, almost certain that it does), you're be able to fit any 2.5" drive. Choose a size based on what you need. Most will be around 5400 RPM. If you find an external hard disk drive labeled 2.5", this is fine, the drive you want is inside. You'll have to open it up.

Installation is easy. Remove your old drive (the screws might be marked with what looks like a cylinder), pop in the new one. You will need to install windows and any drivers. Windows 7 will help you with this. After that, you're good to go.

edit: the HDD linked above is fine, except it doesn't carry a warranty. It will fit, it should work, but the usual warranty is around 1-3 years. That one is 30 days. Your call; it's cheap.

brad3326
5 months ago

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Thanks for all the helpful advice. That's a very good point on the warranty. But this one costs about a quarter the price of the other one with shipping figured in, so I am inclined to go with it and hope it lasts. This machine operates about 50 hours a week but is never moved anymore. If I have the "rescue" disks from when I bought this computer, will they reinstall on this new hard drive? Or do I need to have an actual copy of an OS to do the install? That's what I expect to get out of having a pro come do it, not just the hardware fix but also the software installation done right. Its wonderful to be able to call on the deals.woot think tank!

moondrake
5 months ago

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