Laptop harddrives

CathJ

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Wow, they're expensive.

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop hdd, since it's only about 40Gb and I use it as my primary PC, but it'll cost about R1000 for just an 80Gb drive. For that price, I can get 320Gb in a normal IDE drive (prices according to chaos).

At R1000 to double my capacity... dunno if it's worth it.
 
For R1000 I would rather buy a 250GB external drive!
I have one that uses USB for its power and is nice and small and fits in my laptop bag :P
 
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For R1000 I would rather buy a 250GB external drive!
I have one that uses USB for its power and is nice and small and fits in my laptop bag :P

Yeah, I have a 60Gb like that. The advantage would be that I don't have reinstall everything... but it's just not as convenient.
 
Cost price for a 120GB laptop drive is under R900 and HiFi Corporation has a Trancend external drive with a 100GB laptop drive for R799. Dont blame the drive cause someone is charging you rip off prices...
 
Cost price for a 120GB laptop drive is under R900 and HiFi Corporation has a Trancend external drive with a 100GB laptop drive for R799. Dont blame the drive cause someone is charging you rip off prices...

Looks like Take2 has 120Gb drives for between R800 and R900. That's still significantly more expensive than the IDE version, though it's better than the prices at Chaos.
 
Wow, they're expensive.

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop hdd, since it's only about 40Gb and I use it as my primary PC, but it'll cost about R1000 for just an 80Gb drive. For that price, I can get 320Gb in a normal IDE drive (prices according to chaos).

At R1000 to double my capacity... dunno if it's worth it.

Why not keep the 40Gb internal, and put a standard 80Gb IDE in an external USB enclosure?

Sure it'll be a bit clunky, but at least you can save your stuff to it...
 
I am in the same situation and you have to remember that the drives in the external enclosures are often 4200 RPM or they require an external power supply.
You should be able to pick up a 120GB for under R900. it is always nice to get your data all on the machine.
When I upgrade I am looking at the 250GB drive because that will carry almost all my media as well as my data.
 
Wow, they're expensive.
So is jewellery , there's a basic rule here: the smaller it gets made, the more you get to pay for it :cool: ..call it karmic payback for what womankind put men through :D

I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop hdd, since it's only about 40Gb and I use it as my primary PC, but it'll cost about R1000 for just an 80Gb drive. For that price, I can get 320Gb in a normal IDE drive (prices according to chaos).
Mucho tech squashed into a significantly smaller space to higher tolerances, not least of which is shock resistance, it's what it costs to get into the game.

At R1000 to double my capacity... dunno if it's worth it.
It's sure as hell worth not having to traipse around with a 3.5" external drive that HAS to have its own wall power, and still worth not having to sit with an external 2.5" drive that runs off USB, but YMMV. :rolleyes:
 
Seagate has external drives that uses only USB power as does Phillips, I have a 60Gb external Phillips Case that uses 2 USB powers.
 
Seagate has external drives that uses only USB power as does Phillips, I have a 60Gb external Phillips Case that uses 2 USB powers.

There are hundreds of different chassis' available in the market. Ranging from about R140 to R700 for 2.5" drives. I am running one off a Firewire connection, also no external power needed and MUCH faster than USB
 
There are hundreds of different chassis' available in the market. Ranging from about R140 to R700 for 2.5" drives. I am running one off a Firewire connection, also no external power needed and MUCH faster than USB
Would that be 'cos you're (on a Mac?) running a FireWire 6-to-6 cable, which has the power lines built in?
 
Would that be 'cos you're (on a Mac?) running a FireWire 6-to-6 cable, which has the power lines built in?

For sure, that's my FW400 setup ... then I also have the 9-9 cable for FW800
 
There are hundreds of different chassis' available in the market. Ranging from about R140 to R700 for 2.5" drives. I am running one off a Firewire connection, also no external power needed and MUCH faster than USB
Been meaning to ask - does that firewire drive power down when you shut the laptop cover?
 
Hi

You will save yourself a lot of PT if you use a Linux boot CD like Knoppix, and then do a binary copy (I think it's called dd) of your existing system drive to the new drive. I fixed a broken XP system this way.
 
For sure, that's my FW400 setup ... then I also have the 9-9 cable for FW800
One of the (too (many)) things that crApple :cool: get right, the PC industry tends to get this wrong FAR too often - and specially on notebook ..I've only ever seen one Samsung notebook once that had a FireWire 6pin on it.
 
Hi

You will save yourself a lot of PT if you use a Linux boot CD like Knoppix, and then do a binary copy (I think it's called dd) of your existing system drive to the new drive. I fixed a broken XP system this way.


That would work for a desktop PC, since you can have both drives plugged in at the same time (and I'll have to remember that next time I do it!), but it wouldn't work as well on a laptop. You'd have to go old drive -> external drive : switch drives : external drive -> new drive. Although... it's still an easy way to copy all your system settings and locked files, so it would still be useful.
 
I have a 60GB in my laptop and I purchased an external 120gb WD 2.5" HDD from Café Viva (Java) in Claremont for R849 (HDD including casing). You don't have to replace the HDD in your notebook, just use an 2.5" external drive which fits nicely in your laptop bag.
 
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