Upgrading laptop drive?

[Newc]

I've got a Toshiba Satellite A205-S4707 laptop with a 5400 RPM HDD, and would like to upgrade it to a 7200 RPM HDD.

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ily=1073768663#

I've already got 4GB of RAM in it, and I've upgraded my desktop drives for years, but wasn't sure if the chipset allows for 7200 RPM drives.

Anyone know for sure if I can?

[Carbuff]

Im writing this on a similar laptop. If youre upgrading for speed and not size I would consider an ssd. Newegg has a mushkin chronos 120 gb ssd for like $89 this week. It makes a big difference in how fast programs load and boot times. My son and I both have one in our desktops. His is working fine, mine went belly up after a month but mushkin replaces it no problem. So, basically, reliability would be my main concern with an ssd. The performance is amazing though. I think our laptops have sata interfaces so most modern drives should work in them.

[Newc]

Wasn't sure if SSD drives were the same interface or not - I've been out of the loop on this stuff lately so SSD is a new thang for me. I'm assuming they're not spindle-types like traditional drives? If so, spindle speed would seem to be a non-issue, but it would depend more on buffer size and access times, like with RAM/ROM/Flash drives?

I'm definitely looking at both speed and size/capacity. The 120 GB that came with it is nearly full, and most of what's on it is stuff I actually use regularly.

[DonP]

Chipsets (and operating systems) don't care about spindle speed. If anything, they may limit capacity. I remember the 2GB limit, then the 100GB limit. Don't know what the current limit is, if any.

I'd be a little worried about compatibility with an SSD. Make sure you get a return policy if it doesn't work.

My son wants me to get an SSD for the latest desktop build we just did (i5 2500K, Z68 chipset, HD7700 card, 1TB Baracuda). We have to activate Windows 7 64bit soon, so might as well do it on an SSD.

[LouSiffer]

[QUOTE=Newc;1513907]Wasn't sure if SSD drives were the same interface or not QUOTE]


They are SATA plugs. You should be fine. I do recommend getting a SSD that has trim support, but, you needs Windows 7 for that. -Lou

[Model 88]

If you are looking for reliability look at get a Intel drive . They seem to have the least amount of issues . You can pick a used 160gb 320 or x25 (G2) series off ebay for 125.00 or so . They also offer a good software tool http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...?wapkw=toolbox which would help in Vista with no OS TRIM support . SSD run the best when you can run them ACHI mode . It will run in IDE mode but just not as fast . I have a old Dell D620 with the same 945gm chip set and it does not support ACHI .

[TKEblue]

Personally, if the laptop were my only computer i wouldnt put an ssd in for the limited size. You can go big but youre going to spend an arm and a leg. However, getting an external hdd with an internal ssd with all of your booting/commonly used software and files on the ssd and anything not as necessary on the hdd would be ideal.

When i build a new tower with the new ivy bridge i5, i plan to do something similar only both internal.

[Electric]

There shouldn't be any issues with going to 7200 rpm. The chipset won't care, so even the SSD wouldn't have a problem. High capacity SSD aren't going to be cheap though. 240GB SSD goes for around $250 compared to around $70 for a 7200rpm notebook drive.

[DonP]

ok guys, I don't know dick about these SSD drives. I just bought an OCZ Tech "Petrol" drive. SATA III, Indilinx Infused, MLC Flash Memory, TRIM support.

I don't know what any of this means.

It's a 128GM drive, for $66 after $20 rebate.

It was the absolute cheapest for the size.

Take it back or keep it?

The system currently has a 1TB drive with everything on it. I should load the O/S (Win Home 7 64bit) on this SSD, right?

[Electric]

The OCZ drives are good from what I've seen. Definitely load the O/S on the SSD. That is where you will see the performance boost. It's a pretty big boost too, you'll see the boot time drop, programs will open quicker, etc.

[Newc]

While the chipset itself doesn't care, my concern is whether or not they were customized for Toshiba with certain limits, to coerce you into a full system upgrade.

[Model 88]

ok guys, I don't know dick about these SSD drives. I just bought an OCZ Tech "Petrol" drive. SATA III, Indilinx Infused, MLC Flash Memory, TRIM support.

I don't know what any of this means.

It's a 128GM drive, for $66 after $20 rebate.

It was the absolute cheapest for the size.

Take it back or keep it?

The system currently has a 1TB drive with everything on it. I should load the O/S (Win Home 7 64bit) on this SSD, right?

It is not the fastest drive out there but still faster than spinning drive . It is a budget drive from OCZ with their in house controller , they bought Indilinx . They also use Sand force controller which the faster drives use , Vertex 3 and 4 etc.... The TRIM support is garage collection it lets the drive tell the OS which blocks data are no longer in use can be wiped . Windows 7 has this command built into so you are good to go . When installing the drive go into the BIOS and change the hard drive setting from IDE to ACHI . It lets the drive run faster . But only do this on a fresh install or you will have to hack the registry .

[Model 88]

I have installed SSDs in a few different laptops , Dell , HP and Acer and have had no problems . I seriously doubt that Toshiba had Intel customise a chip for them . All that would do would raise the price of the laptop no good reason .

[Grim]

Make sure your chipset supports SATA III. It should though.

Seconding what everyone else has said, drive speed doesn't matter if the chipset supports the interface.

The capacity limit right now is ...quite... large, don't worry about that. Also, you'll be hard pressed to find a drive over 2TB anyway.

[DonP]

It is not the fastest drive out there but still faster than spinning drive . It is a budget drive from OCZ with their in house controller , they bought Indilinx . They also use Sand force controller which the faster drives use , Vertex 3 and 4 etc.... The TRIM support is garage collection it lets the drive tell the OS which blocks data are no longer in use can be wiped . Windows 7 has this command built into so you are good to go . When installing the drive go into the BIOS and change the hard drive setting from IDE to ACHI . It lets the drive run faster . But only do this on a fresh install or you will have to hack the registry .

Thank Mike.

With this Gigabyte MoBo, when it boots if it finds drives in IDE mode it asks you if you want to switch to ACHI mode. We will do a full refresh of Win7 64bit. The reason for doing this upgrade now is that we haven't activated Win7 yet, and and decided might as well go SSD before activating.

At this point, reliability over speed is the concern. How do people fry these?