Need a reliable notebook HDD - please help i am desparate

whisper

whisper

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 16, 2003
Messages
466
I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 that's coming up on its three year anniversary this spring. About 13 months ago, the HDD crashed and was permanently damaged, so I called Dell and ordered a replacement. To be honest, I can't remember if they sent me a brand new drive or if it was one of those refurbished "like new" kind of deals. But either way, I installed it and hoped that it would last longer than the the original one.

Well, just this afternoon it started making those dreaded clicking sounds and although I was able to reboot into Windows again after a couple attempts, I'm pretty sure this one is on it's way out too. It's astounding to me that a laptop HDD can't last more than 12-15 months. I know the parts are small and there is some daily "wear and tear" since I carry it to and from work, but I mean come on.

Anyway, this thing is like a time bomb waiting to go off now, so I need to get a new HDD (I don't have the $$$ to get a new laptop altogether, although it would be nice). I refuse to order another piece of crap drive from Dell which will undoubtedly fail, so I'm asking anyone who might know to recommend to me a RELIABLE and WELL-MADE hard disk that will fit into my Inspiron 8200. Size should be prefereably 30-40gb but I can go larger if necessary. Please let me know of both the drive and where I could purchase it. I depend on this machine every day and need it to be up and running. I have much more faith in you guys than I do with those idiots at Dell. Did I mention the last time this happened, they didn't even send me the correct replacement drive? I had to send it back and place my order again, and they insisted for over a month that I pay shipping on both drives :mad:

Thanks in advance :)
 
What do you think of this Seagate drive:
Model number: ST94811A
Capacity: 40gb
Speed: 5400rpm
Seek time: 12ms

The manufacturer link is here, and you can view it on newegg here.

I've got a 80gb SATA seagate drive in my rig at home and it's worked great, so at least I would trust the manufacturer.
 
Seagate and Hitachi are super popular brands. Check out their offerings at newegg.com. Any 2.5" notebook drive should fit your laptop. Good Luck!
 
Seagate and Hitachi(IBM) are known for their high performance, but unfortunately also for their high failure rate. I personally am a big Hitachi(IBM) fan, I still remember when the first DeskStars came out, they were the fastest and bulletproof. Then the infamous 75GXP came out and IBM's reputation as an HDD maker went out the window.

Whisper: If I were you, I would get this Toshiba HDD instead of the Seagate you pointed out. I've never had issues with Toshiba Notebook HDDs and this particular model has twice the cache (16Mb) than the Seagate you're looking at. For two bucks cheaper, you are looking at a substancial increase in speed as well as better luck in the reliability scenario.

Good luck,

Walter
 
Just because their Desktstars were crap (luckily none of mine ever died) doesn't mean that their Travelstars are crap.

IBM/Hitachi's Travelstar's have always been very good, although a few models required a firmware update, which was put out.


As far as that Seagate, I've only messed with Fujitsu and Travelstars, and I've had good luck with both. I'm interested in how the seagates work out, as the 5 year warranty has me interested
 
I've had great luck with Travelstars and Toshiba drives, but Seagate and Samsung make some pretty damn nice laptop HDs. My ma's Inspiron 8100 has a 40GB 5400RPM Samsung in it, which is bitchin' fast compared to the stock Travelstar it had. I ... well I'm stuck with the stock 30GB 4200RPM Toshiba that came with my 600m ;) But if I had the need (and money) for a new drive, I'd definitely go Seagate.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded for all the great input. The Toshiba looked tempting with its 16mb cache, but I was still drawn to the Seagate firstly because I've had a good experience with the Seagate drive in my system at home, and also because of the attractive 5 year warranty. So far I haven't got more than a year and a half out of either of the drives I've had in this Dell, so if they're backing it up for 5 years that seems impressive to me. So I'm going with the Seagate. Should be here Monday or Tuesday next week. I'll update this post to let you guys know how it worked out. Thanks again.

In the meantime, my time bomb of a HDD did actually boot up this morning, but I'm not exactly holding my breath. I'll keep my fingers crossed though, that it'll hold out until my new drive arrives :)
 
Sounds like a good time to backup all of your data if you can still boot it up.

I have a 10gig travelstar that is still going after 5 years. The only bad thing about it is that it is really really noise, but this is due to standard bearing whine.
 
i think there was * on the 5 year warrenty ...or if that was a mishap i cant remember

like u get a 5 year warrenty but its not what u only for certain things :confused:
 
I just checked the warranty and support information on the Seagate website and it seems like they are being straightforward about the 5 year warranty (i.e. I didn't see any * disclaimers or anything like that). You can check it out here if you want. The only thing I just thought of is that I'm not sure if it applies the same to OEM vs. retail. The one I got from newegg is OEM...

As for backing up my data, I synchronize twice daily with a server at work so I've pretty much got it covered. I learned that the hard way when the last HDD I had in this laptop bombed :rolleyes: But I agree, you can never be too careful. So just for fun, I also backup my laptop data to my home system every so often as well. It's not a completely up-to-date backup but it's got the majority of my three years worth of stuff ;)
 
i have 2 Samsung 40GB 5400 RPM drives and they both bench faster than other drives of the same price. i also have a 60GB toshitba drive in my other lappy and it sucks, its slow, loud, and i doubt it will last as ive gone thru 8 toshitba drives in college within 2 years,

i remember 1 time i JUST got the laptop back from service and i left it in my room for a weekend. the monday after returning to school the drive died again.
 
Dang either you guys have the worst luck or your mishandling your notebook. NEVER EVER move it when it is on. That includes carrying down the hall to a meeting or carrying it to your room. Little bumps and jossling it around can cause problems with the spinning hd. The solution to all this is just to hybernate it. Hit your sleep button before ever moving your laptop. You can also change your hd settings to park the heads regularly but this means you will lose some performance and the hd will make clicks regularly as the heads park during any short period of inactivity.

The only time I have had a notebook hd crash is when my old roommate in college decided he didn't like my backpack on the table and threw it off on the tile floor. It landed on one corner of the notebook and even in its case it got jacked bad. HD never died immediately, but was never the same after that. Would make wierd noises. Other than that I have had no problems, but at work I hear about all these issues people are having with their hds crashing all the time. However, what do I see? They all carry there computers around to meetings powered up. I guess some people don't understand how fragile spinning hds are.
 
CyberCRAP said:
Dang either you guys have the worst luck or your mishandling your notebook. NEVER EVER move it when it is on. That includes carrying down the hall to a meeting or carrying it to your room. Little bumps and jossling it around can cause problems with the spinning hd. The solution to all this is just to hybernate it. Hit your sleep button before ever moving your laptop. You can also change your hd settings to park the heads regularly but this means you will lose some performance and the hd will make clicks regularly as the heads park during any short period of inactivity.

The only time I have had a notebook hd crash is when my old roommate in college decided he didn't like my backpack on the table and threw it off on the tile floor. It landed on one corner of the notebook and even in its case it got jacked bad. HD never died immediately, but was never the same after that. Would make wierd noises. Other than that I have had no problems, but at work I hear about all these issues people are having with their hds crashing all the time. However, what do I see? They all carry there computers around to meetings powered up. I guess some people don't understand how fragile spinning hds are.
Click to expand...

Hate to burst your bubble there, but Notebook Hard Drives are designed to withstand a reasonable level of operating shock which would include moving the notebook and also carrying it short distances, the manufacturers know what notebooks are used for and all the components are designed accordingly. I'm an independent contractor to do Dell's warranty work, and I'm Dell Certified (whoopidy doo!) on Latitude, Inspiron, Dimension, Optiplex, and Precision. The biggest problem with the old IBM Travelstars is their tolerance to heat. I've had two different 30GB Deathstars in my Inspiron 8200 and both of them would get BLISTERINGLY hot in the HDD rack hot enough for the drive to fail. I now have a Samsung and it runs cooler, has a faster spindle speed, and seems to be an all around BETTER drive.

Back to the heat thing, my other Laptop, an Inspiron 5000e has a 15GB Deathstar in it and it's been going on 3 years in the notebook now (upgraded from the original 6GB) and that HDD NEVER gets hot all because Dell didn't put a tray on the thing that acts like an oven. It's taken 10x the abuse of my 8200.
 
Damn klowngoblin, 8 drives in 2 years!? I'd be pretty ticked off at toshiba after that kind of torture :p

Anyway, I'm not an expert regarding notebook design, but I certainly agree that they all SHOULD be made to withstand anything short of being thrown against a brick wall on multiple occasions. That's the whole idea of having a notebook - you're supposed to able to carry it around from your office to lunch to a presentation all while modifying slides, playing mp3's in the background and editing an excel file. I leave mine running the entire day and carry it around if I need to - only suspend it if i'm gonna be away for more than an hour or so.

I do notice that the underside of my Dell gets hot as hell after a couple hours of use. Maybe that's partly due to the hard drive. So maybe my poor luck in laptop hard drives has been due at least somewhat to the heat factor. I'll pay attention to how hot it gets after I swap with the new Seagate I'm getting.
 
I'm thinking of taking my HDD out of my Inspiron and modding the rack it's mounted in...and by that I mean cut out the bottom so the circuit board will cool better.
 
I agree with CyberCRAP.

Mr_Evil said:
Hate to burst your bubble there, but Notebook Hard Drives are designed to withstand a reasonable level of operating shock which would include moving the notebook and also carrying it short distances
Click to expand...
The HDDs may be designed to handle that, but the problem is that most of the Laptop makers do not design their enclosures good enough to protect the HDD.

Mr_Evil said:
manufacturers know what notebooks are used for and all the components are designed accordingly.
Click to expand...
Exactly, they know what notebooks are used for: Carry it to your desk - open - turn on - work on it - turn off - close it - carry it home - open - turn on - work on it - turn off... that is not abuse, that is what they were built for. I see people abusing their notebooks everywhere and all the time. Dumb whores all across campus carrying their brand new $2500 pimp laptops from the screen, guys slapping their laptops shut, executives at work grabbing their open laptops from a corner and placing it harshly further down their desks in an attempt to make space... I could go on forever.

Mr_Evil said:
The biggest problem with the old IBM Travelstars is their tolerance to heat.
Click to expand...
I do agree with that. I think that heat is the #1 threat for all HDDs, up there with shock damage.

whisper said:
I certainly agree that they all SHOULD be made to withstand anything short of being thrown against a brick wall on multiple occasions.
Click to expand...
Well then my friend, get yourself a ToughBook otherwise I see you investing in many more HHDs, and perhaps LCDs as well. Look at the title of your own thread man, doesn't that tell you that perhaps you should handle your baby a bit more carefully?

whisper said:
That's the whole idea of having a notebook - you're supposed to able to carry it around from your office to lunch to a presentation all while modifying slides, playing mp3's in the background and editing an excel file.
Click to expand...
That's what hibernation is for. Unless you meant to do all that while walking. If you can prove me you can edit slides while actually going to lunch I am just gonna shut up. That is, unless you have a choffeur and do it from the comfort of a backseat. My point is, nobody needs to edit slides while carrying their laptops unless you are walking with one of those trays used by snack-sellers at stadiums hanging from your neck. Pressing the power-button to Hibernate the machine and stop the HDDs is a step that doesn't take any effort, and well worth for those that care for their lappies.

...so again, for those of you that complain about breaking stuff but still don't take any precautions to keep their notebooks in good shape, get a ToughBook or any other rugged laptop because those were the ones made for you, not ultra-thin, 3lbs VAIOs. Still want the ultra-thin sharp looking lappies regardless of your mishandling habits? No problem here, that's how techs like me get so much work anyways... ;)

Well... that's all I have for now.

:)

Walter
 
Treppiede said:
The HDDs may be designed to handle that, but the problem is that most of the Laptop makers do not design their enclosures good enough to protect the HDD.
Click to expand...

That's not an issue with the harddrives though. That's an issue with stupid laptop manufacturers. Get a better laptop.

The main issue here is the fact that the 8200s were fucking ovens that were known for baking harddrives. Dell's never been all that great about heat management, to be perfectly honest. I'm sure there will be fewer arguments on that than the proper ways of transporting a laptop.

As far as the best harddrive for him, I'd say ask around, find out what the coolest running and/or most (high) temperature tollerant drive is out there, as that's the one you'll need for the 8200. There's only so much proper laptop care can do when you have a system with a shitty design. (Sorry, I'm biased against dells after seeing the poor quality of their hinges, and Toshiba for the poor quality of their, well, everything. Fucking Satellite fell apart too many times despite my babying it)


(incidental info)
Personally, I put my system in standby if I'm going to be taking a short trip, I leave it on when moving room to room, turn it off for long trips. I've disabled Hibernate. It doesn't gain me anything, really...it just takes up 1gb of space that I'd rather use for other things.

And, though I'm not proud to say it, I've had bare, exposed, laptop drives fall from a desk height to the floor (carpeted), as well as laptop drives in enclosures. They're very resiliant, much moreso than desktop drives. the 80gb was powered off, the 10gb was turned on. No issues with either.


IBMs R50+, T41+, and X40+ all have the ability to park harddrives should it detect sudden accerleration (fall, or drop). (See Active Protection System)

Depending on the sensitivity set, this can park drives with as little shock as a step or even adjusting your seating position when it is on a lap.
 
NecessaryEvil said:
That's not an issue with the harddrives though. That's an issue with stupid laptop manufacturers.
Click to expand...
Never said it was an issue with HDDs. Nice article you linked btw, very interesting.

Walter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top