How to choose the "right" laptop hard drive
1. Size
Before purchasing, you must first determine the original hard drive specifications of the laptop and get it right. The size of a laptop hard drive mainly includes diameter and thickness. For example, "2.5 inches, 9.5mm" means that the diameter of the laptop hard drive is 2.5 inches and the thickness is 9.5mm. At present, mainstream notebook hard drives are mainly 2.5 inches, with thicknesses below 9.5mm. Those with thicknesses greater than 9.5mm can generally only be found on early notebooks. When purchasing, you should pay attention to whether its thickness matches the requirements of the laptop. If it is too thick, it may not be installed, and if it is too thin, it may not be installed firmly. In addition to the common 2.5-inch specifications, there is also a 1.8-inch laptop hard drive, produced by Toshiba and Hitachi. Toshiba has also released a 1.8-inch PC card hard drive, which is very convenient for upgrading old notebooks. However, 1.8-inch hard drive products are currently rare in the retail market and are only used in some ultra-thin notebook computer models and hard drive MP3 players. This 1.8-inch hard drive requires an adapter to be used on laptops using 2.5-inch hard drives. The picture below is a comparison of three different sizes of hard drives.
2. Interface
As desktop hard disk interfaces gradually shift to serial SATA, the mainstream of laptop hard disk interfaces is still the parallel IDE interface, with the specification of ATA100. When purchasing, pay special attention to the interface of the notebook hard drive, especially for users who use non-mainstream hard drives (such as 1.8-inch hard drives). At present, both Hitachi and Toshiba have launched 1.8-inch hard drive products. There are certain differences in structure between the two. The difference reflected in the interface is: the interface of Hitachi's notebook hard drive is located on the longer side to maintain compatibility with the 2.5-inch hard drive interface. , so you can use an adapter cable (2.5-inch hard drive interface to 3.5-inch desktop hard drive interface), while Toshiba's laptop hard drive requires a special adapter cable. The interfaces of mainstream 2.5-inch hard drives are all unified, and the pins are also the same. You don’t have to worry about not being able to use them after buying them (but pay attention to the thickness and size). In addition, the standards of IDE interfaces are backward compatible. For example, ATA100 is backward compatible with ATA66 and ATA33. That is to say, even if your notebook only supports ATA33, you can still buy a laptop hard drive with ATA100 specifications.
3. Capacity
To choose the "right" laptop hard drive, finally pay attention to the laptop's restrictions on hard drive capacity. Some older laptop models may not be able to support new large drives. capacity hard drive. Of course, if you buy a laptop hard drive to DIY a mobile hard drive, there is no such restriction. At the same time, due to the increased manufacturing difficulty caused by size restrictions, the current mainstream capacities of laptop hard drives are still 40GB and 60GB. Although 100GB has been released, they are still quite expensive and are not suitable for ordinary consumers. In terms of cost performance, it is currently most cost-effective to choose 40GB products. Products with less than 20GB are not much cheaper, and you may buy second-hand or refurbished products. Unless the budget is very tight or you encounter notebook support problems, it is not recommended. Buy a laptop hard drive under 20GB. If your laptop motherboard does not support larger-capacity hard drives, you can try soft upgrading the machine first. Many older models can gain support for large-capacity hard drives by refreshing the BIOS.
How to choose a "good" laptop hard drive
1. Speed
2004 can be said to be a year of revolution for laptop hard drives, which is highlighted by the increase in hard drive speed. superior. At present, the rotation speed of mainstream laptop hard drives is shifting from 4200rpm to 5400rpm. In terms of power consumption, which many people are concerned about, since the 5400rpm laptop hard drive adopts optimized power management technology, the power consumption is similar to that of the 4200rpm hard drive. There is no need to worry about the too high rotation speed affecting the notebook battery life.
The performance improvement brought by high rotation speed is obvious. According to the author's test, on the same laptop, using a 5400rpm hard drive can open a 12MB Excel file faster than a 4200rpm hard drive. 47%, copying a 170MB file is 30% faster, shutting down the Windows 60GB, this notebook hard drive model TRAVELSTAR 7K60 uses a variety of new technologies to allow its rotation speed to reach 7200rpm, but the heat generation is lower than that of the previous generation. Toshiba has also released the MK5024GAY laptop hard drive that supports 7200rpm. In addition to the speed reaching 7200rpm, it also has a built-in 16MB cache. The thickness of the hard drive is only 9.5mm, and its performance even exceeds that of ordinary 5400rpm desktop hard drives.
Of course, if your laptop motherboard chipset is Intel BX or even older, it is recommended to choose a 4200rpm notebook hard drive, because this type of chipset only supports ATA33, even if the hard drive rotates at a higher speed, it will Due to the bottleneck of the ATA interface, it cannot be fully utilized. Chipsets after the Intel 830 series fully support ATA100, and 5400rpm products are preferred when upgrading. Of course, if you buy a laptop hard drive for DIY mobile hard drive, you must choose at least 5400rpm.
2. Cache size and single disk capacity
Compared with increasing the hard disk speed, using a large-capacity cache does not improve notebook performance as much as the former, but it is often more effective. Because without excellent power management solutions and power-saving technology, high speeds will definitely increase power consumption and ultimately shorten battery life. According to the development pattern of laptop hard drives, the increase in cache and the increase in rotation speed are synchronized. For example, the cache of early low-speed hard disks was only 128KB or even smaller, but now mainstream laptop hard drives have a 2MB cache configuration. Yes, high-end products generally use 8MB cache, and the cache capacity of some products reaches 16MB. For most current users, it is enough to choose a laptop hard drive with 2MB cache and 5400rpm. Users who have the conditions may wish to consider a product with 8MB cache and 5400rpm. It has about 15% improvement in performance compared to the former!
In addition, many users tend to ignore the parameter "single disk capacity" when choosing a hard drive, thinking that it has no direct relationship with the performance of the hard drive, but this is not the case. A higher single-platter capacity of a hard drive can bring two major benefits to users: First, the hard drive can have a larger storage capacity. 2.5-inch hard drives can currently only hold up to four discs. If you want to increase the storage capacity of the hard drive, the only way is to increase the capacity of a single disc. By increasing the capacity of a single disk, a notebook hard drive with a larger capacity can be produced using the same number of disks, which can further control the cost of the hard drive. Second, it can effectively improve the internal transfer rate of the hard disk. After the capacity of a single disk is increased, the data density on the disk is higher, and the amount of data recorded per unit area is also increased. Correspondingly, the magnetic head can access more data information per unit time. Currently, most 2.5-inch laptop hard drives have a single disk capacity of 40GB.
3. Brand and model
I believe this is the issue that everyone is most concerned about. The brands of laptop hard drives are slightly different from those of desktop hard drives, mainly because there are far fewer brands to choose from.
As far as the products currently on the market are concerned, Hitachi laptop hard drives (Hitachi acquired the IBM hard drive division) are still dominated by other laptop hard drive brands, such as Toshiba, Fujitsu and Seagate, which returned to the 2.5-inch hard drive market this year. It rarely appears. I walked around a computer store in Guangzhou, and the counters were filled with laptop hard drives from Hitachi. Occasionally, I came across Seagate hard drives in a few stores, but I didn’t see notebook hard drives from Fujitsu and Toshiba. Of course, we do not rule out the possibility that these two notebook hard drives can be purchased in other cities across the country. In fact, each brand has its own unique technology and has its own advantages in terms of performance, safety and stability, power consumption and heat generation. Therefore, it is difficult to define the advantages and disadvantages of a certain brand's products.
As for the specific product models, the mainstream models of Hitachi notebook hard drives currently on the market are IC25N0X0ATMR04 (4200rpm/80GB) and HTS5480X0M9AT00 (5400rpm/80GB). The X in the number (2, 3, 4, 6, 8) Represents design capacities of 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, 60GB and 80GB.
Seagate Momentus laptop hard drives have two cache specifications of 8MB and 2MB and 4 different numbers. Among them, ST92811A and ST94811A are 20GB/8MB and 40GB/8MB respectively, while ST92011A and ST94011A are 20GB/ 2MB and 40GB/2MB. One thing that needs to be added is that all Seagate Momentus laptop hard drives are 5400rpm products.
The numbering of Fujitsu laptop hard drives is relatively simple. Take the MHT2030AT laptop hard drive as an example. MHT refers to the generation of the product, 30 refers to the capacity of the hard drive is 30GB, AT represents the rotation speed of 4200rpm, and AH represents The rotation speed is 5400rpm.
Toshiba's laptop hard drive numbers are more complicated. The model numbers of its notebook hard drives mainly end with GAS, GAX, and GAY, where GAS represents 4200rpm, GAX represents 5400rpm, and GAY represents 7200rpm. Typical products include the MK8025GAS at 4200rpm, 8MB cache, and 80GB capacity, the MK6022GAX at 5400rpm, 16MB cache, and 60GB cache, and the MK5024GAY at 7200rpm, 16MB cache, and 50GB capacity. The attached table is the official website of each notebook hard drive manufacturer. You can log in to check the specific product models, various performance parameters, warranty regulations, etc. Some websites also provide identification of licensed and parallel imports.
4. Identify parallel imports and licensed ones
The difference between parallel imports and licensed notebook hard drives is mainly reflected in two aspects: quality and service. The price of parallel-imported notebook hard drives on the market is much cheaper than that of licensed products, but their sources are more complex, and the probability of producing "scrap" (with quality problems) during transportation is much higher than that of licensed products. On the other hand, when consumers purchase these parallel imported notebook hard drives, after-sales service is often not guaranteed. Even if the dealer promises a one-year warranty, it may not be able to fulfill it when there is a problem with the hard drive, because parallel-imported products cannot be returned to the manufacturer for repair. A few JS with "conscience" will also replace it with a new one for you. Of course It's also parallel import. Therefore, the author recommends that when buying laptop hard drives, you should not be greedy for cheap, do not buy parallel imports whose quality is not guaranteed, and at the same time, avoid using licensed money to buy parallel import laptop hard drives.
So how to identify parallel imported notebook hard drives and licensed notebook hard drives? Parallel imported laptop hard drives generally do not have a formal packaging box. They are usually only packaged in a silver translucent anti-static bag. The bag has a model label of the laptop hard drive. There is no protective measure for the hard drive. Even if there is a packaging box, it is labeled There is no warranty sticker.
Licensed products are much more formal. For example, Seagate Momentus' licensed notebook hard drives come with a three-year warranty.
Currently, there are the most parallel imports of Hitachi notebook hard drives on the market. You can go to lt;a href="/warranty/jsp/arma71.jsp" target="_blank"gt;/warranty/jsp/arma71.jsplt;/agt; to view the hard drive. serial number, but this method can only be carried out after purchasing the hard disk. If there is a problem, it will be very troublesome to go back and find JS. The best way is to call the toll-free number provided by Hitachi and ask for the S/N number of the hard drive you purchased. The service staff will tell you about the hard drive and tell you whether the hard drive is OEM or parallel import.
In addition, there is also a loose package of notebook hard drives on the market, which is the so-called disassembly disk. It is a loose package of parallel imports, but it is very different from the original package of parallel imports. . There are serial numbers on the original parallel import tray body and the original packaging box (bag). The serial numbers on the tray body and the original packaging box (bag) should be consistent. If they are different, it is definitely not the original packaging. The anti-static bags of parallel imported bulk hard drives are all packaged by JS itself, just like the fake boxed CPUs on the market. Generally speaking, the quality of disassembled disks is definitely not as good as the original parallel-imported disks.
Second-hand laptop hard drives are favored by consumers because their prices are lower than new laptop hard drives. However, the author believes that although the price of second-hand laptop hard drives is low, the price/performance ratio is not high, and there are certain risks in purchasing. After all, second-hand laptop hard drives are used, and their lifespan may be shortened or even unusable after purchase due to some unreasonable operations by the previous user or defects in the hard drive itself. Therefore, if you want to buy a second-hand laptop hard drive, be sure to check more when purchasing.
First of all, look at the appearance of the hard drive. Observe whether there are serious scratches, rust or corrosion on the upper cover, edges and bottom circuit board. If so, it is best not to buy it. Some friends judge the manufacturing date of the hard drive by observing the quality of the casing and the labels on the goods. This method is not reliable, because any JS that is "hard-working" will "clean" the incoming goods, and there are many labels. It was re-posted and even the brand was changed.
Secondly, the power must be on-site for careful inspection. When purchasing, you can bring a CD or floppy disk with a copy of a disk detection tool (such as SCANDISK, DM, etc.) and scan the disk on site to see if there are bad sectors. If the hard drive capacity of the second-hand laptop you choose is greater than 10GB, you must be mentally prepared because the disk scanning process may take most of a day. However, this step must not be omitted. You must know that second-hand goods are not guaranteed, so be cautious! The following is a simple interface converter.
Recommended laptop hard drives
Since the current mainstream laptop hard drives rotate at 5400rpm, 4200rpm laptop hard drives are no longer recommended below.
1. Seagate Momentus ST94011A
Market reference price: 730 yuan
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
*Disk capacity: 40GB (single disk capacity 40GB)
*Interface: ATA100
*Spindle speed: 5400rpm
*Average seek Time: 10ms (read/write)
*Cache capacity: 2MB
Reason for recommendation: Seagate’s Momentus series notebook hard drive rotates at 5400rpm, but the power consumption is the same as that of a 4200rpm laptop hard drive. flat. It also uses many new technologies, including Seagate's patented liquid bearing motor and QuietStep ramp loading technology. The use of these technologies makes the Momentus hard drive one of the quietest and most shock-resistant laptop hard drives. Among them, QuietStep ramp load technology allows the hard disk head to safely detach from the platter during standby and reduces the noise produced when the head moves up and down.
2. Hitachi Travelstar 5K80-40M9AT00
Market reference price: 710 yuan
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
*Disk capacity: 40GB (single disk capacity 40GB)
*Interface: ATA100
*Spindle speed: 5400rpm
*Avg. Seek time: 12ms (read/write)
*Cache capacity: 2MB
3. Hitachi Travelstar 5K80-60M9AT00
Market reference price: 1,040 yuan
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
*Disk capacity: 60GB (single disk capacity 40GB)
*Interface: ATA100
*Spindle speed: 5400rpm
*Average seek time: 12ms (read/write)
*Cache capacity: 2MB
Reason for recommendation: Travelastar 5K80 produced by Hitachi has obvious characteristics of IBM hard drives. As a dominant family among 2.5-inch hard drives, Travelastar 5K80 is already the second generation 5400rpm hard drive in this family. Travelastar 5K80 uses many IBM technologies, such as AFC (anti-ferromagnetic coupling) technology, and also uses a liquid bearing motor to reduce noise and improve performance, GMR (giant magnetoresistance), PRML (partial response full matching), ABLE (Battery life extension technology) and other technologies have also further improved product performance and reduced power consumption.