1. scale
Before buying, be sure to determine the original hard disk specifications of the notebook computer and sit in the right position. The dimensions of the notebook computer hard disk mainly include diameter and thickness, such as "2.5 inches, 9.5 mm", which means that the disk of the notebook computer hard disk is 2.5 inches in diameter and 9.5 mm in thickness. At present, the mainstream notebook hard disk is mainly 2.5 inches, and the thickness is below 9.5 mm. Only early notebooks have a thickness greater than 9.5 mm.. Pay attention to whether its thickness matches the requirements of notebook computer when purchasing. Too thick may not be installed, too thin may not be installed firmly. In addition to the common 2.5-inch specifications, there are 1.8-inch notebook computer hard disks, which are produced by Toshiba and Hitachi. Toshiba also produced a 1.8 inch PC card hard disk, which is very convenient for upgrading old notebook computers. However, at present, 1.8 inch hard disk products are rare in the retail market, and are only used in some ultra-thin notebook computers and hard disk MP3 players. This kind of 1.8 inch hard disk can only be used on a notebook computer with a 2.5 inch hard disk through an adapter. The following figure is a comparison of three different sizes of hard disks.
Step 2 connect
Today, the desktop hard disk interface gradually turns to serial SATA, and the mainstream of notebook computer hard disk interface is still parallel IDE interface, with the specification of ATA 100. Pay special attention to the interface of this hard disk when purchasing, especially for users who use non-mainstream hard disks (such as 1.8 inch hard disks). At present, both Hitachi and Toshiba have introduced 1.8 inch hard disk products, and there are some differences between them in structure. The difference in interface is that the interface of Hitachi's notebook hard disk is located on the longer side to maintain compatibility with the 2.5-inch hard disk interface, so a patch cord can be used (from the 2.5-inch hard disk interface to the 3.5-inch desktop hard disk interface), while Toshiba's notebook hard disk needs to use a dedicated patch cord. The mainstream 2.5-inch hard disk interfaces are unified, and the pins are the same. Don't worry about not using them (but pay attention to the thickness). In addition, the standards of IDE interface come from backward compatibility, such as backward compatibility ATA 100, ATA66 and ATA33. In other words, even if your laptop only supports ATA33, you can buy a laptop hard disk with ATA 100 specification.
3. Capacity
If you want to choose a "suitable" notebook hard disk, finally, you should pay attention to the limitation of the notebook on the hard disk capacity. Some older laptop models may not be able to support the new large-capacity hard disk. Of course, if you buy this hard disk for DIY mobile hard disk, there is no such restriction. At the same time, due to the size limitation, the manufacturing difficulty increases. At present, the mainstream capacity of notebook computer hard disks is still 40GB and 60GB. 100GB came out, but the price is still quite expensive, which is not the target of ordinary consumers. As far as cost performance is concerned, at present, 40GB products are the most cost-effective, and products below 20GB are not much cheaper. It is possible to buy second-hand or repaired products. Unless the budget is very tight or there is a problem with notebook support, it is not recommended to buy a notebook hard disk below 20GB. If your laptop motherboard doesn't support large-capacity hard disks, you can try upgrading the machine first. Many old models can get support for large-capacity hard disks by refreshing BIOS.
How to choose a "good" notebook hard disk
1. speed
2004 is a year of notebook computer hard disk reform, which is highlighted in the improvement of hard disk speed. At present, the speed of mainstream notebook hard disk is changing from 4200 rpm to 5400 rpm. In terms of power consumption that many people care about, because the 5400rpm notebook computer hard disk adopts optimized power management technology, the power consumption is similar to that of the 4200rpm hard disk, so there is no need to worry about the impact of too fast speed on battery life.
The performance improvement brought by high speed is obvious. According to the author's test, on the same notebook computer, compared with the hard disk with 5400rpm, it is 47% faster to open an Excel file with 12MB, 30% faster to copy a file with 170MB, and 47% faster to close the Windows XP operating system. Higher-end 7200rpm notebook hard drives have been listed, such as Hitachi's first 7200rpm notebook hard drive with a capacity of 60GB. This notebook hard disk equipped with TRAVELSTAR 7K60 adopts a variety of new technologies, which makes its rotation speed reach 7200rpm, but its calorific value is lower than that of the previous generation. Toshiba also released the MK5024GAY laptop hard disk supporting 7200rpm. In addition to the speed of 7200rpm, it also has a built-in cache of 16MB. The thickness of the hard disk is only 9.5mm, and its performance even exceeds that of an ordinary desktop hard disk with 5400 rpm.
Of course, if your laptop motherboard chipset is Intel BX or even older, it is recommended to choose a notebook hard disk with 4200rpm, because this chipset only supports ATA33, even if the hard disk has a high speed, it will not be fully utilized because of the bottleneck of ATA interface, while the chipset after Intel 830 series fully supports ATA 100, and the product with 5400rpm is preferred for upgrading. Of course, if you buy a notebook hard disk DIY mobile hard disk, you should choose at least 5400 rpm.
2. Cache size and storage capacity of each disk
Compared with increasing the speed of hard disk, using large-capacity cache can improve the performance of notebook, but it is often more effective. Because if there is no excellent power management scheme and energy-saving technology, high speed will definitely increase power consumption and eventually lead to shortened battery life. According to the development law of this kind of hard disk, the increase of cache is synchronous with the increase of rotation speed. For example, in the early days, the cache of low-speed hard disks was only 128KB or even smaller, but now it is the most basic to configure 2MB cache for mainstream notebook hard disks. High-end products generally use 8MB cache, and some products have a cache capacity of 16mb. For most users at present, it is enough to choose a notebook hard disk with 2MB cache and 5400rpm. Conditional users may wish to consider a product with 8MB cache and 5400rpm, and its performance is about 15% higher than the former!
In addition, many users often ignore the parameter "storage capacity per disk" when choosing a hard disk, thinking that it is not directly related to the performance of the hard disk, but it is not. Higher storage capacity per hard disk can bring two major benefits to users: First, hard disks can have larger storage capacity. At present, a 2.5-inch hard disk can only hold four discs at most. If you want to increase the storage capacity of hard disk, the only way is to increase the storage capacity of each disk. After improving the storage capacity of each disk, the same number of disks can produce larger notebook hard disks, which can further control the cost of hard disks. Second, it can effectively improve the internal transmission rate of the hard disk. After the storage capacity per unit 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. At present, the storage capacity of 2.5-inch notebook hard disk is 40GB.
3. Brand and model
I believe this is the issue that everyone is most concerned about. The brand of notebook computer hard disk is slightly different from that of desktop hard disk, mainly because there are far fewer brands to choose from. As far as the products on the market are concerned, Hitachi's notebook hard disk is still the main product (Hitachi acquired IBM's hard disk department). Other notebook hard disk brands, such as Toshiba, Fujitsu and Seagate, which returned to the 2.5-inch hard disk market this year, rarely appear in the domestic market. The author walked around the computer store in Guangzhou, and all the counters were filled with Hitachi's notebook hard disks. Occasionally, several stores have Seagate notebook hard drives, but I don't see Fujitsu and Toshiba's. In fact, each brand has its own unique technology, which has its own advantages in performance, safety and stability, power consumption and calorific value, so it is difficult to define the advantages and disadvantages of a brand product.
As for the specific product models, the mainstream models of Hitachi notebook computer hard disk in the market at present are IC 25n0x0atmr04 (4200 rpm/80GB/80GB) and HTS5480X0M9AT00(5400rpm/80GB), where x (2,3,4,6,8) represents the design capacity of 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, and 8.
Seagate Momentus notebook hard disk has 8MB and 2MB cache specifications and 4 different numbers, among which ST928 1 1A and ST948 1 1A are 20GB/8MB and 40GB/8MB respectively, while ST 9201/kloc. What needs to be added is that Seagate Momentus' hard drives are all products with 5400rpm.
The serial number of Fujitsu notebook hard disk is relatively simple. Take the notebook hard disk MHT2030AT as an example. Which generATion of products does MHT refer to? 30 refers to the capacity of this hard disk is 30GB, at refers to the rotation speed of 4200rpm, and AH refers to the rotation speed of 5400rpm.
Toshiba's laptop hard disk number is more complicated. Its laptop hard disk models mainly end with GAS, GAX and GAY, where GAS stands for 4200rpm, GAX stands for 5,400 rpm and GAY stands for 7200rpm. Typical products include 4200rpm, 8MB cache, 80GB MK8025GAS, 5400rpm, 16MB cache, 60GB MK6022GAX and 7200rpm, 16MB cache and 50GB MK5024GAY. Attached table is official website of notebook hard disk manufacturers. You can log in to inquire about the specific product model, various performance parameters and warranty provisions. Some websites also provide logos of licensed and parallel imports.
4. Identify parallel imports and licensed goods
The difference between parallel notebook hard disk and licensed notebook hard disk is mainly reflected in two aspects: quality and service. The price of parallel hard disks in the market is much cheaper than that of licensed ones, but the source is more complicated, and the probability of "waste" (quality problems) in the transportation process is much higher than that of licensed ones. On the other hand, when consumers buy these parallel hard disks, after-sales service is often not guaranteed. Even if the dealer promises a one-year warranty, the hard disk may not be honored if there is a problem, because parallel imports can certainly not be returned to the manufacturer for repair, and some "conscience" JS will give you a new one, of course, it is also parallel imports. Therefore, I suggest that when you buy notebook hard disks, don't be greedy for cheap, don't buy parallel imports with no guaranteed quality, and at the same time avoid buying parallel notebook hard disks with licensed money.
So how to distinguish between parallel notebook hard disk and licensed notebook hard disk? Generally, there is no formal packaging box for parallel laptop hard disks, and they are usually only packaged in silver translucent anti-static bags. The model label of this laptop hard disk is attached to the bag, and the hard disk has no protection measures. Even if there is a box, there is no warranty label on it.
Licensed goods are much more formal. For example, Seagate Momentus's authorized laptop hard disk is guaranteed for three years. At present, Hitachi notebook hard disks have the most parallel imports on the market, so you can go.
In addition, there is a scattered notebook hard disk on the market, which is called disassembly. It is scattered in parallel imports, but it is very different from the original one in parallel imports. Both the original packaging tray and the original packaging box (bag) of parallel imports have serial numbers. The serial numbers on the tray and the original packaging box (bag) should be consistent. If it is different, it is definitely not the original packaging. The anti-static bag packaging of parallel hard disks is packaged by JS itself, just like the counterfeit boxed CPU on the market. Generally speaking, the quality of disassembly tray is definitely not as good as the original packaging tray of parallel imports.
Second-hand notebook hard disk is favored by consumers because its price is lower than that of new notebook hard disk. However, the author believes that although the price of second-hand notebook hard disk is low, the cost performance is not high, and there are certain risks in purchasing it. After all, the second-hand notebook hard disk is second-hand, which may be shortened due to some unreasonable operation of the last user or the defects of the hard disk itself, and even cannot be used after purchase. So if you want to buy a second-hand notebook hard disk, you must check it more when you buy it.
The first thing is to look at the appearance of the hard disk and observe whether there are serious scratches, rust and corrosion on the top cover, edge and bottom circuit board. If so, you'd better not buy it. Some friends judge the factory date of the hard disk by observing the color of the shell and the label on the product. This method is not reliable, because JS will "clean" the returned goods as long as it "works hard", many labels are re-affixed, and even the brands have changed.
Secondly, power on the site and check it carefully. When purchasing, you can bring a CD or floppy disk with a disk detection tool (such as SCANDISK, DM, etc.). ) and scan the disk on site to see if there are bad tracks. If the capacity of the second-hand notebook hard disk you choose is greater than 10GB, you should be prepared psychologically, because the disk scanning process may take half a day. But this step must not be omitted, because second-hand goods cannot be guaranteed, so be careful! The following is a simple interface converter.
This hard disk product is recommended
In view of the fact that the current hard disk speed of mainstream notebook computers is 5400rpm, the notebook hard disk with 4200rpm is no longer recommended below.
1. Seagate Momentus ST940 1 1A
Market reference price: 730 yuan
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
* Disk capacity: 40GB (each disk stores 40GB)
* interface: ATA 100
* Spindle speed: 5400rpm
* average seek time: 10 ms (read/write)
* Cache capacity: 2MB
Recommended reason: Seagate's Momentus series notebook hard disk rotates at 5400rpm, while the power consumption is the same as that of 4200rpm notebook hard disk. Moreover, many new technologies are adopted, mainly including Seagate patented liquid bearing motor and QuietStep ramp loading technology, which makes Momentus hard disk one of the quietest and most earthquake-resistant laptop hard disks. Among them, QuietStep ramp load technology can make the hard disk head safely separate from the disk in standby state, and reduce the noise when the head moves up and down.
2. Hitachi mobile star 5K80-40M9AT00
Market reference price: 7 10 yuan.
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
* Disk capacity: 40GB (each disk stores 40GB)
* interface: ATA 100
* Spindle speed: 5400rpm
* average seek time:12ms (read/write)
* Cache capacity: 2MB
3. Hitachi mobile star 5K80-60M9AT00
Market reference price: 1040 yuan
Performance parameters:
*FDB liquid bearing motor
* Disk capacity: 60GB (40GB storage space per disk)
* interface: ATA 100
* Spindle speed: 5400rpm
* average seek time:12ms (read/write)
* Cache capacity: 2MB
Highlight: TravelStar 5K80 produced by Hitachi has obvious features of IBM hard disk. As the mainstream series of 2.5-inch hard drives, TravelStar 5K80 is the second generation of 5400rpm hard drives in this series. Travelastar 5K80 adopts many IBM technologies, such as AFC (anti-ferromagnetic coupling) technology, and also adopts liquid bearing motor to reduce noise and improve performance. The application of GMR (giant magnetoresistance), PRML (partial response complete matching), ABLE (battery life extension technology) and other technologies has further improved product performance and reduced power consumption.