Dell D430 5400rpm disk option

When you configure a Dell Latitude D430 notebook, it now has the option for a 120GB 5400rpm hard disk. I'm interested to know how this is suddenly possible. Does the hard disk compartment in the D430 actually support a 2.5" drive or has a 1.8" 5400rpm drive been secretly put into production?

 

Most likely a 1.8. My wife has the D430, and I can't see anywhere a 2.5 would fit, short of re-engineering the laptop itself.

Regards,
Paolo

 

Its a 1.8" drive. Not many manuf. do this small drive yet.

I think the drive is right below the battery.

The 4200 rpm runs fine on mine. I defrag it about once every 1-2 weeks.

 

If it only accepts a 1.8" drive, then there is no way it could be 5400rpm because no such drives exist to my knowledge.

 

So it was a lie that Dell post about the 120 gig HD spinning at 5400 rpm as an option. I have not been seeing this option for a month now.

 

So, has anyone actually gotten a D430 with the 120GB drive option?

The drive seems to be available at Dell:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=341-5732

But I actually wonder if it is currently available for order. I know you can checkout and such, but does it actually exist? The drive's seek times seem to be more consistent with the 4200rpm drives though.

 

I am on a D430 with the 5400 rpm drive - however I just ordered another today from the outlet with the 64GB SSD option.

 

It can still be 1.8" and 5400rpm whether you know about such drives or not.

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...p=72&type=60&subtype=68&model_cd=266&tab=fea#

 

I'm using a 120 5400 too so yes it exits

 

Finally! Thanks for the confirmation.
Now all I need to do is get Dell to possibly sell me one as it doesn't seem to be available at retail (neither does any other brands offer it). I was hoping I could plug this into an HP 2510p (also uses PATA connectors).

 

Ok, this is ridiculous. Dell cannot find/order the part without a service tag, but I don't have a D430 laptop.

UPDATE: Bombshell #2. After getting a service tag off my friend, Dell rep tells me the drive is no longer in production and cannot be sold separately (only the 100GB model is available). I asked why they can sell new laptops with this drive and he said "We only have 100GB. This drive is not in production.". Any further inquiries on my part yield the same monotonous response "We only have 100GB. This drive is not in production. We only have 100GB. This drive is not in production". They sound like robots who cannot provide any other form of answer (I suspect their rule is not to respond with "I don't know", hence their standard line is always to repeat the statement regardless of the actual question by the customer). Do they understand English?

 

Order it online by the part number.

 

Well - I just went to order it on line and it is not there - would you happen to have the part number for the 100GB version?

 

The US site still has the 120GB 5400rpm listed.
As you can see, I'm not in the US and ordering from Dell US is impossible. We also have different part numbers outside the US.
My concern is whether this drive can actually be purchased since no one actually tried ordering from Dell (except new units being shipped out with these). I'm also highly skeptical of anything Dell reps say because they quote "discountinued" when they can't find a part or is too lazy to get off their butts to check. I've had a ridiculous HP rep telling me a current model laptop (which is just not in the warehouse) discontinued because he isn't trained to provide a better answer.

 

I see it's been more than a month since you posted about the 120gb drive, but I just placed an order for it on the US site and it's currently at the "in production" status supposed to ship later this week. Not sure if the folks outside the US have an option to buy it yet.

I was even able to use a 10% off coupon for it.