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    Dell Inspiron 6400/e1505 Hard drive upgrade

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by cshieldsx, Mar 11, 2009.

  1. cshieldsx

    cshieldsx Newbie

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    Hello all,

    I want to upgrade my laptops hard drive. It currently has a Hitachi Travelstar 7200RPM 80GB Hard drive. I want to upgrade to at least 300gb capacity, preferably not losing out on speed either. Another issue is heat, currently my laptop gets MEGA hot and sometimes even freezes up/slows down (Im pretty sure its because of heat) and I wouldnt want to get a hard drive that runs hotter than the current one.

    I dont know whether I need SATA or SATA300, 8MB or 16MB, 2.5" SFF or 2.5"x1/8H. Also, if I got a 5400RPM replacement (effectively downgrading the speed) would I really notice that much difference ?? I 80% web browse, but the other 20% I video and photo edit and game, and I wouldnt really want to sacrifice performance if it made a big difference.

    Any recommendations ?
     
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    You can use any 2.5", 9.5mm SATA1 or SATA2 hard drive. I don't have any recommendations, but there are plenty of threads with recommendations in the Hardware sub-forum if you do a search. Almost all modern drives will have faster throughput than your 80GB, 7200RPM Travelstar, but you will lose out in seek times when going to a 5400RPM drive. You should not notice any difference considering your usage patterns, though.
     
  3. cshieldsx

    cshieldsx Newbie

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    Thanks Commander Wolf. Will SATA 1 or SATA 2 make a difference ? Also, should I be thinking about temperature or should I just not worry about it ? I'm worried Ill buy a drive that runs hotter than my current one and my Inspiron won't be able to shift the extra heat...
     
  4. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    Your inspiron 6400/E1505 is more powerful than you think.
    You can control all of your temperatures at the touch of a button.
    Download I8KFANGUI. It is a fan control software designed for Inspiron laptops. The e1505 is among one of the last laptops which can use fan control software.
    I always have my fans running at full speed, but you can make custom fan control for your system dependant upon what temperatures you want.
    With my fans at full, my cpu temperatures peak at 134F after days of running at 100% cpu load, and the graphics maxxes at 127F.

    I am currently running a T7400 and a Hitachi 7K320 and my temperatures are as cool as they were with a T5300 and a seagate momentus 5400.3.

    Honestly the 7K320 I have in my E1505 is extremely quiet and very fast. My temperatures are usually around 110-116F when listening to music and doing normal work. When I do antivirus scans, the temperatures of the harddrive gets up to around 123F max. Please note I am using the Hitachi 7K320 160gb model, which only has one platter.

    I recommend getting either the 7K320 or the WD3200BEKT for your Inspiron 6400/E1505.
    The harddrive upgrade is simple. Remove two screws and the harddrive caddy slides out from the side of your laptop. Than remove two more screws and than mount the new harddrive.

    Your system will read all SATA 150 and SATA 300 harddrives which are 2.5" and 9.5mm thick

    K-TRON