Dell E1505 Hard Drive Questions

Hey yall, I have a Dell E1505 with a Intel T2400 1.83GHz Dual Core and 1 GB of RAM. The computer is about 15 months old or so and my 60GB Hitachi 5400rpm hard drive is full. Well, for some reason it only shows 51GB avaible and with music and movies and games and stuff, this college student is bite pinching on the hard drive so I am looking to replace it and I was wondering what drives do yall recommend?

I am looking at the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 160GB SATA Hard Drive. Pros / Cons? I can't find much on that one but I have heard good things about the Seagate Momentus 7200.1 100GB. Thoughts? I have been happy with Hitachi so I have looked into their Travelstars but I like Seagate's Warrenty better.

So, hard drives on the E1505 slide in and out the side of the computer (very easy replacement ) but the hard drive has plastic molding on one end to blend it into the side of the laptop. How will I get any new hard drive I bought to 'fit' into the E1505?

Thanks everyone!
Brian
Texas Aggie

 

Here is a link to the Seagate HDD info. The Hitachi has 16MB cache Seagate 8MB cache. Latency and seek almost identical.

I don't have E1505 so I don't know, but do you see anyway the plastic trim would disconnect from HDD enclosure. FORGET THAT.

From this picture it looks like the actual HDD is inside of an enclosure that includes the piece of trimm so just (unscrew?) remove put the new one in? Double check but I think that's it.

Edit:You can buy a external enclosure and store some of that music on the old drive.

 

Yeah, it is not in an encloser, the plastic trim is attached to the hard drive and comes out with it. I have had my hard drive out to test my girl friend's hard drive from her E1505 that is the case. I guess it just pops on or screws into the hard drive itself. I know if I ask Dell they will want me to buy an hard drive from them and sell them with the plastic already on it plus their prices aren't that great on parts.

I do plan to get an encloser and make the old drive an external, that will help transfer the essential data and plus it is still a good drive.

Brian

 

I believe you think it is the hard drive but here are two pictures of notebook HDD.





Look at these pictures, they lack the groove on the side and lack the two screw holes. If I am wrong then you can't just buy a HDD as it will not fit. But don't worry I dont think I am.

If there are any screws on the HDD/enclosure unscrew them to access HDD. The HDD itself does not have screws as no reason to access.

 

OK, it is like the second one I think. How will I know if the hard drive I want will work if I order it online???

 

Ok I want to be clear was it in a enclosure? If it was and is now out, becuase I don't know or have that PC I would suggest you take the HDD to a place like Best Buy. Tell them you want to upgrade HDD what do they have what do you need. I doubt it is a non standard 2.5" but since I don't know I could be wrong. Your interface will be important SATA or PATA I think SATA. Ask if any 2.5" will fit, if yes you have your answer.

Is this what it looks like? If so looks standard to me.

 

I own a Dell E1505, I have a 160GB 5400rpm hard drive. I have removed my hard drive, and it uses a standard 2.5" SATA laptop hard drive.

The plastic shroud/bezel attaches to the hard drive via 2 screws. The plastic shroud is removable, and you can use a standard notebook hard drive.

I would definitely recommend getting a Hitachi 7200rpm hard drive over a 5400rpm one.

If you want the fastest and most capacity, I would get a Hitachi 7K200 200GB hard drive for it. I have 2 of these drives in my Voodoo lappy, and I am very pleased with their performance in Raid 0.

You have limited drive space on your Dell becuase Dell, makes a partition on you drive, so that your Operating System and programs can be easily booted off of, in case your other partition with your main OS fails to load.

K-TRON

 

Cool, thanks for the information. Here are a few pictures of my current drive. Top, bottom, how it goes into the laptop . . .

So you recommend Hatachi? A friend here on campus does too. The Seagate one I am looking at is a 7200 though but he was saying that Hatachi is better quality than Seagate.

 

Most laptop HDD that slide out (as opposed to being hiden under a panel) use some sort of small enclosure to make the HDD fit with the laptop's side. These enclosures are often held in place with 2 screws. Standard 2.5 HDD all have the same screw holes in the same place so any will fit. I changed the HDD on my Dell 6400 (1505) and you just unscrew the small pastic flap and place it on your new HDD. The 1505's HDD "enclosure" is very small and only covers one side. My old Asus A2500H's enclosure was a complete case held in place with 4 screws but no matter what 2.5HDD you buy, it WILL fit.

 

Hitachi definitely makes better hard drives. They tend to have higher sustained transfer rates, and quieter operation. From my experience, Hitachi hard drives can taking one hell of a beating and still work 5 yrs down the road. I believe they make a better product, the only con I have against the company is that they dont carry a 5yr warranty.

Beware, Seagate's "use less power." The amperage drawn which is stated on the tops of their drives is normal power usage.
Hitachi on the other hand has larger amperage consumption becuase they label their drives with their maximum power consumption.

Hitachi is just the better choice, they are better than Seagate in every sector but warranty.

K-TRON

 

Alright, thanks so much guys for the help. I am still trying to decide on the actual drive to get but a little more research is all I need. I just want something 120GB or above (160GB would be nice) and if possible 7200 rpm (although I have no complants with the 5400 rpm one).

Thanks again,
Brian