My experience replacing HD on a notebook

I have a Fujitsu N6010 and it was equiped with a Fujitsu HD 4200rpm 60 gig capacity.
I figured I need something faster due to the fact that the notebook is getting older and my programs and data outgrew the 60 gig limit.

So after reading this forum thoroughly, over and over, I decided to buy Seagate 7200 rpm 100 gig (ST910021A) comes with 5 years waranty.
The reason for purchasing this particular brand is because Hitachi 7K100 is more expensive and it is the only 7200 rpm hard drive available for 2 day pickup in Vancouver. Other stores wanted me to wait for 2-6 weeks.
BTW, I bought it at NCIX.

I picked up the HD at the store, 2 days wait as promised, and the HD comes in a static bag... OEM style. Even the jumper is not included. I also bought an external drive enclosure so that I can clone my drives with Acronis True Image.

I have the cloning software, new HD and external enclosure. Cloning should be a breeze. Or is it?
The process should be very easy if you have the right enclosure. I bought the cheapest enclosure offered by NCIX. It's a piece of &@$%. It works well if you plug it when the computer is running. If you leave it plugged and reboot, then the external drive is no longer detected by windows. If you open computer management, Windows will ask to initialize the drive and then fail to do so. It keeps happening even though the drive is already initialized and even formatted. All I have to do is unplug then replug the external drive and everything is OK.

Now, Acronis can only do its magic by rebooting the computer. Thus, the issue of not being detected comes to wreck havoc.
I finally found an unconventional method to make it work by using the recovery CD and while Acronis is searching for drive... external drive is spining, I unplugged the USB then quickly plugged it again.
Works like a charm!

Important note for those thinking of buying external enclosure: buy the one with USB powered (for convenience), but also comes with adapter. I should've spend an extra $4 and I might not have to endure to problem.

The HD works great. Less noice than the old fujitsu drive and significantly faster. I couldn't be anymore happier with the upgrade.

Thanks for reading.

 

My 2 cents.

I did the same thing though i do not remember the exact specs on my new HD. I had a Sony Vaio laptop PCG-GRV550 with a P4-2.4Gig. A great machine with only 30gig hd.

I upgraded this to a 80Gig drive a couple of months back. I started noticing that the computer was running hotter. And then one day, it just died. The mobo was fried.

Now, I am not sure if the new HD had any thing to do with this phenomena...but as a caution...if it runs hotter...switch back to the old HD. and of course backup regularly.

 

phidik, is your laptop getting hotter? Do you notice any heat difference?

 

In fact the new HD runs cooler than the old HD. Usually after working 3-4 hours on the notebook, my right wrist felt warmer than my left wrist (that's where the HD is located), now not anymore.
And it is quieter too.
Performance wise, it's faster.
I play Need for Speed Most Wanted and Half Life 2, transition between scenes is no longer noticable.

 

awsome, my HD is an 80GB Fujitsu 4200 rpm and I'm thinking of upgrading in the near future to a Segate aswell. Im upgrading mainly because I want a faster drive but the Fujitsu seems to run really hot most of the time. Can you post a link to the HD you bought? Thanks.

 

this is the one that I bought:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16522&vpn=ST910021A&manufacture=Seagate

 

they have a 5400 RPM one on newegg for 120..thats what i'm getting.

 

Good for you, Ella.
Upgrade always good.
I choose 7200rpm 100 GB because I decided this is my last HD upgrade. No more after this. Thus, I choose the fastest and largest and within my budget.