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    R60 plus hard drive upgrade

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by mick.n, Jan 17, 2010.

  1. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have the samsung R60 plus laptop, really excellent machine but the stock hard drive is a little limiting at only 80GB.

    I have seen this same model advertised as having a higher spec....for instance, bigger hard drive, more memory, etc.

    Question is, does anyone know the max size hard drive that can be fitted into this model?

    Interface is SATA.

    Many thanks.
     
    mick.n, Jan 17, 2010
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  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    You can now get up to 640GB in 2.5" 9.5mm thick with SATA interface.

    Anything with those basic specs should work. How big do you want to go. 500GB is less expensive per GB than 640GB while one of the HDDs that put 250GB on one platter will have the same performance as a 500GB HDD.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 17, 2010
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  3. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thank you for the reply, John.

    I was thinking maybe 160 gb, which should be sufficient for my needs.

    But having said that, if there was only a marginal price difference between a 160 gb & a 250 gb then i would go for 250 gb.

    The stock drive is (i think) 5400 rpm, do 2.5" drives come in 7200 rpm spindle speed?

    The performance of this laptop (albeit a modest spec by more recent standards) blows my ageing desktop out of the water & i am thinking about using it as my main pc......hence the bigger drive query.

    When time & funds permit i intend to upgrade my desktop to a quad core cpu\motherboard system.......it is a self build project from 2003 using an athlon XP 2600 cpu. It crawls along compared to the R60 plus!!

    Many thanks again, John.
     
    mick.n, Jan 18, 2010
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  4. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Most 250GB hdds on the market now should be single platter drives (1 disk), with the 500GB versions being 2 platter. Meaning those 250GBs should be just as fast because the platters have the same data density. I'd got for a 250GB 5400rpm. You will notice a good speed up just by going with a higher data density drive. Yes there are 7200rpm notebook hdds but of course there is a added premium.
     
    Johnny T, Jan 18, 2010
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  5. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    7200rpm HDDs do offer the best potential performance but there's usually an extra penalty in terms of cost, heat and noise.

    There's a lot of useful data in the Tom's Hardware 2.5" HDD charts.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 18, 2010
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  6. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks again John & JohnnyT.

    Just one more question........is a single platter drive more desirable in terms of access speed?

    Thanks again.
     
    mick.n, Jan 18, 2010
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  7. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Not really, if it was 250GB 1 platter vs 250GB 2 platter then yes, it does matter. but if it is between 250GB 1 plater vs 500GB 2 platter (250GB x2) they should be no different.
     
    Johnny T, Jan 18, 2010
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  8. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    mick.n, Jan 19, 2010
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  9. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    The 7200.2 is a 2 year old model. The more recent 7200.4 is here.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 19, 2010
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  10. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thank you John.

    I think that is the one i will go for.
     
    mick.n, Jan 19, 2010
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  11. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, i found a site that specializes in laptop upgrades. I clicked on the "samsung R60 plus" tab that gave a list of compatible drives & only drives with a speed of 5400rpm came up.

    http://www.drivemylaptop.co.uk/laptopInformation.aspx?l=5504

    I emailed the company to enquire about fitting a 7200 rpm drive and they replied this morning.

    They stated that "We do not recommend 7200RPM drives due to possible overheating, unless your
    existing drive is 7200RPM already"

    Not sure now, would the extra heat generated in fitting a 7200 rpm drive be an issue?

    Thank you.
     
    mick.n, Jan 20, 2010
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  12. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Overall, 7200rpm HDDs do use a bit more power and therefore create more heat.

    However, the 7200.4 is not too bad in this respect and uses less power than some 5400rpm HDDs. See Tom's Hardware here (worst case) and here (more typical usage). Some older HDDs are here where the 7200rpm HDDs tended to use more power.

    If, like me, you like a nice cool palm rest, then you should opt for one of the HDDs with the lower power consumptions.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 20, 2010
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  13. mick.n

    mick.n Notebook Enthusiast

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    I bought the seagate drive
    HTML: 
    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161678.
    Installed it in less that 5 minutes & all working very well.

    Does not seem to run any hotter than the original 5400rpm drive, but the thing has speeded up file access, etc an awfull lot! Very impressed.

    Also (FWIW) the hard disk score in windows 7 has gone from 4.9 to 5.9.

    Going to order a drive case for my old drive now, will come in handy as a portable external usb drive.

    Many thanks to all for the assistance with this. :)
     
    mick.n, Feb 4, 2010
    #13