Laptop Hard Disk Suggestion

[dsio]

I'm looking for a replacement hard disk for my C400 Dell, as the disk in it right now simply isn't meeting my requirements.

Currently I have a 20GB disk, which I believe is an IBM/Hitachi, and it simply isn't large enough for a linux installation along with a heap of ISOs and data / video / images. Furthermore, this hard disk is louder than I would like, clicks badly from time to time, and is as slow as hell.

What I am after is a disk with the following requirements in order of importance:
-80-120GB (prefferably higher, though a great 60GB disk could work if there was a good reason to buy it)
-Reliable. I want the most reliable disk available.
-Quiet. I would rather not hear it.
-Low power. Its a laptop, it doesn't need to be a 7200RPM disk, or even a 5400RPM disk with an insanely low seek time. It is a laptop, and needs to do what it does, quietly, reliably, and without draining a great deal of power.
-Fast. Its the lowest of my priorities, and can be the trade off, but I would like it to be reasonably fast if possible, though really anything would be faster than the old 20GB disk I have now.

I would value anyone's imput, though in particular I would like to hear from Aedan / Kaitain / other heavy laptop users with similar needs to my own.

[Staz]

About 6 months ago I replaced the HDD in my Dell Inspiron 8200 with a Samsumg 80GB 5400RPM 8MB ATA-6 drive. I can't tell you about power consumption because 95% of my computing is on AC power.

It was noticibly faster than the old 30Gb Hitatchi that was in there. It was not any louder than the origonal drive, actually it was slightly quieter. And it runs about the same temp as the old drive. So far so good and it does come with a 3 year warrenty. Sells for about $80 US.

When I went looking I noticed the there is almost no difference in cost between a 5400RPM drive with 2MB of cache and a 5400RPM drive with 8MB of cache. I am not sure what thier power requirements are though. Once you step up to a 7200RPM drive the cost goes way up.

There are some 4200RPM 8MB cache drives out there. They cost the same as the 5400RPM drives (~$1/GB) and come with the same 3 year warrenty. I would imagine that these would be the coolest and quietest and least power hungry of all. But I have no personal experiance with them.

[dsio]

By my reasoning, a disk with low rotational speed and large cache, like the 8MB 4200RPM you mentioned would be ideal.

I too do most of my laptoping on AC power, but I do take it to lectures as well. I've been looking at the Samsungs, as they seam to be very well priced, and the three year warranty looks exceptionally good. Everyone I've heard from with one seams to be impressed, so it definitely sounds that Samsung's old reputation for poor quality does not apply to their hard disks at all.

The other contenders are Seagate, WD, Fujitsu, Hitachi.

[SteveI]

Seagates offer 5y. I think (aside from Samsung), everyone else has a 1y.

I have a Seagate in mine atm, and it is quiet. Due to a notebook replacement.. I got to try a Maxtor, which was louder. Lucky for me, the Seagate had my data, so I swapped it in the replacement notebook, and sent the maxtor back in the notebook I was replacing.

[MONKEYMAN]

My laptop uses an 80GB Fujitsu drive, it is not a very fast drive although it is almost totally silent, however I have put one of the newer Samsung drives into a laptop and it was equally quiet and a good bit faster.

[Daniel ~]

Hey! What is it with HD pricing!? As Staz points out there is alway a ton of better drives at slightly higher prices than drives preforming below and with a fraction of the space.

They almost put up a sigh that reads if your stupid, by this!!

[Got EpOx]

Originally Posted by Daniel

Hey! What is it with HD pricing!? As Staz points out there is alway a ton of better drives at slightly higher prices than drives preforming below and with a fraction of the space.

They almost put up a sigh that reads if your stupid, by this!!

Haha HDD's are awfully cheap these days, can't believe the drives i currently use are still going strong i mean they're well over 6years old now.