Upgrading my Laptop. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Smackre · 01-27-2009, 11:31 AM

I would like to upgrade my old Inspiron 9300.

Was thinking of new HD

I am having trouble finding a good HD. The one that came out of it is a 5400rpm. Its a 40gb. Well id like to get something alittle faster and alittle bigger. But the problem is I went on newegg and on ata-6 drives there is nothing faster than what I got. Is there anything out there that would be faster?

Mirth · 01-27-2009, 03:32 PM

You can put a 7200rpm 2.5 drive in there. And since that's an older model, the BIOS probably limits the capacity of the hard drive, so if you put a 250gb hard drive in it, it'll only read maybe like, 120gb of it.

I doubt you'll be able to find a 7200rpm hard drive on any major sites, since that form factor of hard drive went the way of the dodo and all of em use SATA's now, so your best bet might be something like eBay, if you really needed a faster drive. Take note that your battery life will be less too with a faster hard drive.

I'd just get another 5400rpm drive, just a bigger capacity, if I were you and didn't want to get a new laptop.

biznatch · 01-28-2009, 03:21 PM

How old is the 9300? Maybe he could find a way to update the BIOS to allow for larger HDs?

Smackre · 01-28-2009, 05:27 PM

I would only buy 120gb anyways...so the size doesnt matter. It was the faster drive I was looking for. I would think a 5400rpm hard drive would be a real bottle neck for performance. I might just get a 120gb 5400rpm. I cant locate a 7200 rpm ata-6 drive. And a 2gb module for a ram upgrade. And and fresh copy of windows.

01-27-2009, 11:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
Smackre Addict	Upgrading my Laptop. I would like to upgrade my old Inspiron 9300. Was thinking of new HD I am having trouble finding a good HD. The one that came out of it is a 5400rpm. Its a 40gb. Well id like to get something alittle faster and alittle bigger. But the problem is I went on newegg and on ata-6 drives there is nothing faster than what I got. Is there anything out there that would be faster? __________________ Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

01-28-2009, 03:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
biznatch Junkie Location: France	How old is the 9300? Maybe he could find a way to update the BIOS to allow for larger HDs? __________________ Check it out: The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread

01-28-2009, 05:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
Smackre Addict	I would only buy 120gb anyways...so the size doesnt matter. It was the faster drive I was looking for. I would think a 5400rpm hard drive would be a real bottle neck for performance. I might just get a 120gb 5400rpm. I cant locate a 7200 rpm ata-6 drive. And a 2gb module for a ram upgrade. And and fresh copy of windows. __________________ Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

01-27-2009, 03:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mirth Tilted	You can put a 7200rpm 2.5 drive in there. And since that's an older model, the BIOS probably limits the capacity of the hard drive, so if you put a 250gb hard drive in it, it'll only read maybe like, 120gb of it. I doubt you'll be able to find a 7200rpm hard drive on any major sites, since that form factor of hard drive went the way of the dodo and all of em use SATA's now, so your best bet might be something like eBay, if you really needed a faster drive. Take note that your battery life will be less too with a faster hard drive. I'd just get another 5400rpm drive, just a bigger capacity, if I were you and didn't want to get a new laptop.