Laptop hard drive type?

BogMonster · 07 August 2011, 09:58

I'm going to buy a new laptop shortly but as there is nothing wrong with the old one I want to get a bigger HD to put in it and reinstall everything onto that as it's starting to chug a bit (usual Windows congestion!) and only has a 40GB drive in which is almost full.

It's a Toshiba Equium L10-200 I bought in 2005. Control panel says the HD controller is an "Intel 82801DBM Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CA"

Does it need an ATA drive or a SATA drive or what else would I need to know to get the right one? I think it's probably the older ATA sort but can't find anything definitive online to be 100% sure and I won't be doing the upgrade till I get back home.

jezza2011 · 07 August 2011, 10:22

You should be able to tell from the origional drive. If its a SATA then you will need the same type but bigger. like wise for a ATA.

but from the teck spec looks like a IDE
Dont know if this is the same model as yours

Toshiba Satellite Pro L10 : Read product information and read reviews

Type IDE, Serial ATA / IDE
Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-150

Best bet is to get the drive model number and type. i

Pikey Dave · 07 August 2011, 11:35

Bought in 2005!!, its probably a wet clay & papyrus stylus type, using cuniform code

Get your hand in your pocket you tight sod!

longjohn · 07 August 2011, 11:46

Almost certainly an IDE drive - get the model number from the device manager display and see - also check these specs:

Toshiba PSL17E-006001EN Equium L10-200 - notebooks | Icecat.biz

Just bear in mind the laptop is 6 years old and the cost & hassle of upgrading disk (probably needs more ram as well) etc is a good proportion of a new laptop! They are dirt cheap these days. Good money after bad and all that.......
John

willk · 07 August 2011, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Bought in 2005!!, its probably a wet clay & papyrus stylus type, using cuniform code

Get your hand in your pocket you tight sod!

you're not wrong P-D!

Stephen - say bye-bye to that thing! Or wipe the disk and reinstall, but use a portable drive for those extra files (at least you will be able to access them on any PC). You might be better putting the money into a centralised storage system for the house (networked WiFi HD)

Seriously, as soon as you upgrade the disk (and RAM), the screen will fail, or the battery...

Pikey Dave · 07 August 2011, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

you're not wrong P-D!

Stephen - say bye-bye to that thing! Or wipe the disk and reinstall, but use a portable drive for those extra files (at least you will be able to access them on any PC). You might be better putting the money into a centralised storage system for the house (networked WiFi HD)

Seriously, as soon as you upgrade the disk (and RAM), the screen will fail, or the battery...

Reminds me of Triggers sweeping brush, It's only had 3 new handles & 4 heads, good as the day he bought it

BogMonster · 07 August 2011, 18:37

0/10 for observation for several respondents for failing to read the first line

I am going to get a new laptop shortly (probably a Toshiba R830-143 if I can bloody find one anywhere... rocking horse poo

) but as there is nothing wrong with this one that a reinstall won't cure, it is being retired to being a "spare", hold backup copies of my expanding photo collection and also act as my Evinrude diagnostic computer

I don't have any tools with me on holiday so dismantling the old one for a look isn't an option at the moment, I was basically going to buy the cheapest 2.5" HD that would fit in the computer (about £30 ish) and reinstall XP onto that when I get home. Toshiba laptops generally last for ever anyway so no major concerns on reliability.

Ta - think I will leave it till I get home and pull it apart to check then to be sure. Device Manager says it's a Toshiba MK4025GAS which does look like an IDE drive.

BogMonster · 07 August 2011, 19:16

OK a bit of research and ingenuity discovered where they hid the drive on the laptop and got it out with nothing more than a pointy knife (which may not be quite as pointy as it was but that's another problem)

The drive is a Tosh drive as above and has 2 rows of pins on the connector, a group of 2 pairs, a gap, and a group of 22 pairs, like this (tech drawing coming up)

:: ::::::::::::::::::::::

Is this definitely an old type IDE? If so I think this should fit?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...ov-nbhd16.html

Ta

willk · 07 August 2011, 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

0/10 for observation for several respondents for failing to read the first line

Oh I read it alright. I stand by my post. My own take is that the only upgrade worth while on a laptop is RAM. Seriously, leave the poor auld baste alone and go for the extra shared storage.

SPR · 07 August 2011, 19:35

yes it's and IDE drive...

BogMonster · 07 August 2011, 19:35

I've just bought a 1TB external USB drive for shared storage and dumping movies onto

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPR

yes it's and IDE drive...

Thanks

Ebay may provide something.

jwalker · 07 August 2011, 19:43

Looks right to me, go for it. Worth doing imho. Remember tho, if your computer reinstalls Windows from a hidden backup partition on your present drive you won't have this on your new drive so a separate windows installation disc will be required or some serious jiggery-pokery needed. Before you start, make sure you have all the necessary drivers for your hardware accessible once your new drive and windows are installed .

BogMonster · 07 August 2011, 19:52

No reinstallation stuff at all AFAIK so I will have to blag a Win XP disc and download the drivers off Toshiba's website but they are still available to download so not a problem. I think it was probably invented before they started providing recovery disc images

Pikey Dave · 07 August 2011, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

0/10 for observation for several respondents for failing to read the first line

.

never let facts get in the way of a good p**s taking opportunity

BogMonster · 28 August 2011, 14:07

Well despite the helpful comments

I went ahead with it and got a 160GB drive from Novatech. The only snag is the old BIOS doesn't recognise the full drive capacity so I only get 128GB available but that is 3x what was in there and plenty to see this old thing out for its intended use. I think there are possibly work-arounds to upgrade the BIOS but I can't be bothered.

A worthwhile upgrade and after a full reinstall with Win XP SP3, AVG and most of my main programs, there is still 95GB free and it runs at least twice as fast as it did before, doesn't crash every five minutes and starts up and shuts down about 5x as fast as it did a week ago, so a "descrambling exercise" is worth the effort and my E-TEC diagnostic unit is much better than it used to be