Bigger HDD for Acer Aspire 7520 laptop

[Canetoad]

Hi guys,

I have an Acer Aspire 7520 laptop with an 80Gb HDD (40 + 40) and it's a real pain as there just isn't any available space left on it. It has room for a 2nd drive (2.5 SATA) so I was going to get something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Scorpio-500GB-Internal/dp/B001JSSDGU/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1310818161&sr=1-5

Or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Momentus-Internal-Playstation-Compatible/dp/B0025VKQY2/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1310818161&sr=1-7

Use Acronis to mirror the existing drive and replace. Can anybody confirm that these drives would be OK? They both say compatible wth PS3. I'm curious if this still means they are OK to use in a laptop. Once the new drive is up and running I plan to format the old one and install it for storage in the second space on the laptop.

Any confirmation and advice would be greatly appreciated from somebody who has done this sort of thing before. :scratch:

[Tim]

If the drive you have in your current laptop is SATA, then yes those drives will both be fine. Is this the one you have? http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_7520-6A1G08Mi_Laptop_LX.AMM0X.002/version.asp

[Canetoad]

Yes, That's the one. Which do you think would be the most reliable Western Digital or Seagate?

[goraman]

I would try this one.
http://reviews.cnet.com/internal-hard-drives/seagate-momentus-xt-500gb/4505-9998_7-34109211.html

[Tim]

Yes, That's the one. Which do you think would be the most reliable Western Digital or Seagate?
Oh blimey, that's open to debate :scratch: I can tell you from my point of view I buy Western Digital drives all the time. The reason being is we have Seagate, Samsung and WD drives at work (I work in IT). In the last two years I have only had failures on Seagates, but really there's nothing in it. The Seagates had a known fault following manufacture and since then have been fine.

If it were me I would buy a WD and seriously consider getting Windows 7 on that machine, software4students (if you qualify) have it for 40 quid. The improvement over Vista would make a big difference. A RAM upgrade would help too. But depends on how much you have to spend on an upgrade? There comes a point when it becomes uneconomical upgrading an old laptop.

[goraman]

Oh blimey, that's open to debate :scratch: I can tell you from my point of view I buy Western Digital drives all the time. The reason being is we have Seagate, Samsung and WD drives at work (I work in IT). In the last two years I have only had failures on Seagates, but really there's nothing in it. The Seagates had a known fault following manufacture and since then have been fine.

If it were me I would buy a WD and seriously consider getting Windows 7 on that machine, software4students (if you qualify) have it for 40 quid. The improvement over Vista would make a big difference. A RAM upgrade would help too. But depends on how much you have to spend on an upgrade? There comes a point when it becomes uneconomical upgrading an old laptop.

Click on the link and watch the video,it will be followed by another video putting 2 computers side by side running apps.
The new seagate hybrid beat out a SSD!

The first one I got was bad right out of the box and would not format,the replacement loaded for my new/used think pad is rocket fast.
Fry's sells loads of hard drives and the salesman told me Seagate and Western Digital are both great drives and have the same failure rate.

I had a640gig. 5400 seagate in the computer I'm using now,I mirrored that drive to a320gig. 7200 WD and it is a little faster but much hotter.

After sorting out my old beat up Toshiba I decided to get a 2.5 gig Think Pad.
So I got the new Momentus XT and started with a new copy of Win.7 64 bit.

I am loading all my software to that drive using the old Toshiba.
I will use the Toshiba for linux Ubuntu after all the bugs are out of the Tpad.

64 bit ubuntu on a 7200 hard drive should be pretty fast in the old Toshiba and good as an email,web surfing computer while the Tpad dose the heavy lifting.

I would buy a the hybrid XT if looking for a new drive for my only laptop.

[Tim]

The Seagate Momentus XT has had quite a few issues and the video is not a true reflection of real world performance unfortunately. They are also a lot more expensive compared to a standard mechanical HDD (twice the price in the UK - he could get Windows 7 and a standard 500GB for the same money?).

I think the clue might be that Seagate are the only manufacturer to make one presently, on paper a great product, but it has yet to prove itself from my experience with regard to reliability. One of the girls I work with is married to a PC supplier, he has had countless returns of the Momentus XT. If they work fine, then great, but I recently decided against one and bought a couple of SSD's instead.

Having said all that, if you are careful and make regular backups of your work, the Hybrid will give good performance and is a compromise between an SSD and mechanical drive. I just wouldn't trust them as much as a mechanical drive.

[goraman]

The Seagate Momentus XT has had quite a few issues and the video is not a true reflection of real world performance unfortunately. They are also a lot more expensive compared to a standard mechanical HDD (twice the price in the UK - he could get Windows 7 and a standard 500GB for the same money?).

I think the clue might be that Seagate are the only manufacturer to make one presently, on paper a great product, but it has yet to prove itself from my experience with regard to reliability. One of the girls I work with is married to a PC supplier, he has had countless returns of the Momentus XT. If they work fine, then great, but I recently decided against one and bought a couple of SSD's instead.

The salesmen told me when they first came out it was hit and miss getting a good one.
The 1st drive I got was bad,he said that happens with just about all the new drives from time to time but it had been awhile since he had gotten a bad Seagate Momentus XT.

There is most likely nothing like a Fry's electronics in Europe, It is a huge store that sells everything but the super high end audio.
This store sells over a hundred hard drives on a slow Monday and shelves are restocked all day long.
So they have a pretty good grasp of whats being returned.
For now only time will tell.

[Canetoad]

Oh blimey, that's open to debate :scratch: I can tell you from my point of view I buy Western Digital drives all the time. The reason being is we have Seagate, Samsung and WD drives at work (I work in IT). In the last two years I have only had failures on Seagates, but really there's nothing in it. The Seagates had a known fault following manufacture and since then have been fine.

If it were me I would buy a WD and seriously consider getting Windows 7 on that machine, software4students (if you qualify) have it for 40 quid. The improvement over Vista would make a big difference. A RAM upgrade would help too. But depends on how much you have to spend on an upgrade? There comes a point when it becomes uneconomical upgrading an old laptop.

Hi Tim,

I work in IT too, but software. I don't have a problem messing with hardware, I just wanted a bit of feedback from those that have already done the same sorts of things. I've rushed in before buying hardware and ended up with a doorstop :doh:

I'll grab a WD 500 Gb HDD for it. When I bought it I had the RAM upgraded to 2Gb (I think). I'd have to check. I mostly bought it for my wife to use round he house (cordlessly) but I'm getting sick of the messages saying there's no space left on the HDD even though there's bugger all installed on it.

You're right Vista is a virus but, since I hardly use it (my PC still runs XP), I couldn't be bothered updating it. I'm just looking for the cheapest way forward short of buying a new laptop.

Thanks for all the advice guys. It's been very helpful! :)