Older Laptop Hard Drive-DEAD!

[dirtybuck]

After 7 years of service (I've had it for 4 and got it absolutely FREE), the hard drive on my Toshiba Satellite A10 S129 has taken a trip to computer hard drive heaven. The computer came with a CD-RW/DVD drive, and a 2.4 Celeron processor.

Inasmuch as I'd like to go out and replace it and get a brand new Toshiba, that action is completely impossible at this time. What I'm considering doing is merely replacing the hard drive and adding PC2100 (200 pin) RAM to it. It will take 2 512 sticks. The computer is upgradable to 1 GB of RAM (OOOOHHH...talk about speed).

As for the hard drive...I know it's a 40 GB PATA, and the speed 4200 rpm.

What I'd like to know (and please forgive me if the questions seem a bit foolish):

Is a PATA drive pretty much standard and universal on all computers that take it?
Can it take a higher speed (5400-7200)?
Is there a limit as to how many GB'S of space it can take?

I looked at some online sites (including newegg, amazon and a few others) that have PATA drives. Some of the prices are in a decent range, while others are a bit higher. IF I could swing an 80 GB for 60.00 or less, I'd be satisfied.

If any of you computer wizards out there can give me the info I'm looking for, and even suggest a few more sites to look for hard drives, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[supremewhirlpol]

You have to be careful by what you call "stndard" or "universal".

Laptops typically use 2.5" wide drives, some use 1.6" wide drives. Laptops that use 2.5" drives are 44 pin EIDE (parallel ATA) drives. Other 2.5" drives are Serial ATA drives. For your case the faster RPM speed is the better as it will improve loading times slightly. Since you're using a Celeron the faster loading time brought about by the faster RPM drive won't really matter.

The limit of GB's of space will be set by the BIOS, and chipset. What I mean by that is, NOT every computer will reconize and properly access any hard drive. Some computers are pickyer than others. The biggest hard drive I've seen in the 2.5" 44-pin EIDE format is 320GB. You might want to look around on online forums to see what is the maximum hard drive size this Toshiba computer will reconize. Also certain hard drive models might not work too. Just do your research, buy the item locally, that way you can return it if it don't work.

Good Luck!![this post was last edited: 5/1/2011-21:57]

 

[dirtybuck]

More Info I Found:

This is for only one size hard drive.

http://www.upgradecomputermemory.com/ram.cfm//Memory/T/Toshiba-Memory-Laptop-Notebook-Memory/Satellite/Satellite-A-Series/Satellite-A10-S129/160GB-Notebook-Hard-Drive-for-the-Toshiba-Satellite-A10-S129.html

 

[mattl]

What is your budget?

http://www.pricewatch.com/search?q=pata+notebook+drive

 

[mattl]

How about this?

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Notebook-WD1200BEVE/dp/B000RHNPDU%3FSubscriptionId%3D16330PR1NAHTNCZP5602%26tag%3Dpriwat-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB000RHNPDU

 

[whirlcool]

I'd go with the Western Digital drive. I like Western drives so much I bought stock in the company years ago and it has been VERY nice to me over the years!

Supremewhirlpol:

That was a VERY good explanation you gave about the laptop. Very clear and easy to understand! The user could also check to see if there is a BIOS upgrade available for the laptop that could increase the amount of usable RAM.