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m_anna

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2119

January 10th, 2008 20:00

new hard drive a good idea

I have a Inspiron 8200 that runs on Pentium 4. The computer has had troubles starting up for over a year but once it does start runs, but slowly. We uninstalled and reinstalled Windows which seemed to fix the problem for awhile but then it started again. I was just told by a shop that ran a diagnostic that the hard drive is shot. The guy at the shop suggests to install a new hard drive. He said with it hte computer still has a couple good years left. It is at least 3 years old now.
 
Is a new hard drive on the Inspiron 8200 a good idea?

ejn63

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87.5K Posts

January 10th, 2008 20:00

An 8200 is more on the order of five or more years old - and given the design life of a drive (5 years), a failing drive wouldn't be unexpected.

principalj

97 Posts

January 13th, 2008 11:00

Certainly a new drive is a good idea. If you can't afford a new laptop (wink) then drives are available quite cheaply on eBay for instance.
 
We upgrade ours to 7200 RPM Hitachi drives all the time. Then sell the old 4200 or 5400 RPM drives. The improvement in speed is amazing. Your older machine could probably benefit from a larger drive too. You can get them all the up to 320 GB's nowadays. (Proabably go up next week!).

ejn63

1 Rookie

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87.5K Posts

January 13th, 2008 12:00

I wouldn't bother with EBay for drives - new, fully warranted drives from sellers with fixed places of business and good track records are inexpensive enough.

As for buying drives, if you want a 7200, go Seagate - Hitachi is looking for a way out of the hard drive business (alternate rumors say they'll sell off to an investment house or spin off in collaboration with other failing hard drive comapnies such as Toshiba). Future support is unknown.

Seagate's drives are quieter, more reliable, and cooler running, and come with better warranties (and the company, unlike Hitachi, is making money selling drives).

Maui Wowie

117 Posts

January 16th, 2008 01:00

New laptop for under $600 or a new HD for $150
I'd just bite the bullet and part out the 8200 and buy a new
Notebook.............IMO

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