hard drive shopping help?

[TSAEB]

im looking for a used hard drive because i believe mine is gone....there is a couple of things that im trying to figure out whats something to look out for.....ive read the article on hardrive facts...
however didnt answer this....
can i buy a hardrive that says "not formatted"? what does this mean?
can i buy one that metioned something about installing th os ?

also im looking at ebay and i feel confident in looking up the a part number that is on my hardrive ....like this one "IC25N020ATCS04" i notice this number is idetical to some on sell and the only things that changes is if there is a different gb capacity for exactly a 30 gb will read " IC25N030ATCS04 ".....so im i doing this right?

[ZaZ]

It might help if you said which notebook you have. I'm assuming you've got one with a PATA hard drive if your drive is a IC25N020ATCS04. Why not get a better faster drive, unless your budget is very tight. Something like this should work.

[rkawakami]

I'm assuming that this is for your R40e.... If that's the case, then what you need to know is the following:

- the type of hard drive that the system uses is known variously as: IDE, ATA, or Parallel ATA (PATA). Do NOT get anything that says "Serial ATA (SATA)".
- according to the IBM specs, the height of the hard drive bay is 9.5mm, therefore you can NOT use a drive that is 12.7mm thick (some of the older drives are like this).
- the hard drive can be "formatted" or "unformatted" but this is assuming that you are going to install an operating system (OS) on it. Formatted means that the disk directory structure has been written onto the disk so that an OS can start storing data. Unformatted essentially means that the disk is blank but it also means that an OS will not be able to do anything with it until it is formatted. I would recommend that if you are going to install a fresh OS on the drive, that you first erase it (cause it to become unformatted) since that usually guarantees that the install goes cleaner. There are several utilities which can erase a hard drive. I generally use the one provided by the PC Doctor diagnostic program (link is below).
- hard drive performance has vastly improved from the original IC25NxxxATCS04 drives. Those disk drives spin at 4200 RPM. Modern drives can go up to 7200 RPM but they do cost more. Faster spinning drives means that the data is read and written faster but it can also mean that the drive is noisier or vibrates more. A good compromise are 5400 RPM drives but if you can get a 7200 RPM drive for the same cost as a 5400 RPM one, then I'd go with the faster drive.
- you are correct to assume that the "030" inside that IBM Travelstar part number relates to the amount of storage that is provided. However, if you only look at the IC25N drives then you'll be stuck with the slower 4200 RPM speeds. Increasing the speed of the hard drive is one of the things which can improve the "snappiness" of the system.

My personal choice for laptop hard drives currently are Seagate Momentus models. Here are several I've bought in the last few weeks:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0434483175 (160GB $31)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0530336260 (100GB $39)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0438848655 (160GB $57.50; yeah, that one was a little high ).

PC Doctor for DOS for the R40e: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-56222 This version comes in an .ISO file which means that you will need a program that writes that format onto a CD. A diskette version is also available from here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46033

[TSAEB]

again guys you all are awesome and yes...this is for my r40e type 2684 please excuse me for not stated that...and no my budget is not to bad i just had no confidence in buying something better and being confident it would be compatable....so i wanted to play it safe since i was actually pretty happy once i installed more ram into the laptop before it messed up....but ill re read this and check out the links stated...cant wait till i upgrade the hard drive and ram(trying new chips)....thanks.

will the hard drives you show work on my labtop r40e

[RealBlackStuff]

Yep, all 3 models will work.

[TSAEB]

still looking but just wanted to say man you got a sweat deal on those 30 bucks for the hard drives....the cheapest 160 gb i saw was 65 and it looks like i might settle for a 100 gb 5400 rpm for around 30 if i cant then ill cough out the money for the 160...its just kinda hard since all the good price ones say sata or are 3.5 in measernment so i take it wont fit and not compatable if they sata.

[rkawakami]

I'm patient on eBay auctions and I snipe . Yes, any SATA or 3.5" drive will not work. I believe that for the Seagate Momentus drives, if the model number ends with "AS" then that would be a SATA drive. You may see this in the eBay title; for example, ST9120822AS is a 120GB SATA drive, whereas the ST9120822A drive is IDE/PATA.

[TSAEB]

yeah i was starting to notice that on the part number....and am i right...most 7200 rpm ones actuall size of hard drive will not fit? i have yet to find one....and im still looking found a good deal on a new battery now just waiting for a good deal on a 160 gb.....

and ill probably get clowned for this but what about hard drives with adds like this.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-160GB-IBM-THINK ... 3efa093579

[ajkula66]

Major brand only...I don't think so...try this:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10007684

I've had them in several ThinkPads and was very pleased.

[TSAEB]

if its not much to ask can some of you guys throw some recommended brand names...this way i can have more to choice.

[RealBlackStuff]

Western Digital, Samsung, Seagate, Hitachi, Fujitsu.