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Dell says only replacement HD from them will work?

post #1 of 16
2/21/06 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
After I got my computer I realised I made a mistake and I wanted a bigger HD. I called Dell and complained to them that they should make their partition taking away 10GB clearer (even though I have already decided to reinstall and get rid of it), surprisingly they then gave me a $150 credit!!!

So then I checked out the 9400/1705 parts page for HDs which didnt list any drives, suggesting calling in for pricing and avail..so I called in.

The Dell replacement parts people said that a replacement HD would cost
100gb: $409 (7200) / $309 (5400)
80gb: $349 (7200) / $189 (5400)

I also checked out 2.5" SATA notebook drives on newegg and saw that they have HDs for much much less. For example I was thinking of getting Seagate Momentus 7200.1 80GB 2.5" Serial ATA150 Notebook Hard Drive it is only $165 (less than half of Dell's price). but when I asked the Dell person if any SATA 2.5" notebook drive would work, they said that only ones bought from Dell would fit.

so my question is...is Dell full of shit?


also
- will my current 60gb 7200 work with an enclosure? (newegg didnt have any 2.5" SATA enclosures)
- who else besides newegg sells internal notebook HDs (they didnt carry 100gb+ 7200 HDs)
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post #2 of 16
2/21/06 at 11:31pm
First of all, they are indeed full of shit. 2.5" drives are standard, you can buy one from anywhere you want. They just want your money.

I can't really answer your other questions without knowing one important fact. Is the drive indeed an SATA Hard drive? I have heard rumors that the drives Dell is sending out are actually PATA with SATA connectors.

There is no reason your 60GB drive shouldn't work in an external case. You can get one for les than $15 on ebay.

I'd try zipzoomfly.com for some drives, they have a good selection and good pricing generally.

EDIT: The $150 credit, did they just credit it back to your account that you paid for the computer with, or do you have to use it towards a future purchase through Dell?
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post #3 of 16
2/22/06 at 12:06am
Thread Starter 
thanks for the reply:

Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
I can't really answer your other questions without knowing one important fact. Is the drive indeed an SATA Hard drive? I have heard rumors that the drives Dell is sending out are actually PATA with SATA connectors.
according to Dell it is a serial ATA. Maybe someone else here can help clear this up

Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
There is no reason your 60GB drive shouldn't work in an external case. You can get one for les than $15 on ebay.
well I cant seem to find any enclosures for 2.5" SATA drives, but many for 3.5 SATA drives. Hence this post. Can any 2.5 enclosure work????

Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
I'd try zipzoomfly.com for some drives, they have a good selection and good pricing generally.
ZipZoomFly hard drives page can only sort by SATA or Mobile, but not both...which makes it hard to figure out which drives they have will work. Or will any 'mobile' drive work????

Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
EDIT: The $150 credit, did they just credit it back to your account that you paid for the computer with, or do you have to use it towards a future purchase through Dell?
they refunded my credit card. I told them i was going to send the lappy back and I demanded they gave me the same discounts ($700 off) on a new one I ordered, they offered this as a comprimise
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post #4 of 16
2/22/06 at 12:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
First of all, they are indeed full of shit. 2.5" drives are standard, you can buy one from anywhere you want. They just want your money.

I can't really answer your other questions without knowing one important fact. Is the drive indeed an SATA Hard drive? I have heard rumors that the drives Dell is sending out are actually PATA with SATA connectors.

There is no reason your 60GB drive shouldn't work in an external case. You can get one for les than $15 on ebay.

I'd try zipzoomfly.com for some drives, they have a good selection and good pricing generally.

EDIT: The $150 credit, did they just credit it back to your account that you paid for the computer with, or do you have to use it towards a future purchase through Dell?

Could this be a reason why a HD wouldnt fit ? maybe there is something custom about that part?
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post #5 of 16
2/22/06 at 12:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by znk0r
Could this be a reason why a HD wouldnt fit ? maybe there is something custom about that part?
I really won't be able to tell for sure unless somebody who already has one can give us a definiteive answer or I get mine, which will probably be a week or so.
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post #6 of 16
2/22/06 at 1:12am
Thread Starter 
I am fairly confident it is a SATA drive

it says so on the invoice and more importantly, according hardware manager the drive is a Hitachi HTS721060G9SA00, which is the same as this drive available at Newegg
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post #7 of 16
2/22/06 at 1:16am
Well then that settles that I guess. It must ineed be an SATA drive, which is a good thing I would say for performance, not sure about exernal capabilities. I definitely know that you can use an aftermarket drive in it; as long as it's SATA, you shouldn't have a problem at all. I'll look into external SATA enclosures and let you know what I find. I'm interested myself as I ordered my E1705 with a 60GB HD as well.
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post #8 of 16
2/22/06 at 4:15am
Yup, E1705's come with real 2.5" SATA drives. I ordered mine with the stock 60GB 5400rpm drive and bought a 80GB 7200RPM I found on pricewatch.

Extremely easy to install and setup; Dell was BSing you when they said only there drives would work.

This is the only 2.5" SATA external case I've found so far:
http://coolgear.com/productdetails1....15,170,131,161
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post #9 of 16
2/22/06 at 4:22am
People give me a break. Of course its a standard drive. Just take out the screw and replace it. On my 700m there was nothing that dell fabricated that i was not able to replace (ram,harddrive, network card--which i did replace etc etc etc).
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post #10 of 16
2/22/06 at 5:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobbeh
Yup, E1705's come with real 2.5" SATA drives. I ordered mine with the stock 60GB 5400rpm drive and bought a 80GB 7200RPM I found on pricewatch.

Extremely easy to install and setup; Dell was BSing you when they said only there drives would work.

This is the only 2.5" SATA external case I've found so far:
http://coolgear.com/productdetails1....15,170,131,161
thanks for the link. Do you think that this enclosure could handle 7200 RPM. I have never seen a usb powered 7200rpm external...I wonder if there is enough juice
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post #11 of 16
2/22/06 at 3:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyinLA
thanks for the link. Do you think that this enclosure could handle 7200 RPM. I have never seen a usb powered 7200rpm external...I wonder if there is enough juice
The description on that site from my link tells you everything you need to know, you just need to read

Extra Power USB Cable (Some SATA 2.5 inch hard drives require more than 500ma of power, by providing this short power cable you can power any drive via USB ports)
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post #12 of 16
2/22/06 at 8:53pm
I recommend the Hitachi 7200RPM SATA drive.
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post #13 of 16
2/22/06 at 11:37pm
any links for the hitach 7200 SATA?
I hope to get a 100gb 7200 sata..

I can only seem to find the hitachi 7200 ATA.
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post #14 of 16
2/23/06 at 12:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sprockett
any links for the hitach 7200 SATA?
I hope to get a 100gb 7200 sata..

I can only seem to find the hitachi 7200 ATA.
I was only able to find one store that has it so far (Guess it might be a new drive).

Hitachi part number is HTS721010G9SA00 btw.

http://www.lacc.com/product.asp?pf_id=HTS721010G9SA00

Other 2.5" Hitachi drives:
http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/sit...824a0eac4f0a0/
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post #15 of 16
2/23/06 at 1:05am
Would the Hitachi 7k100 fit in this lappy?

I ask since I've been told by many many people that that's the fastest HD in the market (for laptops)...
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post #16 of 16
2/23/06 at 1:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by makemedie
Would the Hitachi 7k100 fit in this lappy?

I ask since I've been told by many many people that that's the fastest HD in the market (for laptops)...
Any 2.5" SATA drive will fit in this laptop... and any other laptop that supports SATA.
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