A new harddisk for my old notebook?

[helmut85]

Remember Laura Nyro.

[40hz]

@helmut85 - Howdy! Never be afraid to ask anything here. This is Donation Coder. We don't indulge in ridicule since we're all lifelong learners.

So ok...

It's likely you have a non-SATA hard drive in your laptop.

While it's still possible to get an old-style PATA/ATA-6 drive, they're becoming expensive and difficult to find "in stock." Most drive manufacturers are phasing, or already have phased them out. So while still possibly doable it's not very cost effective.

I can relate. I tend to keep and use PCs a lot longer than I really should. I had about a half dozen perfectly workable Compaq laptops with small drives (and RAM capacity) that I recently gave away because they just weren't worth keeping any more. Even with Linux running on them.

IMHO the best option would be to bite the bullet at this point and spring for an inexpensive new laptop - then use Microsoft's free easy transfer tool to migrate your data and settings over to it. Look for one on sale. Or get a name brand factory refurbished unit. You can some very good deals that way.

Seriously, a 10 year old laptop doesn't have that much service life left in it. And if you replace the drive, you just spent good money to put a brand new drive in an old machine - with a version of Windows that is about to go off support from Microsoft. 

If, however, you still want to go with your original plan to get a new drive, give us the exact make and model of your laptop and we'll see what we can recommend to help you out.
 

[superboyac]

doh!  did not know about easy transfer!  i always do it manually...copy all the programdata, user directories, program files, etc. on a hard drive, then install windows on a new machine, then copy the files back over.  am i doing it the hardest way possible?  probably...

[40hz]

Windows Easy Transfer

It works extremely well. Especially when it comes to moving the ever pesky Outlook PSTs to a new machine. It does not migrate applications however. Those will still need to be reinstalled manually. Which can be a problem if you bought OEM versions of MS Office which (by license) can't be transferred to new hardware - although I've seldom had a problem getting a new activation key from Redmond if it was for an older version of Office. YMMV.

[helmut85]

Remember Laura Nyro.

[40hz]

Nice machine.

Ok:

Technical Data

Processor: Intel Pentium-M P740 (Dothan) 1,73 GHz, Centrino
Cache: L1: 32 KB, L2: 2MB, FSB 533 MHz, 915 Chipset
RAM: 1 x 512 MB DDR-SDRAM
HDD: 80GB, Ultra ATA/100
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400 with Turbo Cache up to 128MB graphics memory. PCI Express
LAN: 10/100 MBit Ethernet
WLAN: 802.11 b/g
Modem: international V.90, 56K flex
Display: 15,4-Zoll TFT x-black(2nd generation, double lamp technology), WXGA, 1280 x 800 pixel
Sound: built in stereo speakers, Intel High Definition Audio Sound
Interfaces: i.LINK (IEEE 1394), 3 x USB 2.0, earphone, microphone input, RJ11, display output, ethernet 10 BaseT/100 Base-TX, 1x PCMCIA Typ-I/II CardBus, Memory-Stick-Slot (Duo, PRO compatible)
Optical Drive: Double Layer CD/DVD +/- Brenner + RW für CD und DVD
Size (mm): 36,4 x 2,5-3,6 x 26,5 (mm)
Weight (kg): 2,9 kg
Waranty: 2 years bring in warranty, optional extendable up to 4 years.

And you have a Toshiba MK6025GAS HD. Specs here.

So you definitely have the older ATA100 Ultra (also known as an ATA6) PATA type drive. That is not a SATA as I suspected.

First up, you'll need to take a look around and see if anybody has a suitable PATA drive in stock for purchase. One problem is that the ATA6's mostly came in 40GB or 80GB models. I don't recall if they came bigger than that, although I'd guess they probably also made them in 120 and 160GB sizes before they became obsolete. (UPDATE: They did. Seagate made a 160GB model.)

I ran a quick scan of all my usual sources and I don't see any drive of this type being available. At least not from any source I'd be comfortable sending my credit card info to.

Take a look around and see what you can find. Unfortunately, this quest may be over before it starts if a larger drive can't be located.

[helmut85]

Remember Laura Nyro.

[mouser]

The other question you need to answer is how easy is it to replace the hard drive -- in some laptops it's very easy, in some it's a real pain.

Just something else to factor in to your calculation.  I think 40hz advice was dead on -- if it were me i would leave this laptop alone and get yourself a new (used) one.

[helmut85]

Remember Laura Nyro.

[x16wda]

Oh, I don't think you have enough options yet...  how about trying Disk2vhd while it's all running fine, then run the resulting vhd in Virtualbox on a new PC... then you get your familiar environment and programs, just as they are now, running probably at least as fast, on new hardware (with a new warranty)? 

[mouser]

I wouldn't look at it as throwing away your 10yr old faithful laptop.  I would look at it as retiring it and keeping it available as a backup, and transitioning to a new one before it dies.  You could squeeze a few more years out of it with a new hard drive, but depending on how much trouble+expense that is, it might be best to just keep it as a backup, and skip the upgrade that you don't need if you use it as a backup pc.

[helmut85]

Remember Laura Nyro.

[barney]

helmut85, I have a couple of old WinBooks, one (1) Win2K, one (1) early WinXP.  Can't replace the batteries - not feasible from a logistical standpoint - so cannot use as portable devices.  Can't upgrade, because they don't have the power to handle current OSes - one (1) of 'em even strains at Linux distros.  Can't (not financially feasible) get new hard drives, 'cause they're old technology.  So there they sit:  too good to throw away, too underpowered/old to use - closet fodder only.  

The point to all this?
These boxes are:

• unrepairable from a financial standpoint
• unable to handle current software
• unable to handle current OSes
• unable to handle current hardware, e.g., USB 1.1 is highest level
• security risks due to old OSes
• security risks due to old software
• parallel & serial ported - no longer in use
• VGA ported - difficult to find a current display for it

There's more, but that list should suffice.

This thread/topic got me to thinking about them.  I won't live long enough for them to become valuable as real-world antiquities. although they already are in our (DC) world.  Sometime this year I will strip them down for parts - wonder if the HDDs will be worth keeping? - then discard the unusable bits.  Thus will I rid myself of two paper weights, kept only because of an emotional attachment that has become invalid.  You might consider my  decision while making yours.

[edit]
I see I'm late again.  Oh, well, lI'll let it stand anyway.
[/edit]

[4wd]

For (not even guaranteed) transfer to a new computer, you need such 50$-for-just-one-transfer sw

-helmut85 (January 08, 2013, 06:37 AM)

Can't you just do a whole disc image to an external, swap the HDD, boot off the Paragon recovery CD, restore the image to the new HDD ?

That's the way I've done it for the last 8+ years or so - bonus is I get a backup and prove that it works.

here, it's important to not recreate your previous 60 giga (or whatever) partition on the new hdd, but to use the whole capacity of your new hdd (didn't get an answer ho much space will finally be addressed, controller-wise, but see below)

Not really an issue since you can use one of the many free partitioning programs to resize the partitions afterwards as you see fit.