Adding a new hard drive to laptop?

[cruiseroutfit]

So I've been putting all my map software discs onto my laptop. Worked fine on my normal computer, but then I started on my trail laptop (the $40 IBM Thinkpad ). I know its a beater old laptop, still running windows 98, but it works great for the GPS stuff and its pretty small.

So, I start loading software onto the old rig, it has two hard drives installed so I think I'll be golden. Wrong! One drive is 2GB, with 1gb available, the other is 4gb with 15mb left I need 3.5gb to load all the software. I could start deleting stuff, but I'd rather just get a bigger hard drive.

I found a couple on ebay that fit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/40GB-Hard-Drive...ryZ42183QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

~$50 is worth it... but am I going to have problems putting this bigger drive in the computer? Software issues? Not enough RAM? Should I upgrade RAM?

How hard are they to physically install in the computer?

The biggest computer mod I've done was swapping out a power supply....

 

[scoutabout]

If your computer is on their list of "guarenteed compatibility" then I wouldn't worry about it. The only concern would be that the BIOS of an older system might not support the larger drives now available. Switching it out will be an easy proposition involving a screwdriver and a few minutes. I'd ask them for the hard drive model number so you can verify compatibility on your own, and to make sure it's not a dog. I noticed that they don't list it in the auction. Just do a search with the model number and the word "reviews" or something.

 

[Bone Down]

easy to do I do i have done it on mine several times; I was worried at first, until I had seen it done, rather easy.

Your only problem that I can foresee is that you are running W98 (not a guru by any means), but I think you will have partitian issues with a forty gig drive or something like that.

maybe not an actual partition issue so much as you can only store files in one gig junks or something along them lines.

might be a good time to upgrade at least to W2K when you up the HD size.

 

[scoutabout]

Your only problem that I can foresee is that you are running W98 (not a guru by any means), but I think you will have partitian issues with a forty gig drive or something like that.

maybe not an actual partition issue so much as you can only store files in one gig junks or something along them lines.

I believe that the worst-case scenario would involve making multiple partitions instead of one large one. Should be no worries.

 

[Caleb]

the drive size limit in Win98 is something like 128GB but it has a filesize limit of 4GB (thats a FAT issue though) so no individual file can be larger than 4GB. A 40GB drive will work without any issues.

EDIT: just to be clear, a 40GB drive will work in Win98 without any issues, on YOUR computer you may have issues if it's not supported in the bios. Like Steve said, all you'd need to do is make multiple smaller partitions.

 

[JoeT]

Doing the same thing myself. A 7200 rpm drive is great! Also stay away from Hitachi/IBM drives, they like to go boom. I'm upgrading my 60 gig Hycrapi drive to a 100 gig Seagate 7200 rpm. Using Norton Ghost to copy everything of the old drive to the new one, then doing my backups to the old drive.

 

[scoutabout]

Doing the same thing myself. A 7200 rpm drive is great!

Yes it is. That has always been the first upgrade for any laptop I've ever gotten. Go straight to the faster RPM drive, it makes a HUGE difference.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

They show the IBM Thinkpad 390X as a guaranteed compatability...

I've been able to find alot of other stuff for this computer on the used market (batteries, power cable, etc)

Would you trust a used hard drive?

Steve, this is the laptop I had on our Skyline/Swell trip... perfect for GPS mapping, and cheap enough that I wouldn't cry if it was destroyed. Hell, I paid more for the pelican case than I did for the computer

 

[Caleb]

They show the IBM Thinkpad 390X as a guaranteed compatability...

I've been able to find alot of other stuff for this computer on the used market (batteries, power cable, etc)

Would you trust a used hard drive?

Steve, this is the laptop I had on our Skyline/Swell trip... perfect for GPS mapping, and cheap enough that I wouldn't cry if it was destroyed. Hell, I paid more for the pelican case than I did for the computer

no, I wouldn't buy a used hard drive. Hard Drives (especially laptop drives) go bad often enough even when they are brand new.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Cool, thanks for all the info guys... I'm going to call around tomorrow and see if there is anything here in town, if nothing pops up I'll go the mail order route.

 

[Meat_]

Remember when adding ram, more chips use more battery.

no, I wouldn't buy a used hard drive. Hard Drives (especially laptop drives) go bad often enough even when they are brand new.

x6

 

[cruiseroutfit]

It seems to run at a pretty decent speed now, and reallistically the only thing I use it for is maps. So I think I will pass on the RAM upgrade and just do a new hard drive.

 

[TimB]

What about using a USB hard drive - I saw a 60GB one at wal-mart, does not require a seperate power supply but runs off the USB. Are those worth a crap? Might be able to load stuff up on the home computer, then move it to the car computer.

Just curious - what mapping software are you using? If using OZI I know a guy that sells the entire state of utah with borders and calibration files already completed. The detail is pretty incredible. Utah takes 2 DVD's to load, about 9 or 10 gig.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

What about using a USB hard drive - I saw a 60GB one at wal-mart, does not require a seperate power supply but runs off the USB. Are those worth a crap? Might be able to load stuff up on the home computer, then move it to the car computer.

Interesting idea... I've been really happy with my flash drives, I used them 5-10 times a day in school, no complaints. The older computer does have a USB drive, but I can guarantee its not a high speed port.

Just curious - what mapping software are you using? If using OZI I know a guy that sells the entire state of utah with borders and calibration files already completed. The detail is pretty incredible. Utah takes 2 DVD's to load, about 9 or 10 gig.

I'm using the Igage AllTopo Utah software. I have been really happy with it over the years (about 3 now). Its a local product, and seems to do everything I need. Like most topo software it is using the USGS maps, I wish they were more up to date but its likely the USGS won't update them anytime soon. This software complete is only like 4 gig.

 

[78mitsu]

Couple things, WIndows 98 cannot use more then 128 MB of memory, The kernel can't handle it, so no to the memory unless you are going to upgrade to xp. second, it depends on the version of 98 whether it really supports fat 32, I'd imagine because of the size of the existing disks it's 98r1 so you'll be limited to 4G partitions, there is a limitation on how many (I think it is 4) partitions per disk.

One thing to keep in mind on the IBM's too, they use the battery as a power filter, so no battery no power, so take good care of it don't let it freeze etc. etc.

A faster disk probabbly won't do much for a slow system if you don't have DMA capacity or processor to run it is a waste.

 

[Meat_]

..WIndows 98 cannot use more then 128 MB of memory..

Someone should tell Bill

..second, it depends on the version of 98 whether it really supports fat 32, I'd imagine because of the size of the existing disks it's 98r1 so you'll be limited to 4G partitions, there is a limitation on how many (I think it is 4) partitions per disk.

ALL versions of windows 98 support FAT 32 which has a max partion size of 2TB that's terrabytes with a T

 

[Caleb]

Interesting idea... I've been really happy with my flash drives, I used them 5-10 times a day in school, no complaints. The older computer does have a USB drive, but I can guarantee its not a high speed port.

I have an external enclosure for a laptop drive and it's a nice thing to have around, however you'll run into two problems. One being what you already mentioned, the speed of your port, most likely (in fact I can 99% guarantee it) it's USB 1.1 so it'll be slow. The second problem, kind of goes back to what I said about used drives too, is an external drive is much more likely to fail because they inevitably get knocked around TONS more than a drive installed in your machine. One more thing to consider as well is your drives you have now are so small that by replacing one of them with a 40GB drive you likely won't be missing anything at all.

Also, I am willing to be you only have one drive in there that has two partitions. An option on the Thinkpad 390 was a 6.4GB drive which is about what your total capacity is. I don't think I have ever seen a thinkpad (or even a smaller laptop) that was able to hold two hard drives. So, you may want to get ahold of Norton Ghost utility unless you want to have to reload everything.

EDIT: and here are some instructions for you, this hard drive is 100Xs easier to remove and install than a power supply any day

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I have an external enclosure for a laptop drive and it's a nice thing to have around, however you'll run into two problems. One being what you already mentioned, the speed of your port, most likely (in fact I can 99% guarantee it) it's USB 1.1 so it'll be slow. The second problem, kind of goes back to what I said about used drives too, is an external drive is much more likely to fail because they inevitably get knocked around TONS more than a drive installed in your machine. One more thing to consider as well is your drives you have now are so small that by replacing one of them with a 40GB drive you likely won't be missing anything at all.

Also, I am willing to be you only have one drive in there that has two partitions. An option on the Thinkpad 390 was a 6.4GB drive which is about what your total capacity is. I don't think I have ever seen a thinkpad (or even a smaller laptop) that was able to hold two hard drives. So, you may want to get ahold of Norton Ghost utility unless you want to have to reload everything.

EDIT: and here are some instructions for you, this hard drive is 100Xs easier to remove and install than a power supply any day

Cool, that doesn't look so hard to swap

I figured swapping all the applications and programs would be the hardest part... though I might just start fresh and install just windows 98' and my topo software. Internal hardrive it is!

Thanks again guys!