[BZ]

My powerbook 20GB drive wants an upgrade (it told me) and I was thinking of either of these two drive.

- IBM Travelstar 40GNX 40GB 5400rpm 9.5mm thick, 8MB cache
- Toshiba MK4019GAX 40GB 5400rpm 9.5mm thick, 16MB cache

Barefeats.com seems to think that while the Toshiba has 16MB Cache, it does not stack up to the IBM.

My concerns are battery life/noise/speed.

Anyone tried these? Have any opinion?

BZ

[Eug]

The GNX is supposed to be fairly loud. Dunno about the GAX.

The 4200 rpm Fujitsu MHS2060AT is pretty fast, but uses less power, is cheaper, is 60 GB, and is completely silent. It won't be as fast as the GNX though.

[mrmister]

4200 rpm Fujitsu is a great drive--it balances all these needs, and for me comes out on top.

[BZ]

I ordered the Toshiba 60GB/5200RPM with 16 MB Cache and a Firewire case for the old 20GB.

I went with the speed/size combo and got it for $239.

BZ

[tooki]

I have a 40GNX and it's quite quiet indeed. Much quieter than the original Toshiba in my Pismo.

I think the whole cache size thing is a bunch of hooey. Yes, a bigger cache will help performance. But it's an issue of diminishing returns. 1/2MB caches were much better than the tiny ones that came before. 1MB and 2MB caches also improved performance, but not as much as you'd think. Still-bigger caches do little for real-world performance. My guess is that since RAM is dirt cheap now, it costs nothing to install it, but makes for great marketing.

tooki

[drexciya]

Originally posted by tooki:
I have a 40GNX and it's quite quiet indeed. Much quieter than the original Toshiba in my Pismo.

ahh... that's interesting. I am looking for a new drive to replace the 10GB Toshiba in my Pismo 400. Can you, or anyone else, tell me what kind of effect moving from the OEM drive to the 40GNX has had on battery life ?

Other than the potential noise issue (which doesnt appear to be a problem from the comment above) that is my only worry after all the praise I have seen for this drive.

cheers

[Eug]

Originally posted by tooki:
I have a 40GNX and it's quite quiet indeed. Much quieter than the original Toshiba in my Pismo.

I think the whole cache size thing is a bunch of hooey. Yes, a bigger cache will help performance. But it's an issue of diminishing returns. 1/2MB caches were much better than the tiny ones that came before. 1MB and 2MB caches also improved performance, but not as much as you'd think. Still-bigger caches do little for real-world performance. My guess is that since RAM is dirt cheap now, it costs nothing to install it, but makes for great marketing.

tooki

Hmm.... Big difference in opinions on the GNX noise. Good to hear the GNX isn't too loud.

I beg to differ with regards to the cache though. While the 16 MB on the Toshiba may not help it beat the 8 MB IBM, it does seem that my 8 MB desktop drives do help in terms of speed over my 2 MB ones.

[pnz999]

Whats a good link to found out how to install a HD into the Apple laptop? like a how-to tutorial for installing a HD/

Does this void my warranty? install a new HD/

[BZ]

Just an update...

I installed the Toshiba 60GB and it works like a charm. You can get the PDF off of xlr8yourmac.com (under FAQs).

Here is what I did.

1) Got the new drive and put in a self powered Firewire drive case (2.5 inch)
2) Used CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) to copy the old 20GB over the new 60GB which took about 30 minutes
3) Booted up off of the new drive to make sure it worked (Start up drive)
4) Replaced the new drive with the old drive using the PDF instructions. Took about 15 minutes.
5) Started up on the new drive and checked it out.

There are a few tricky things when replacing the drive and since it is a laptop there is very little room to work in.

Yes, replacing your drive will void your warrantee and that is why I waited till it was already expired.

The speed is good, it is certainly quite and it is nice to have 40 more gigs to use.

BZ