How do you know if a HDD is compatible with a particular n..

[am]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hello,

I'm trying to work out if I can put a Toshiba MK4019GAX 40GB Laptop Hard
Drive (Part #: HDD2171) into a Toshiba Portege 7200.

It would be great if someone could tell me yes or no! Failing that, though,
any info about this sort of thing (or pointers to it) would be appreciated.

The specs for the 7200 specify a 2.5" drive, height 9.5mm. The MK4019GAX is
a 2.5" drive, height 9.5mm. Does that suggest it would be OK? Or is it more
complicated than that?

Toshiba recommend CMS drives as upgrades, they don't mention the MK4019GAX.
I pulled out the current drive and had a look at it, and it's a Toshiba
MK6411MAT.

I can track down specs for the MK4019GAX, the CMS drives recommended by
Toshiba, and the current (working) Toshiba drive. With all those specs, will
I be able to tell if it will work?

Any advice will be be appreciated.
TIA,
Alan

P.S. Just in case the specs will help, here they are:

This is from Toshiba's specifications for the Portege 7200:

Hard Disk
12.0 billion byte EIDE ATA-4; 2.5"
9.5 mm height; 13 ms average access time
Supports PIO Mode 4, Ultra DMA Mode 2, Multiword
DMA Mode 2
Service removable

And these are the specifications of the MK4019GAX:

Description TOSHIBA 40GB (MK4019GAX) 9.5mm 5400rpm Notebook Hard Drive
Manufacturer Toshiba
Type Device Bare Hard Drive
Form Factor 2.5 Internal (9.5mm)
Internal/External Internal
Formatted Capacity 40 GB
Drive Interfaces Ultra EIDE (ATA/100) 40-pin IDE/EIDE Internal
Average Seek Time 12ms
RPMs 5400
Cache Memory 16 MB
Number of Drives Included 1
Individual Drive Capacity 40 GB
Number of Bays Internal Device
Additional Expandability None
Controller Type Controller Not Included Controller Not Included Controller
Not Included
Does Controller Support RAID? Controller Not Included
Number Of Drives Supported By Controller Controller Not Included
Max External Transfer Rate 100 MBps
Max Internal Transfer Rate N/A
Reliability 300,000 Hrs
Software Included None
Certifications N/A
Power PC Supplied
Bezel Color N/A
Misc Features 3-Year Warranty Fluid Bearing
Manuf. part number HDD2171
Our part number 036231

Thanks again.

 

[papa]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I don't know about your laptop, but most likely it would not be possible to
insert one into mine (a Gateway) unless it was designed to fit the Gateway
case of my specific model. My hard drive, when inserted, becomes an integral
part of the bottom of the case surface. I have seen other laptops like this
as well, such as the Dell. The Dell HD I looked at has similar dimensions to
the Gateway HD, but the two are different enough to make it impossible to
interchange them, and I haven't even looked at the electrical specs.

Your best bet is to contact Toshiba Technical Support.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> I'm trying to work out if I can put a Toshiba MK4019GAX
> 40GB Laptop Hard Drive (Part #: HDD2171) into a Toshiba
> Portege 7200.

AlexQ has already given you a specific answer, but just to add a general
comment: 2.5" hard drives are extremely standardized these days. With any
recent notebook and any recent hard drive (recent being the last five years
or so), if the drive physically fits, it's almost certain to work. The only
problem you ever run into is with older BIOSes that have capacity
limitations. In those, cases, a BIOS upgrade usually does the trick.

-Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Papa wrote:
> I don't know about your laptop, but most likely it would not be possible to
> insert one into mine (a Gateway) unless it was designed to fit the Gateway
> case of my specific model. My hard drive, when inserted, becomes an integral
> part of the bottom of the case surface. I have seen other laptops like this
> as well, such as the Dell. The Dell HD I looked at has similar dimensions to
> the Gateway HD, but the two are different enough to make it impossible to
> interchange them, and I haven't even looked at the electrical specs.
>
> Your best bet is to contact Toshiba Technical Support.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
I'm willing to entertain the possibility that I'm wrong (hey, it
happens! ;-), but have you considered the possibility that your hard
drive is just a regular ol' 2.5-er bolted onto a proprietary caddy?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Will this drive work in a new Dell Latitute D600?

"Michael Geary" <Mike@DeleteThis.Geary.com> wrote in message
news:10brv41iejimvc9@corp.supernews.com...
> > I'm trying to work out if I can put a Toshiba MK4019GAX
> > 40GB Laptop Hard Drive (Part #: HDD2171) into a Toshiba
> > Portege 7200.
>
> AlexQ has already given you a specific answer, but just to add a general
> comment: 2.5" hard drives are extremely standardized these days. With any
> recent notebook and any recent hard drive (recent being the last five
years
> or so), if the drive physically fits, it's almost certain to work. The
only
> problem you ever run into is with older BIOSes that have capacity
> limitations. In those, cases, a BIOS upgrade usually does the trick.
>
> -Mike
>
>

 

[papa]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Could be. I had not though of that.

"EM" <1@1.1> wrote in message
news:i0nvc.52295$Np3.2274387@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>
> Papa wrote:
> > I don't know about your laptop, but most likely it would not be possible
to
> > insert one into mine (a Gateway) unless it was designed to fit the
Gateway
> > case of my specific model. My hard drive, when inserted, becomes an
integral
> > part of the bottom of the case surface. I have seen other laptops like
this
> > as well, such as the Dell. The Dell HD I looked at has similar
dimensions to
> > the Gateway HD, but the two are different enough to make it impossible
to
> > interchange them, and I haven't even looked at the electrical specs.
> >
> > Your best bet is to contact Toshiba Technical Support.
> >
> > Good luck.
> >
> >
> I'm willing to entertain the possibility that I'm wrong (hey, it
> happens! ;-), but have you considered the possibility that your hard
> drive is just a regular ol' 2.5-er bolted onto a proprietary caddy?

 

[am]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Thanks for the info

"Alex Quant" <alexqspam@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2i67h7Fjbj8mU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> Yes, it will be fine - even older 7000 series Porteges will support this
> drive
>
> AlexQ.
>
> ~ Reply-to valid ~
>
>

 

[am]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

That is great to know.

I thought the opposite, that you needed a specific HD to upgrade a specific
notebook. Thinking about it, I realise that my 'knowledge' is about 10 years
old.

When I took the current hard drive out it did look generic. Taking it out
was easy. I was a bit disconcerted that Toshiba describe it as 'service
replaceable', while on some models the HD is 'user replaceable'. I guess
undoing a screw requires training!

Looks like replacing my overstuffed 6GB HD is going to be a lot cheaper than
I thought. There's a constant stream of 2.5" drives going on eBay and
they're cheap as chips!

Thanks for everyone's help.
Alan



"Michael Geary" <Mike@DeleteThis.Geary.com> wrote in message
news:10brv41iejimvc9@corp.supernews.com...
> > I'm trying to work out if I can put a Toshiba MK4019GAX
> > 40GB Laptop Hard Drive (Part #: HDD2171) into a Toshiba
> > Portege 7200.
>
> AlexQ has already given you a specific answer, but just to add a general
> comment: 2.5" hard drives are extremely standardized these days. With any
> recent notebook and any recent hard drive (recent being the last five
years
> or so), if the drive physically fits, it's almost certain to work. The
only
> problem you ever run into is with older BIOSes that have capacity
> limitations. In those, cases, a BIOS upgrade usually does the trick.
>
> -Mike
>
>