how can I upgrade the HDD on my laptop & which 1 to use?

[aray420608045]

I currently own a K315M Vaio laptop. This box came with a 40GB hard drive and I would like to replace this with an 80 or 100GB laptop drive. Can anyone tell me if there would be any problems doing this and do I need to use a particular type of drive? In the past I have upgraded my old laptop using an IBM travelstar drive. For example I see that there are 100GB SATA drives available but I am not sure if my model will take a SATA drive. Can anyone please provide any information?

Appreciated as always JD76.....

[Blencogo]

Hi jd76,

No - the K315M uses an IDE drive so you will need any parallel ATA drive.

Any of the ATA-100 drives on these THREE PAGES will fit your model.

[aray420608045]

Thank you blencogo does it make any difference what speed they spin at? any particular manufacturer better than others? and can I assume standard ATA notebook drive will fit?..suppose I am best going for 100GB larger the better..can you please advise..thanks in advance jd76

[robpaxton]

The speed the drives spin at will affect the access speed & transfer speed. In general, faster is better and a large buffer will also help. The only issue you may have is that the faster spinning drives could run slightly warmer.

I like the Hitachi travelstar drives - they are generally reasonably priced & reliable.

[Blencogo]

Hi jd76,

All the ATA-100 drives will be exactly the same size (100 X 60 X 9.5) and have the same ATA connector and should fit in your Vaio OK.

You probably have a 4,200 RPM drive at the moment. As a general rule, the faster they spin, the faster they can read/write data. So a 7,200 drive will be the quickest. Unfortunately, a 7,200 drive uses more power and is usually noisier in operation. So it does depend on your needs.

Most users will choose a 5,400 drive because it will be quieter, quicker than your present drive, cheaper to buy and probably last longer.

Hitachi Travelstar drives are popular all rounders; Western Digital are usually quietest and Seagate Momentus are usually the quickest but noisiest.

It becomes a matter of personal choice!

[aray420608045]

Thanks folks much appreciated especially for the fast turnaround on the question. I seen fujitsu hdd with 3years warrenty 100gb for approx. �70 are these any good? mind you still 4200 rpm may look for the 5400 you spoke of. thanks jd76

[aray420608045]

PS I forgot to ask but how difficult is it to remove the harddrive on a K315M and replace it with another larger capacity drive but same dimensions. Is there anything I should be aware of before attempting?? Thanks again..JD76

[Blencogo]

Hi jd76,

You are lucky! The K315M is the simplest Vaio to change the hard drive - it's just a five minute job!!!!

On the bottom of your Vaio, you will see two bays each with a cover secured by a screw. The smaller one in the centre covers your memory modules and the large one covers your hard drive.

It's as simple as: -

Remove the screw
Remove the cover
Remove the hard drive
Insert new hard drive
Replace cover
Replace screw

You can set up your new drive by using the Recovery Discs and updating and reinstalling your extra programs or you can use Acronis True Image to make a clone of your drive and put this image back 'as is'.

You may also like to think about buying an external 2.5 inch USB enclosure for 15 to 20 pounds. This will let you use your old drive as an external HDD.



EDIT: Didn't answer all your queries - sorry! It's up to you but I think I would get at least a 5,400 RPM drive. Your original drive is quite slow and it will only get slower with a larger drive with more data. Fujitsu are OK - you probably have a Fujitsu drive in your K315M now.

[aray420608045]

Blencogo Thanks for all your advice..much appreciated. I'll take your advice and go for a 5400 and probably travelstar..I've had these in the past and they have been reliable for me. You are correct in saying I have a fujitsu and it is quite slow. some recent reports on the 7200 rpms have been good. I wonder how quite they are in a laptop...I'll print this off for future reference. Thanks JD76

[Blencogo]

Good Luck jd76!

Hope it all goes well.