# Help Me Select Hard Drive for Laptop!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-select-hard-drive-for-laptop/432789>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 8, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-select-hard-drive-for-laptop/432789 "2008-01-08T22:50:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-select-hard-drive-for-laptop/432789/1 "2008-01-08T22:50:45Z")

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Howdy,

I would have posted this in General Questions but I don’t suppose I’m asking something super specific. I have an HP Pavillion ZD8000 laptop and the hard drive is dead, dead, dead. The original hard drive is a Seagate Momentus 80 with 80 GB. I’m looking to replace this with a hard drive that has perhaps a 120 GB capacity.

I have no idea how to select a hard drive. What’s the difference between a drive that’s 80 GB and $50.00 and another that’s 80 GB and $150.00? How do you go about selecting a hard drive and does anyone have any suggestions?

Marc

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-select-hard-drive-for-laptop/432789/2 "2008-01-08T23:11:59Z")

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You’ll want a laptop HD, as they’re smaller, 2.5" versus 3.5" for desktop drives. I don’t know what the price difference entails without specific links, but as a WAG it is quite possible that the more expensive one runs at a higher RPM and thus has a faster speed. Laptop drives normally run at 5400 but the more expensive ones are at 7200 rpm. Desktop drives are comparatively 7200 and 10000 rpm most commonly.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-select-hard-drive-for-laptop/432789/3 "2008-01-09T00:07:38Z")

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Be careful: you can’t just swap drives (except with an identical drive). Make sure that the new drive is compatible in terms of power usage and heat output. The faster drives are often hotter. If money’s less of an issue, you may care to go for a Solid State Drive.