Need advice on purchasing a hard drive for my Toshiba Qosmio

[d1dramatist]

My 18.4 inch Toshiba Qosmio laptop is seven years strong but my C and D disk drives are almost full and I had an incident with the partition drive earlier this year, so signs point to the need to replace the hard drive.

Before you advise me to buy a new PC, I love this big ole laptop (I'm a writer and the screen size is lovely for my eyes, also I watch a lot of films/documentaries, etc.) and am looking to get a few more years with it. Everything works very well (except the Eco button feature, which I suspect has to do with disk space issue) but I need more space.

I've been seeing 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch hard drives, but which one is suitable for my laptop? I've been told that internal is a better bargain than external and I'm on a budget but would like 2TB. I'm computer savvy but far from an expert.

Here are my current Storage Drive specs: 2 x 500GB (7200 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive. What's the best way to upgrade for more storage?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[phaelax]

18.4"? That's mighty big!

Your laptop would use a 2.5" drive. Honestly, there's not much price difference between internal and external. An external drive is the exact same as an internal, it's just housed inside a separate enclosure sporting a usb interface.

Best option depends on your budget. Get 1TB or more SSD if you can, the speed improvement will be quite noticeable. They're also better for a laptop than mechanical drives.

 

[ikaz]

either pick up a couple of 1TB 7200RPM drives which cost about $55 each and/or if you can I would suggest 1TB SSD around $140ish and a normal 1TB 7200 for a total of around $200 if you really love your laptop.

 

[lordtristan28]

Hi! If you were to want to upgrade the best would be a ssd, But a 2tb ssd is a little pricey, Seeing as if you have 2 hard drives in your laptop i am going to believe that you can use two hard drives, Firstly i would highly recommend getting a ssd, They really boost the speed overall and you will love it, But also possibly go for a low storage ssd and a big 2tb hard drive for all your files, And have the windows downloaded on the ssd and all the files and what not on your hard drive. This would make you love your computer even more then you already do Take a look at these, Not sure were you live, So ill shoot down both canada and USA links.

CANADA (ssd) (you can always pick the 120gb and save some money, Windows 10 will fit on it with extra space,) (I have a 120gb ssd and it works just fine)
https://www.amazon.ca/Kingston-Digital-240GB-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540246895&sr=8-1&keywords=250gb+ssd

CANADA (hard drive) (try to go with seagate, They treat you well and there prices are the best)
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Barracuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000LM015/dp/B01LX13P71/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540247017&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+2.5+inch

USA (ssd)
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-240GB-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540246895&sr=8-1&keywords=250gb%2Bssd&th=1

USA (hard drive)
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000LM015/dp/B01LX13P71/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540247017&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+2.5+inch

Either way if its out of your price range you can always bring down the storage, But having both of those drives in your laptop would be great!

 

[d1dramatist]

18.4"? That's mighty big!

Your laptop would use a 2.5" drive. Honestly, there's not much price difference between internal and external. An external drive is the exact same as an internal, it's just housed inside a separate enclosure sporting a usb interface.

Best option depends on your budget. Get 1TB or more SSD if you can, the speed improvement will be quite noticeable. They're also better for a laptop than mechanical drives.

I love big screens and I cannot lie! I basically use mine as a desktop replacement, so fortunately a petite lady like myself doesn't have to lug around, well...such a big lug (when I am seated, I am nearly obscured by my own laptop, lol).
It would've been nice if Toshiba were making a slightly lighter Qosmio but I've heard that they are selling off their commercial PC business to Sharp and sadly, my entreaties to the company to make one especially for me, their biggest fan, have been ignored.🙁 Oh well.
Thanks a lot for your response.

 

[d1dramatist]

either pick up a couple of 1TB 7200RPM drives which cost about $55 each and/or if you can I would suggest 1TB SSD around $140ish and a normal 1TB 7200 for a total of around $200 if you really love your laptop.

I started to do some research on SSD about a month ago (i.e. like, what is it... etc.) and from the responses I'm reading in this thread so far, it looks like I should be paying closer attention to adding a SSD. I will give this some serious thought.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[d1dramatist]

Hi! If you were to want to upgrade the best would be a ssd, But a 2tb ssd is a little pricey, Seeing as if you have 2 hard drives in your laptop i am going to believe that you can use two hard drives, Firstly i would highly recommend getting a ssd, They really boost the speed overall and you will love it, But also possibly go for a low storage ssd and a big 2tb hard drive for all your files, And have the windows downloaded on the ssd and all the files and what not on your hard drive. This would make you love your computer even more then you already do Take a look at these, Not sure were you live, So ill shoot down both canada and USA links.

CANADA (ssd) (you can always pick the 120gb and save some money, Windows 10 will fit on it with extra space,) (I have a 120gb ssd and it works just fine)
https://www.amazon.ca/Kingston-Digital-240GB-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540246895&sr=8-1&keywords=250gb+ssd

CANADA (hard drive) (try to go with seagate, They treat you well and there prices are the best)
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Barracuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000LM015/dp/B01LX13P71/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540247017&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+2.5+inch

USA (ssd)
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-240GB-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540246895&sr=8-1&keywords=250gb%2Bssd&th=1

USA (hard drive)
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000LM015/dp/B01LX13P71/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540247017&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+2.5+inch

Either way if its out of your price range you can always bring down the storage, But having both of those drives in your laptop would be great!

I've been looking at that Seagate 2TB Barracuda and something called a Firecuda (?) but you've helped to clear up the confusion and honestly, since I'm no gamer, I'm not looking to spend more than I need to--(I'm not running gamer style graphics or anything, at most one playwright/screenwriting software and INDesign or Affinity type program with the standard fare) so 2TB would suffice just nicely, imo.
Thanks for providing me links. I'm in the U.S. (everybody hates us now).
Without opening the guts of my laptop, I had suspected that I had two storage spaces and from yours and everyone else's response, this would appear to be the case. Having a combination of a SSD and a HDD sounds like a good fast choice.
Thank you for your reply to my question. I feel tech savvier by the minute!