Upgrading my hard drive

[jmoon06]

Hello.

I have an Acer Aspire One Kav60.

It has this: WD WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0 WD 160GB SATA 2.5in 5400RPM 9.5mm 8MB
http://www.amazon.com/WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0-5400RPM-Factory-Recerified-WD1600BEVT22ZCT0/dp/B003GD2QSM

I would like to know if there is a better hard drive that i can buy for it so that it runs faster and better. Pretty much, as old as this laptop is, i'm trying to deck it out. All i've been able to do so far is increase the RAM to 2GB

Thank you in advance!

 

[coolcole01]

for the price the best investment is a ssd and you would probably be better off with a larger capacity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820228122

 

[jmoon06]

for the price the best investment is a ssd and you would probably be better off with a larger capacity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820228122

Wow, that was fast. Thanks! And this would fit my acer? would I have to do any mods to it to make it fit? Also, do you know or would you recommend any other upgrades I could do to it to make it into a beast machine as much as it could possible handle?

I have a miniPCIe slot as well that's not being used.

Thanks!

 

[coolcole01]

its the same size as a laptop hdd so no worries there

 

[coolcole01]

other than the ssd i doubt it laptops are not exactly upgrade friendly.

 

[synphul]

Yes, you can update the hard drive to an ssd which would give a lot better performance. Since it's a netbook you probably don't want to invest a ton into it and you probably don't need a ton of space either. If you do want more space you can get a 240gb ssd. Depending how much you want to spend, the samsung evo's are pretty nice but again it's just a netbook. A 120gb evo would run $67, a 120gb kingston would run $48.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a120g
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam

240gb, evo runs $97 and the kingston run $80.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a240g
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct250bx100ssd1
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam

Not only would it be significantly faster than the 5400rpm drive you're using, it would help with your low ram situation. Chances are it will need the storage drive as a swap file much more often and the ssd would improve that. It just comes down to how much room you need on a netbook and if you want to spend the money on nicer somewhat faster drives. Even the cheaper crucial bx100 or kingston will be a ton faster than the 5400rpm drive.

Here's a video on how to swap it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl622WgaWI

As the guy in the vid says, it's limited to sata ii however the sata iii drives are more widely available and less expensive than sata ii so even though you won't get any performance boost going with sata iii you've got more choices, better prices and it's backwards compatible.

 

[coolcole01]

it will make a huge difference

 

[jmoon06]

Great! Thank you so much for your detailed response! That's exactly what I was looking for =D

 

[jmoon06]

Yes, you can update the hard drive to an ssd which would give a lot better performance. Since it's a netbook you probably don't want to invest a ton into it and you probably don't need a ton of space either. If you do want more space you can get a 240gb ssd. Depending how much you want to spend, the samsung evo's are pretty nice but again it's just a netbook. A 120gb evo would run $67, a 120gb kingston would run $48.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a120g
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam

240gb, evo runs $97 and the kingston run $80.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a240g
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct250bx100ssd1
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam

Not only would it be significantly faster than the 5400rpm drive you're using, it would help with your low ram situation. Chances are it will need the storage drive as a swap file much more often and the ssd would improve that. It just comes down to how much room you need on a netbook and if you want to spend the money on nicer somewhat faster drives. Even the cheaper crucial bx100 or kingston will be a ton faster than the 5400rpm drive.

Here's a video on how to swap it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl622WgaWI

As the guy in the vid says, it's limited to sata ii however the sata iii drives are more widely available and less expensive than sata ii so even though you won't get any performance boost going with sata iii you've got more choices, better prices and it's backwards compatible.

Sorry, i'm kind of a noob at this. The guy on the video said to look for a SATA II 3 G/s SSD, because the little netbooks wouldn't use the full potential of the SATA III 6 G/s SSD. Which brand/SSD would you recommend that would meet the SATA II 3G/s specs? Or should I just go with the SATA III?

Thanks!