With the 10GB hard disk in my Compaq Armada M700 laptop growing older and probably less reliable, I decided it was time for an upgrade.
After some hunting around, I settled on the Toshiba MK8032GAX. I chose this disk for 3 reasons: Toshiba branding (I am a Toshiba fan), a large 8MB cache, and a competitive price scheme. I paid a lot more than you would now (I obtained the disk 3 months ago)
The disk didn't dissapoint - I timed a Windows XP install at 25 minutes and 39 seconds, compared to the 42 minutes and 17 seconds with the original 10GB disk.
The disk has never shown any reliability issues, and all SMART health checks report 100%.
Installation wise, the Toshiba is simple to set up. In most laptops you won't have to change any settings - Most laptops run the main hard disk as a primary master.
Read speeds were reported at an above average 31.8MB/Sec, probably due to the increased 5400RPM spin speed. Write speeds were equally impressive at around 30MB/Sec.
I remember the Speed Test result on the 10GB disk being around 10MB/Sec, so if you have an older laptop this hard disk may well be the upgrade you have been looking for!
In conclusion - This disk is cheap, fast and reliable. What more could you want for such a low price?!
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