[underscore]

I'm looking to upgrade my laptops harddrive, most likely to a 320GB. I know I want to use the current drive as an external. I was looking at the price orfbuying an internal + external case separately vs together. I decided its more cost effective to buy an external and swap the drive from that into my laptop. The only problem is that I don't know how to check if the external has the right connection.

Is it safe to assume this http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10119946&catid= is a SATA drive? I know very little about harddrive connections, as I understand my current drive is SATA II (Toshiba MK2035GSS http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/2.5-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2035GSS) I have no clue what this ATA-7 is or if it matters.

[ddr]

u sure it's more cost effective? a 320 2.5" is only $5x @ ncix

that way you don't have to guess if the seagate one is sata, which it probably is

plus if the drive in the external craps out on you, I'm not sure if you want to go through putting it back together to claim warranty. they can be disassembled, but i wont' be too confident in doing it repeatedly to the same case

[vapour_lock]

the futureshop one is a usb hdd. you're gonna take it apart and stick it into your laptop?

[underscore]

^ that was the plan. Roughly the same cost as buying a separate drive and case online, but this way my parents can buy it for me for Christmas (they don't shop online) and it has a 5yr warranty vs 3yr on regular HDD's.

u sure it's more cost effective? a 320 2.5" is only $5x @ ncix

that way you don't have to guess if the seagate one is sata, which it probably is

plus if the drive in the external craps out on you, I'm not sure if you want to go through putting it back together to claim warranty. they can be disassembled, but i wont' be too confident in doing it repeatedly to the same case

Where is this $50 drive? I'm not sure why but I can never search for shit on the NCIX site. Newegg the 320's start at $75, 500's at $99. I can't remember is Seagate or WD is supposed to be better, and I have no clue where the Samsung, Toshiba and Hitachi fit in.

My other external is easy to take apart, 2 screws and you pull out the IDE to USB and power connecter attached to the back plate and slide out the drive. Are the 2.5" ones that much more complex? Because there's an extra 2yrs of warranty on the externals, which is kinda wack.

[ddr]

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=39800&vpn=ST9320325AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1030

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27912&vpn=WD3200BEVT&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1030

they're on sale until ncix switches up their daily sale

externals will never be as easy to take apart as your own choice of an enclosure

unless you can hit up a seagate forum and know exactly what you have inside, a wd scorpio blue is usually a better choice for 2.5" 5400rpm

[underscore]

thanks, I won't be able to get it for a week or so tho. I wonder if London Drugs will pricematch NCIX?

[ddr]

they have 2.5" drives on sale every week, no need to pm. and i don't think LD sells oem 2.5" drives

[underscore]

Ok cool. Any guesses on how long it would take to ship to Kelowna?

[ddr]

no idea, hit up RFD for shipping promo's or codes if available

see, so cheap -->
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=42159&promoid=1065