How much does it cost for replacement of Acer notebook HDD

[hasitha77]

Hey. 

My 6 years old notebook went blackout last night without giving any clue. I was trying to restart it several times and no bootable device error occurs right after Acer logo. I think its time to replace hdd since its a very old one. I would like to know how much does it cost for a new 500GB hdd. (I dont want SSD or any super power things????) 
I am also looking for a method to recover my lost data on this old hdd. will that be possible? 

Thank you

[tomazbodner]

I'd say about 1000 baht for 500 GB, as 1TB drives are barely more than that.

https://www.bnn.in.th/hardware-diy/internal-harddrive/harddrive-for-notebook.html

 

Recovery... that would depend on what's died. It will certainly be more expensive than the drive. If drive is still readable somehow just can't boot, then it'll be easy - something like R-Studio software can copy the data out of it fairly well, or sometimes it's enough just to plug it into 200 baht SATA-to-USB adapter and copy stuff off. If it's something more serious though... you may need to find the identical model of hard drive to swap the boards (if it's board problem), but that doesn't guarantee you'd be able to retrieve anything, especially if drive is bitlocker encrypted. Then the option could be optical retrieval of data, but that costs 100s of thousands of dollars so you'd need to have something really valuable on the disk to try it.

 

So new drive for 1000 baht or so. Another external drive for a little more. Set up second drive as a backup and start making those in case your primary drive dies again.

[tonray]

You really should consider an SSD. My 6 year old laptop has a new lease on life after adding an SSD. You can always pull it and use it in any newer laptop when you get a replacement

[lopburi3]

Not sure why you would not want SSD.  Has nothing to do with super power but everything to do with response (so much faster doing things).  You might be able to get current drive running in an external enclosure for bulk storage.  But you may be getting ahead of yourself as you do not know the cause of computer failure yet.

[hasitha77]

2 minutes ago, tonray said:

You really should consider an SSD. My 6 year old laptop has a new lease on life after adding an SSD. You can always pull it and use it in any newer laptop when you get a replacement

how much did it cost for you? i really not looking to bring it to an exceptional level since i have already bought a new notebook so i dont wanna waste much money on this old one. 

[hasitha77]

12 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

I'd say about 1000 baht for 500 GB, as 1TB drives are barely more than that.

https://www.bnn.in.th/hardware-diy/internal-harddrive/harddrive-for-notebook.html

 

Recovery... that would depend on what's died. It will certainly be more expensive than the drive. If drive is still readable somehow just can't boot, then it'll be easy - something like R-Studio software can copy the data out of it fairly well, or sometimes it's enough just to plug it into 200 baht SATA-to-USB adapter and copy stuff off. If it's something more serious though... you may need to find the identical model of hard drive to swap the boards (if it's board problem), but that doesn't guarantee you'd be able to retrieve anything, especially if drive is bitlocker encrypted. Then the option could be optical retrieval of data, but that costs 100s of thousands of dollars so you'd need to have something really valuable on the disk to try it.

 

So new drive for 1000 baht or so. Another external drive for a little more. Set up second drive as a backup and start making those in case your primary drive dies again.

in that case its very cheap and i would go for a 1TB. btw which brand i should go for? is there any specific model for acer or i just can go with any brand? 
and how can I know its a good hdd? any benchmark? 

[lopburi3]

8 minutes ago, hasitha77 said:

how much did it cost for you? i really not looking to bring it to an exceptional level since i have already bought a new notebook so i dont wanna waste much money on this old one. 

SSD 120gb are about 650 baht

SSD 240gb are about 1050 baht

Both would be usable in notebook but 240 would allow much more storage (which could be done with external if required).

They make a huge improvement to older computers.

[Eindhoven]

The HDD is the slowest component in your laptop. Simply put, a SSD allows your laptop to perform as it should, whereas a HDD drags everything down to it's level.

 

For that reason, you should consider an SSD.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/internal-hard-drives/western-digital-wd/wd-500gb-blue-5400-rpm-sata-iii-2-5inch-internal-hard-drive-wd5000lpcx-p024983/ 

 

HDD, 1350 baht.

 

https://shopee.co.th/Silicon-Power-128GB-256GB-512GB-เอสเอสดี-A55-SSD-3D-TLC-NAND-SATA-III-2.5-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-3-Years-Warranty-i.219846402.7131212222

 

SSD 1600 baht.

 

So there isn't even a financial reason why you should consider an HDD.

 

If you want to keep costs down, just go for a small capacity 2.5" SATA SSD. 500 baht from the link above.

https://shopee.co.th/120GB-SSD-(เอสเอสดี)-Hikvision-HS-SSD-C100-120G-Internal-2.5-SATA-III-6-Gb-s-Read-500MB-s-Write-435MB-s-รับประกัน3-ปี-i.43263481.1693668986 468 baht is perhaps the cheapest.

 

 

[tomazbodner]

40 minutes ago, hasitha77 said:

in that case its very cheap and i would go for a 1TB. btw which brand i should go for? is there any specific model for acer or i just can go with any brand? 
and how can I know its a good hdd? any benchmark? 

There is no specific model for Acer. Being 6 years old it's definitely going to have a standard SATA interface, so you could use any SATA 2.5" drive, be it hard disk or SSD. Only thing that you may have to check is the drive height - some are 7mm and others are 9mm. In some laptops only 7mm drives fit. Being 6 years old it's more likely to be 9mm. But that all depends on model, not brand. You can go with any brand of hard drive (WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Hitachi), they are all quite reliable. There are 4200/5400/7200 rpm speeds of these, and you should never go for 4200, and while 5400 is half passable, it's still a far cry from SSD speeds. 7200 rpm drives do get to about 20-30% of SSD speeds, but many heat up a lot and are not used in laptops (except gaming machines) by manufacturers often. If speed is what you're after, consider SSD, like this: https://www.bnn.in.th/equip/computer-diy/solid-state-drive-ssd/solid-state-drive-internal-ssd/transcend-ssd-230s-512gb-2-5-r560mb-s-r520mb-s-sata3-3d-tlc-aluminum-case-0760557837343

It's twice the price of HDD but I think most here will agree it's worth it.

 

What you can expect from benchmarks? From 4200 rpm drive you'll be lucky if you get around 10-15 mbps write and about double that read speeds. 5400 rpm drives about 20 mbps write/30 mbps read. 7200 rpm drives can go to about 30-35 mbps write and up to 100 mbps read speeds. Most modern SSDs on SATA can do about 500-600 mbps read and write speeds. While these are best case numbers (and they depend on SATA implementation in your notebook - so your real life results could be a third of what SSD can do - like PCIEx M2 drives can go to beyond 3000 mbps) there's a real-life difference as well.

 

You may not see that much of a difference once notebook is booted up and software opened, but you definitely would see several times faster boot times, like Windows booting up in 20 seconds instead of 2 minutes, or programs opening up in a couple of seconds rather than 10-20x that long.

 

SSDs do have some longevity issues, though. Imagine them like being a stack of Post-its, and a marker pen. You can write what you wish onto postit, but for each you need to take a new sheet as reading can only start on the beginning of the sheet. So there's the need to manipulate data first to minimise lost space. But the other problem is that you can't erase that data. So it's like if you had a stack, and top sheet's information needs to be overwritten, you remove that sheet and write to the one below. Issue is there are limited number of layers/sheets, and when you run out, that block can no longer be used. Hence life of SSD is not given in hours of operation like mechanical hard disks, but rather in amount of data they can write over a lifetime.

 

To maximise life of SSD, you should have enough memory in your computer that it does not require pagefile (that is virtual memory, or swap memory) which is used to have more memory available to software than is actually installed. In this case memory contents that are not needed at that moment are moved to disk so RAM is freed for other software needs, and then read back when this data is required again. This increases the write operations to SSD tremendously and significantly shortens lifespan. And one more thing you should never do is cut the power to the drive (especially important if you use external USB connected/powered SSD) as the data could get stuck in pre-processor which arranges the data before writing it to flash. If that happens, drive is toast.

 

Hard disk on the other hand doesn't like heat and vibrations. Mechanical shocks and overheat can destroy the drive.

 

Last note: I just used BNN links out of laziness to find any other. There are many shops out there, some cheaper some more expensive than Banana. The above links were just for illustration and no endorsement of Banana, although I've used them in the past, and their 300 baht 3 hour delivery in Bangkok was very good.

Edited October 7, 2020 by tomazbodner

[tomazbodner]

23 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

The HDD is the slowest component in your laptop. Simply put, a SSD allows your laptop to perform as it should, whereas a HDD drags everything down to it's level.

 

For that reason, you should consider an SSD.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/internal-hard-drives/western-digital-wd/wd-500gb-blue-5400-rpm-sata-iii-2-5inch-internal-hard-drive-wd5000lpcx-p024983/ 

 

HDD, 1350 baht.

 

https://shopee.co.th/Silicon-Power-128GB-256GB-512GB-เอสเอสดี-A55-SSD-3D-TLC-NAND-SATA-III-2.5-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-3-Years-Warranty-i.219846402.7131212222

 

SSD 1600 baht.

 

So there isn't even a financial reason why you should consider an HDD.

 

If you want to keep costs down, just go for a small capacity 2.5" SATA SSD. 500 baht from the link above.

https://shopee.co.th/120GB-SSD-(เอสเอสดี)-Hikvision-HS-SSD-C100-120G-Internal-2.5-SATA-III-6-Gb-s-Read-500MB-s-Write-435MB-s-รับประกัน3-ปี-i.43263481.1693668986 468 baht is perhaps the cheapest.

 

 

Not good idea to go after cheapest SSDs. There are different technologies used that have a direct impact on the life of SSD. My previous post was already too long so MLC/TLC/SLC may be too much to explain. Maybe a simple measure of how to judge what longevity of drive might be is to look at the warranty period, and never buying anything that has less than 5 year warranty.

[tomazbodner]

Found this link that is probably the most straight forward one on differences between SSD technologies I've ever seen. A couple of minutes read but that may make buyers of SSDs start reading fine print rather than price tags only: https://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-slc-mlc-and-tlc-nand-flash.html

 

In summary: SLC is the best, MLC is OK, TLC is consumer grade and has shortest lifespan. And yes, obviously the "cheap" SSDs are all TLC, like all the SSD links posted earlier. It's possible to get SLC drives, but they are many times more expensive than TLC drives.

Edited October 7, 2020 by tomazbodner

[Eindhoven]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

Not good idea to go after cheapest SSDs. There are different technologies used that have a direct impact on the life of SSD. My previous post was already too long so MLC/TLC/SLC may be too much to explain. Maybe a simple measure of how to judge what longevity of drive might be is to look at the warranty period, and never buying anything that has less than 5 year warranty.

 

I don't disagree regarding the cheapest, no need to explain to me the differences between MLC/SLC/TLC/QLC and DRAMless SSD....

 

It's just that the OP appears price conscious and seems to think they need 500 GB of storage capacity.

 

But I would certainly prefer your choice or an MX500 for any decent laptop. I went for a cheapie for my laptop as it was more than ten years old. It is still performing admirably three years later.

So a cheapie can do the trick, but since there isn't that much of a price differential, OP might want to consider the higher quality SSD.

 

But no reason to consider an HDD at all. Better to buy a smaller capacity SSD if budget is an issue.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Eindhoven

[hasitha77]

Guys I have another question. How can i find the manufacture year of a hdd without looking at the label? is there a way with serial number? 

[tomazbodner]

There's no command to pull manufacturing date out of the drive without looking at the label. It may be possible to get serial number and then contacting manufacturer... but for that you'd probably have better chances to just look at the label.

[hasitha77]

31 minutes ago, hasitha77 said:

Guys I have another question. How can i find the manufacture year of a hdd without looking at the label? is there a way with serial number? 

in device manager, when we select the disk drives properties and go to drivers, there is a driver date. does that make any sense about the manufacture year? 

[BigStar]

First thing to do is try to go into the BIOS and see if your hard drive is recognized there. If it is, then maybe the drive simply has a corrupt boot manager and you may be be able to repair it w/ Windows Startup Repair: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/fix-windows-10-wont-boot-startup-repair-bootrec/

 

If you can't go into the BIOS, you can still try to repair it anyway w/ a boot stick as above.

 

If you succeed in repairing it you'd then check the health of the drive and decide whether you want to continue with it or switch it out. Good time to backup everything and start doing regular backups.

 

Money's tight, you can get a slightly used but good 320GB (the sweet spot) drive on Aliexpress for around B400. Of course an SSD would be much nicer, for a price, but I'll leave that topic to our SSD promoters.

Edited October 8, 2020 by BigStar

[Eindhoven]

20 hours ago, BigStar said:

First thing to do is try to go into the BIOS and see if your hard drive is recognized there. If it is, then maybe the drive simply has a corrupt boot manager and you may be be able to repair it w/ Windows Startup Repair: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/fix-windows-10-wont-boot-startup-repair-bootrec/

 

If you can't go into the BIOS, you can still try to repair it anyway w/ a boot stick as above.

 

If you succeed in repairing it you'd then check the health of the drive and decide whether you want to continue with it or switch it out. Good time to backup everything and start doing regular backups.

 

Money's tight, you can get a slightly used but good 320GB (the sweet spot) drive on Aliexpress for around B400. Of course an SSD would be much nicer, for a price, but I'll leave that topic to our SSD promoters.

 

SSD costs from 470 baht. Ridiculous to recommend a second hand HDD in 2020. 

[BigStar]

23 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

SSD costs from 470 baht. Ridiculous to recommend a second hand HDD in 2020. 

1/3 capacity, off brand. While observing "can" to hold down costs as much as possible as OP requested, I pointedly left the "recommendations" to our SSD promoters. So you're back to play your favorite song. Again. Some people don't want an SSD for whatever reason, don't need an SSD for a particular purpose, or don't want to pay for an SSD. Up to them; don't matter to me. I have both SSDs and HDDs. Enjoy!

Edited October 10, 2020 by Rimmer
Baiting comment removed

[liddelljohn]

SSD is cheap now  500gb for 1500 bt better than HD

[lopburi3]

Years ago when it was a real extra cost to buy SSD could understand staying with what we knew.  But today there is almost no downside and the upside is huge.  I say that as someone who changed to SSD and had to return to HDD (due SSD software issue) and tried again when fix became available.  The faster response is well worth the change effort and it is not just for startup - programs load faster - updates are minutes rather than hours (using Microsoft that means a lot).  A much better experience.  As for less storage (without spending high sums) an HDD can still be used for that if we still want to be a pack rat, internal or external, but in most cases we do not need huge storage in todays cloud world and fast download speeds for internet.  Video is online.

[Eindhoven]

Ridiculous, of course, to push the OP towards a second hand old spinning disk drive, because it has a larger capacity.

There is always one...

SSD, even "off brand", will make for a much better user experience than an old spinning disk HDD. That is what matters; no need for the usual load of argumentative bluster from certain quarters.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Eindhoven

[teacherclaire]

On 10/7/2020 at 9:54 AM, Eindhoven said:

The HDD is the slowest component in your laptop. Simply put, a SSD allows your laptop to perform as it should, whereas a HDD drags everything down to it's level.

 

For that reason, you should consider an SSD.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/internal-hard-drives/western-digital-wd/wd-500gb-blue-5400-rpm-sata-iii-2-5inch-internal-hard-drive-wd5000lpcx-p024983/ 

 

HDD, 1350 baht.

 

https://shopee.co.th/Silicon-Power-128GB-256GB-512GB-เอสเอสดี-A55-SSD-3D-TLC-NAND-SATA-III-2.5-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-3-Years-Warranty-i.219846402.7131212222

 

SSD 1600 baht.

 

So there isn't even a financial reason why you should consider an HDD.

 

If you want to keep costs down, just go for a small capacity 2.5" SATA SSD. 500 baht from the link above.

https://shopee.co.th/120GB-SSD-(เอสเอสดี)-Hikvision-HS-SSD-C100-120G-Internal-2.5-SATA-III-6-Gb-s-Read-500MB-s-Write-435MB-s-รับประกัน3-ปี-i.43263481.1693668986 468 baht is perhaps the cheapest.

 

 

OP, go for the WD 500 GB. I've upgraded my 10 year old DELL and I'm more than satisfied. They often make special sales on Ali Express and other websites. 

[Eindhoven]

23 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

OP, go for the WD 500 GB. I've upgraded my 10 year old DELL and I'm more than satisfied. They often make special sales on Ali Express and other websites. 

 

Why would you suggest that they fit an HDD as opposed to an SSD?

[Rimmer]

Post removed, I am tired of being called out to this topic and the continuous bickering between same two members so the topic is now

//CLOSED//