[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I’d like to upgrade the hard drive in my Compaq Evo 600 laptop from a 30 gig to an 80. I’ve found some on eBay, but something I’m seeing in the specs has me nervous. They mention its RPM capacity, but notes that it has power specifications similar to a slower drive.

Power specifications – is that something I need to be concerned about – i.e., that the power supply might not be able to support some hard drives?

I can’t find any info in the manual on the stock 30 gig hard drive I’m using, except that “Any 9.5 mm hard drive can be used in the hard drive bay.”

Here are the features for a 7500 RPM drive. Below it are the features for a 5400 RPM drive. I assume the 7500 PRM unit is better, but being an audio guy, I have no idea what any of this stuff means. Hopefully some of you can decipher some of it for me.

• Enhanced Adaptive Battery Life Extender 3.0 for maximized battery life
• Low Power: Spins at 7500 RPM for fast performance but has power specifications similar to slower 5400 RPM drives
• Fluid Dynamic Bearing Spindle Motor for lower acoustics and increased non-operating shock tolerance
• Ultra Quiet : Advanced noise reduction using a Voice Coil Motor (VCM) Damper
• S.M.A.R.T. compliant detection system that gives advanced warning of possible drive inconsistencies
• Stiffness-reinforced base casting construction offers enhanced stability and greater vibration/shock resistance
• Antiferromagnetically-coupled (AFC) "pixie dust" media
• Specular Layer giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads
• Ramp Head Load/Unload technology
• Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) read channel
• Adaptive Formatting

• Enhanced Adaptive Battery Life Extender 3.0 for maximized battery life
• Low Power: Spins at 5400 RPM for fast performance but has power specifications similar to slower 4200 RPM drives
• Fluid Dynamic Bearing Spindle Motor for lower acoustics and increased non-operating shock tolerance
• Ultra Quiet : Advanced noise reduction using a Voice Coil Motor (VCM) Damper
• S.M.A.R.T. compliant detection system that gives advanced warning of possible drive inconsistencies
• Stiffness-reinforced base casting construction offers enhanced stability and greater vibration/shock resistance Antiferromagnetically-coupled (AFC) "pixie dust" media
• Specular Layer giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads
• Ramp Head Load/Unload technology
• Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) read channel
• Adaptive Formatting

Regards,
Wayne