VGN-A190 Hard Drive Upgrade

chienyu · 01-10-2007, 11:47 PM

I have been looking online for a bit now and I cannot find any information about hard drive upgrades for my Sony VGN-A190.

I contacted Sony and they refused to help me stating that there were no available upgrades for my model.

I am interested in either

HITACHI Travelstar 7K100 HTS721010G9AT00 (0A25015) 100GB 7200 RPM ATA-6
or
Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021A 100GB 7200 RPM ATA-6

I just wanted to know if

1. are these HDs compatible?
2. Will it fry my computer?
3. Where do I find the instructions to physically change out the drives

Any help is appreciated, thank you

Chien

**8210GUY** · 01-13-2007, 03:49 PM

Well their pages say the same, that it is not supported, so I have to wonder why, maybe it's in such a tricky location or sealed in it can't be accessed ?
And why are you looking to swap it ? a 20 gig increase in size hardly seems worth the trouble or expense, ultimately they are the people who should know about their products and what can\can't be done, so if they say it's not supported then they must have a good reason as to why I would hope, if you simply need more space why not consider an external drive ? it would be the safest option given their comments and double or better your drive space, just a thought.

chienyu · 01-13-2007, 03:57 PM

I am swapping the drives for the rpm purposes. I currently have a 4200 and I want to upgrade to a 7200.

In the mean time, why not get some extra space?

**8210GUY** · 01-13-2007, 04:23 PM

Well on that basis it makes sense yes why not indeed, but I am concerned as to why they say it is not supported, logically they must have one, normally they'd be quick to take your money to upgrade, but I don't know laptops that well so there may be factors I'm not aware of, but while awaiting more input if your confident in having a look inside see if there are any obvious reasons they would say they do not support it, if you can see it take note of what it looks like, what it's connections are, then look at the pic's shown for the other drives to see if theres obvious differences.

Do you happen to know exactly what drive is currently installed ?
They didn't mention much except it was an 80gig drive when I looked, maybe get Everest and see what that says it is, it may help us to compare the original with your proposed replacements, not much help but a start I hope.

chienyu · 01-13-2007, 05:25 PM

The current drive is an IDE Hitachi 80GB/4200 RPM.

**8210GUY** · 01-13-2007, 06:18 PM

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, but a specific model number is what I was looking for, it may help compare it to the others.

chienyu · 01-13-2007, 06:40 PM

Hitachi_DK23FA-80 44W500

01-10-2007, 11:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
chienyu Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8 OS: XP	VGN-A190 Hard Drive Upgrade I have been looking online for a bit now and I cannot find any information about hard drive upgrades for my Sony VGN-A190. I contacted Sony and they refused to help me stating that there were no available upgrades for my model. I am interested in either HITACHI Travelstar 7K100 HTS721010G9AT00 (0A25015) 100GB 7200 RPM ATA-6 or Seagate Momentus 7200.1 ST910021A 100GB 7200 RPM ATA-6 I just wanted to know if 1. are these HDs compatible? 2. Will it fry my computer? 3. Where do I find the instructions to physically change out the drives Any help is appreciated, thank you Chien

01-13-2007, 03:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Well their pages say the same, that it is not supported, so I have to wonder why, maybe it's in such a tricky location or sealed in it can't be accessed ? And why are you looking to swap it ? a 20 gig increase in size hardly seems worth the trouble or expense, ultimately they are the people who should know about their products and what can\can't be done, so if they say it's not supported then they must have a good reason as to why I would hope, if you simply need more space why not consider an external drive ? it would be the safest option given their comments and double or better your drive space, just a thought.

01-13-2007, 03:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
chienyu Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8 OS: XP	I am swapping the drives for the rpm purposes. I currently have a 4200 and I want to upgrade to a 7200. In the mean time, why not get some extra space?

01-13-2007, 04:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Well on that basis it makes sense yes why not indeed, but I am concerned as to why they say it is not supported, logically they must have one, normally they'd be quick to take your money to upgrade, but I don't know laptops that well so there may be factors I'm not aware of, but while awaiting more input if your confident in having a look inside see if there are any obvious reasons they would say they do not support it, if you can see it take note of what it looks like, what it's connections are, then look at the pic's shown for the other drives to see if theres obvious differences. Do you happen to know exactly what drive is currently installed ? They didn't mention much except it was an 80gig drive when I looked, maybe get Everest and see what that says it is, it may help us to compare the original with your proposed replacements, not much help but a start I hope.

01-13-2007, 05:25 PM	#5 (permalink)
chienyu Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8 OS: XP	The current drive is an IDE Hitachi 80GB/4200 RPM.

01-13-2007, 06:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
8210GUY TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,558 OS: xp Pro	Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, but a specific model number is what I was looking for, it may help compare it to the others.

01-13-2007, 06:40 PM	#7 (permalink)
chienyu Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8 OS: XP	Hitachi_DK23FA-80 44W500