Question About Replacing VAIO VGN-A190 Hard Drive

Harkonenn · 01-03-2007, 11:07 AM

I have a Sony VAIO VGN-A190 laptop and the hard drive is on its way out, so I'd like to replace it. The current drive is an IDE Hitachi 80GB/4200 RPM.

I'd like to install a 7200 RPM drive - perhaps a Seagate Momentus 7200.1 - However, the Hitachi is rated 0.5A at 5V, whereas the Seagate is 1.1A at 5V. I'm concerned about frying components in the laptop if I install a drive with a higher amp rating than the one installed. Will this be a major problem? Should I try to find a drive that matches the Hitachi's input power rating? I imagine that if I do, I'm not going to be able to get a nice, speedy 7200...

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

**TheMatt** · 01-03-2007, 12:48 PM

Hi Harkonenn,

You can go from a 4200 RPM hard drive to a 7200 RPM hard drive. You won't have any problems as the internal PSU will supply the hard drive with necessary power. What is important is that you pick up and IDE (ATA-6 or ATA/100) hard drive and not a SATA hard drive.

These would be examples of hard drives compatible with your laptop:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ubCategory=380
Just a note, the Hitachi hard drives are just as good as the Seagate hard drives but often more expensive, so you should look at those too.

Feel free to post back with any other questions.

chienyu · 01-10-2007, 01:05 AM

Harkonenn,

Did you make the upgrade? If so, how well did it work? Which Hard Drive did you choose?

01-03-2007, 11:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
Harkonenn Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 4 OS: XP Pro SP2	Question About Replacing VAIO VGN-A190 Hard Drive I have a Sony VAIO VGN-A190 laptop and the hard drive is on its way out, so I'd like to replace it. The current drive is an IDE Hitachi 80GB/4200 RPM. I'd like to install a 7200 RPM drive - perhaps a Seagate Momentus 7200.1 - However, the Hitachi is rated 0.5A at 5V, whereas the Seagate is 1.1A at 5V. I'm concerned about frying components in the laptop if I install a drive with a higher amp rating than the one installed. Will this be a major problem? Should I try to find a drive that matches the Hitachi's input power rating? I imagine that if I do, I'm not going to be able to get a nice, speedy 7200... Any advice is greatly appreciated!

01-03-2007, 12:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Hi Harkonenn, You can go from a 4200 RPM hard drive to a 7200 RPM hard drive. You won't have any problems as the internal PSU will supply the hard drive with necessary power. What is important is that you pick up and IDE (ATA-6 or ATA/100) hard drive and not a SATA hard drive. These would be examples of hard drives compatible with your laptop: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ubCategory=380 Just a note, the Hitachi hard drives are just as good as the Seagate hard drives but often more expensive, so you should look at those too. Feel free to post back with any other questions. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

01-10-2007, 01:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
chienyu Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8 OS: XP	Did the upgrade work well? Harkonenn, Did you make the upgrade? If so, how well did it work? Which Hard Drive did you choose?