Advice on replacing hard drive

[km268]

I own a Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S. It recently got dropped and I have been told the hard disk is cracked. I am looking for a new one but have no idea what to buy.

I have been told this is a 2.5" hard disk, is that correct? I was looking at upgrading to a larger storage capacity (120Gb to 250/320Gb) and was also looking to get a 7200rpm model as opposed to a 5400rpm model. Would I be able to do this without having to upgrade any other parts of the laptop?

While I am going through replacing the hard drive is it worth upgrading any other parts to a newer version (i.e. processor)?

I also did not make recovery discs for my system, I understood Sony should be able to supply these but I was told that they no longer do this and it is downloadable from the website which I didn't think was accurate? I previously ran home premium but does anyone know if it would be possible to upgrade to Ultimate without buying the whole software package?

Thanks for you help

Kieran

[Shinma]

... Sony Vaio VGN-CR11S...

Depending on the model,
That series is listed as sold with a 120GB, SATA, HDD.

Incomplete model info.

In your described scenario,
Following posted at Sony UK:

If you deleted the recovery partition and you did not create any recovery discs, contact VAIO...

You did not delete the recovery partition however the results/effects the same ...

[Tuttle]

It's a fairly modern laptop, so I don't think the capacity would be a problem. The speed, however, will affect both heating and power usage, so if either of those was annoying you before then going to 7200rpm might push it over the edge.

As for other parts, laptops generally aren't designed to be upgradable apart from possibly adding bits (like more RAM, or a wireless or bluetooth module if one was originally an option but not installed).

To use an upgrade to Vista Ultimate (either a retail Upgrade kit or the Windows Anytime Upgrade thing), you'll need to have Home Premium installed first. Have a chat to Sony and see how they suggest you get Windows back on your laptop.

[km268]

Thanks for the advice, the laptop wasn't overly hot or bad on power but would it not be recommended to go for the faster hard drive?

Could you recommend any particular hard drive to get as I have no idea of which are good abd which are bad.

Cheers

[Midknyte]

faster rpm drives produce more heat and drain the battery faster. If those aren't a concern to you, then a 7200rpm drive should be fine. I usually recommend Seagate or Hitachi.

[jimbo1763]

Take a look at the warranty. Lots of notebook hard drives have 5 year warranties these days-pretty sporty.

[km268]

Will the warranty cover this if the harddrive has been broken by dropping it? I thought this was classed as neglect? I don't want to send it away and end up having it back in 3 weeks with nothing fixed!

[jimbo1763]

Actually, I meant to take a look at the warranties on the replacement drives-the length will vary from maker to maker.