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PeteHH

Hi,

my F190 has a broken harddisk (6,4 GB).

I would like to save money by getting another harddisk from a used vaio through ebay. (In my computer repair shop, they told me, a new hard disk (20 GB) would cost me EUR 160.-, just for the part. And they would perform the necessary BIOS update.)

Can I also use the harddisk of an F-305 or F-304? Is it ok as long as it is 2,5 inch/9,5mm and no more than 20 GB?

Is there a list of harddisks which are compatible to my F-190? And for which of them do I need to perform a BIOS update? Where do I get the appropriate BIOS?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Peter

kee-lo_

Wasn't this the first wave of VAIOs?
I would go with the repair shop, fiddling around to find a decent drive can be messy, and if they have a drive which is 6 years old it's prone to failing. Best getting a brand new one, get some years out of it.

PeteHH

You're right, my F190 was built in 1999.

I wasn't aware that harddisks are so often prone to failing. Mine seems to have suffered from overheating due to a failure of the temperature regulation.

I thought: why put in a brand new harddisk into an old vaio. Putting one in from another f190 or the like should be fine. But your post has made be think twice about that. Do you really think I am running a great risk of another harddisk failure, even if I get the temperature regulation problem fixed?

Could you also help me with my original questions?

kee-lo_

Hi Pete,

Yeah I think you are running a risk - simply because if you find a second hand F series it's going to be 5-6 years old. Heat and all that can cause damage as you have seen, so clean it up while you're there.

As for the other question, as long as it's a 2.5" and 20GB, as I don't know if they have updated the BIOS lately I can't really suggest a bigger disk.

PeteHH

Thanks for your advice, we decided to have them put in a new disk.

They now offered us another model of a suitable new 20 GB disk for about 90 Euro. That means we will have to pay 250 Euro for the whole repair rather than the 320 Euro they asked for first.

It still is a lot of money for an old notebook. On the other hand, if chances are that we will be able to use it for a few years to come, then we will not make a mistake, I believe. It rather seems that we are avoiding one that might have cost us more nerves and money in the end.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany,

Pete