topic Hard Disk Upgrade VGN BX 297 XP in PCs & Accessories

Hard Disk Upgrade VGN BX 297 XP

tmcmullan — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:33:15 GMT

Hi

My VGN BX 297 XP has two Toshiba 1032GSX Hard Drives each 100 Gig. I would like to upgrade both drives, but would like to know if there is any BIOS limitation on the max size of Drive on this model. I would like to try 500 Gig - but 320 would be fine also

The BIOS version is R0190X5

The drives seem easily accessible via the bottom of the laptop.

Thanks in advance

Tom

Re: Hard Disk Upgrade VGN BX 297 XP

Blencogo — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:58:45 GMT

Hi Tom and welcome to Club Vaio.

Generally speaking there is no upper limit for a SATA hard drive replacement - except that the new HDD is the same physical size. Check any new drive you buy is 9.5mm deep. Several of the new high capacity drives use three platters and are 12.5mm thick and will not fit in most laptops.

Check the configuration of your drives. If you have a DVD drive fitted, then you only have ONE hard disc of 200GB. For you to have TWO hard drives installed means that you have no DVD drive - the DVD drive has been removed from the multifunctional bay and a different bay unit inserted to hold an additional HDD. If this is the case, check the drive carefully in this bay unit because I seem to recall that only PATA drives work in this bay. A single screw holds the bays in the multifunctional bay.

Most VGN-BX297XP models were sold with one SATA hard drive of 200GB plus the DVD Drive fitted in the multifunctional bay - but yours may be different.

Re: Hard Disk Upgrade VGN BX 297 XP

tmcmullan — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:00:08 GMT

Hi Tom and welcome to Club Vaio.

Generally speaking there is no upper limit for a SATA hard drive replacement - except that the new HDD is the same physical size. Check any new drive you buy is 9.5mm deep. Several of the new high capacity drives use three platters and are 12.5mm thick and will not fit in most laptops.

Check the configuration of your drives.  If you have a DVD drive fitted, then you only have ONE hard disc of 200GB. For you to have TWO hard drives installed means that you have no DVD drive - the DVD drive has been removed from the multifunctional bay and a different bay unit inserted to hold an additional HDD.  If this is the case, check the drive carefully in this bay unit because I seem to recall that only PATA drives work in this bay. A single screw holds the bays in the multifunctional bay.

Most VGN-BX297XP models were sold with one SATA hard drive of 200GB plus the DVD Drive fitted in the multifunctional bay - but yours may be different.

Thanks for this prompt and helpful reply.

I have a 17 " screen version of this laptop which has indeed a DVD drive in the Multi-bay but two separate Toshiba 100 Gig drives sitting side by side accessible by removing a panel in the base. Happy days !! The Toshiba drive specification indicates

Hard drive
Form Factor: 2.5" x 1/8H
Capacity: 100 GB
Interface Type: Serial ATA-150
Buffer Size: 16 MB
Features: Giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head technology, shock sensor
Compliant Standards: S.M.A.R.T.
Performance
Spindle Speed: 5400 rpm
Drive Transfer Rate: 150 MBps (external) / 57 MBps (internal)
Seek Time: 12 ms (average) / 22 ms (max)
Track-to-Track Seek Time: 2 ms

So I guess I can go for any 2.5" drive that fits. Do I need to worry about the SATA - 150 Interface type? Some of the larger drives (320 Gig+)indicate a SATA 300 interface. - Do you think they would work in the VGN BX 297 XP?

There are 250G drives about with SATA 150 interface - should I just stick to that?

Thanks again for your help

Tom

Re: Hard Disk Upgrade VGN BX 297 XP

Blencogo — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:46:39 GMT

Hi Tom,

I don't think I have seen one of the 17" BX Vaios. We all live and learn.

The great thing about SATA drives is that they are always backward compatible - so you need not worry about the SATA-100 interface.

Good luck.