Re: upgrade 4200hd or add more ram?


"Andrew" <usenetMYSHOES@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:czcasdzcasddddd8082037011@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Suburban <sub.this@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> : I just got my first laptop, acer 5000 series, 4200rpm 80gig hd and
> 512megs
> : of ram with a 1.6ghz amd64 turion chip mainly to develop programs for
> : winxp64. I'm generally pleased with the performance except in some
> instances
> : where the system will freeze a bit and everytime that happens I see the
> hd
> : light constantly on. Ideally I would want a 7200 rpm hd but those are
> too
> : expensive but I wonder if a 5400 hd will make that much of a difference
> : compared to going to a gig of ram to reduce the hd access.
>
> What are you doing at the time when this happens? Do you have a lot
> of programs open or is one using a lot of memory (e.g. photoshop)? It
> sounds like Windows is running out of free RAM and has to swap out.
> You can verify this by doing ctrl-alt-del to get into Task Manager at
> about the time you see this behavior and see how much RAM is in use
> (Commit Charge at the bottom right of the window).
>
It mostly happens when I'm switching from one app to another, I do run a
development environment, a few browser windows, media player, ftp client,
rdp client, word and outlook express. For example when outlook express is
loading this newsgroup the hd light goes on for a while and all the other
programs stop responding for a bit

> In that case, adding more RAM is the obvious solution. A faster hard
> drive might speed up the swapping, but it's still gonna swap.
>
> : Also related question, can I just buy any laptop hd and stick it in the
> : laptop? Does it have to be configured in anyway like restoring the acer
> : backup program and will I void my warranty by upgrading the hd that
> cames
> : with the laptop?
>
> Well...read the warranty. As for configuring the new hard drive: if
> you have a restore CD/DVD, you can put in a blank hard drive and
> restore the laptop to original factory condition including software if
> you want. Another approach is to clone your old drive to the new one
> with software like Acronis True Image or Symantec Ghost. To do that
> you'd need a 2.5" USB enclosure. Some money involved in this
> approach, but in the future you might use the old drive in the USB
> enclosure as a backup hard drive.
>
thanks for the info, I do have the backup ds, I'll get a 40gig 5400 and see
how it works out.


.

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