Adding 2nd hard drive to laptop. Recommendations?

So here lately (within the past two months) I had to have my laptop's hard drive replaced and in the process of doing that I discovered it had a secondary hard drive bay. I didn't think much of it till now when I realized "hey, I can add another hard drive to put more of my stuff on here.".

Anyhow, I don't know much about all the technical jargon but this is the basics of what I'm looking for:

-2.5" SATA drive
-At least 750 GB
-Around $100. It can be higher but not too much. Cheaper, if you can find it.
-A brand that's known for being reliable (i.e. not constantly overheating, failing)

Yes I looked on Newegg but I felt I didn't really know what I was doing, hence asking here.

Personally I like western digital and samsung, never had any problems with them, but a lot of people like seagate. I would recommend one of these, they are all 750GB to 1TB and 5400 rpm. You don't really need speed if you are using them for storage.

You can get a 1 or 2 Terabyte drive from Costco for about $100.

I think you have to have a membership to be able to shop there, right? I'm not a member, so this doesn't really help me.

You could always order online from amazon or some other reliable tech site. If you have enough trust, you could always use ebay.

With your price range of $100 you will be limited to 1TB drives anything bigger will be upwards of $200ish. Also 2.5" drives are more expensive than 3.5" drives and you will most likely not find them at retail stores. Reference is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236348 2TB HDD price $229.99

Another question. Also considering adding an internal Blu-ray player to my laptop. Does it matter what brand/model drive I choose. Also, while researching, came across a term I hadn't heard before. What is a bezel and how does it relate to installing a drive?

I have never upgraded my laptop's dvd drive so I can't say if the brand/make will matter, but I would imagine that it would, and for what a bezel is. >.> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezel

Another question and need an answer quick. I think I found the hard drive I wanna get a Seagate 750 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. My question is do you think I'll need to get the cord(s) to connect it to my computer or will it come with those? If so, what is/are the cords I will need to order?

Edit: Already bought it with a 15% code and got a 1-year warranty on it as well for 80 dollars & 87 cents. Unfortunately, I had to have it shipped to my house instead of to my dorm because it apparently wasn't a confirmed address. I guess I'll just have to wait until Friday when I go home for the weekend to install it.

Laptop hard drives don't need cables, they attach directly to the SATA (and power) slot on the motherboard.

Hope it works when you install it.

For my computer, when I talked to the people at Best Buy (when I had to replace my hard drive) they said I would need a cord to install a 2nd hard drive.

What they are talking about bezels is that you can add a hard drive in the slot where your cd/dvd/blu-ray drive is. The bezel is the plastic that would fit in the slot and hold the drive. But that means you have to choose between the dvd player or a second internal.

Otherwise there isn't any way to add a 2nd hard drive as laptops do not have the room for them. You just have to get an external hard drive and plug it in via usb, firewire, or esata if your laptop has them.

No, I don't think you understand. My laptop has, in addition to the hard drive and dvd player already in it, space for a secondary hard drive in the same location as the regular hard drive. What that means is I don't have to choose between anything.

For example:



skip to about 0:35

Weird. Have fun then!

If you want a reliable hard-drive go with Hitachi next time, not Western Digital and definitely not Seagate.

For today only from Newegg a 750 GB Samsung laptop hard drive is half price. I haven't had a problem with any brands of hard drives. My Seagate is still kicking and it is 10 years old and I have a few newer Western Digitals running no problem. Its more about your luck for how long they last.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152290

It does partly depend on luck, that is undeniable, but research should still be done. Not all models produced by a manufacturer are made equal and some statistically have higher failure rates than others.

I repair and diagnose many hard-drive failures, and they aren't my own or my friends. From my own experience Hitachi drives have had the highest life expectancy in the recent years while Western Digital and Toshiba manage to go head to head with each other, Samsung drives fair the worst out of all of them.

This is most likely going to change quite soon though. Western Digital is working out a deal to buy Hitachi, but EU regulators and the U.S. FTC won't let them acquire both Hitachi's 3.5" and 2.5" sectors, so WD is planning to sell Toshiba Hitachi's 3.5" sector. By reducing the HDD market to a mere three manufacturers and with the 3.5" internal Toshiba promotion campaign that's sure to come, we'll probably see an increase in quality in the next year or two from each manufacturer as to either help increase or maintain their current market share.

Edit: Pressed post instead of preview, didn't finish writing.

So I finally got home to install my new hard drive, but apparently, after talking with the Geek Squad guys, it seems my computer, an HP Pavilion DV7-6135dx, needs a proprietary HP brand cable in order for me to use it. I called HP to find out how much it costs, thinking it wouldn't be that expensive. It turns out that they DON'T sell just the cable. You have buy a whole goddamn hard drive caddy kit that costs $47.50 just to get this motherfucking cable. (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻ . Do I seem angry, because, yes, I am angry.

Does ANYONE know where I can find JUST a second hard drive cable for an HP Pavilion DV7 6135dx at a cheap price?

edit: After some extensive searching on the internet, I finally found a single U.S. based distributor based out of Orange County, California that specializes in hard drive supplies (caddies, cables, external inclosures, etc.) who just happen to carry this specific cord I need. http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=379&zenid=307ddece3ee993420e49e45fceac1d9e

An Update - I finally got the cord from Newmodeus to hook up my new hard drive and I am moving stuff onto it as I type this. I did have to look up how to get it to work though. It was my first time initializing a hard drive and I was surprised by how simple it was.

I think it's awesome that your laptop has two bays for a harddrive. It makes me want to ditch my current laptop and build a custom one with a solid state boot drive just like my desktop. I am still adding stuff onto my desktop and now you have given me an idea for something to do after I finish.