sata drive replacement - but what type

[jimmy mumu]

right, thinking bout changing my friends hd its sata, according to hp it says
Hard drive

160 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec)
7200 rpm
here's a link to full spec

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01197709&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=3633780〈=en (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01197709&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=3633780&lang=en)

what drive should i replace it with only i know bugger all bout sata drives, cheerz

[BlackDiamondJr]

Any 3.0 SATA hard drive would suffice.

The variables would revolve around personal choices such as brand preferences, drive capacity and price

With the price of the hard drives these days, I would recommend the the largest drive he can afford.

I am a bit partial to Seagate drives (currently, this changes with personal experience and I am loyal ONLY to performance), but others may have other recommendations.

[jimmy mumu]

how do i know whats a 3.0 sata drive

[TierraDelFuego]

anything that says SATAII, as SATAI is only 1.5

[Van Nugent]

With the price of the hard drives these days, I would recommend the the largest drive he can afford.I agree! Right now the 640GB ones have the best $/GB ratio. Averagely, the 640GB ones are $75-$85 each. The 500GB's are $65-$75 ea. I just bought a Seagate 400GB from newegg.com last week when it was on sale for $49.99 shipped. Expect to see the 1TBs going down below the $100 mark soon.

[jimmy mumu]

cheerz

[Van Nugent]

Let's be aware that the Green drives from WDC are slow drives to help keep the drives running cooler. They're running b/w 5400-7200RPM. Some people like them because they're running cool, especially for HTPC's. I don't :D and I don't care much about these Green drives because my case has two 80mm intake fans right at the drive bay area. I like my HDDs to run fast @ their full 7200RPM speed. Just a note for folks who are considering buying the WD drives.

Edit: If your friend is running Windows XP, he needs to make sure he has at least XP SP1 to run the big hard drives.

[Van Nugent]

He'll be happy with this Seagate 500GB (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130826) HDD if the price is OK.