What is your preference for LAPTOP hardrives!

blueodessey

Well-known member
You can see what my Computer is on Signature, Looks like I have this drive on HP Envy

Manufacturer: Hitachi
Part Number: HTS541010A9E680
Details: Hitachi HTS541010A9E680 HD 2.5 1TB SATA3 5400RPM 9.5MM HITACHI
:)I would like to know,,I'm thinking of replacing HD in the future as the drive is to slow for Trainz TS12 version,

:eek:I have found out, over the course of 6 months owning my new Laptop, that it works better when I'm doing save files for Surveyor, or downloads for intense updates, to let the hard drive catch up on Read/Writes under WIN10. If i push to hard like draw distance, or Zoom to new map locations, sometimes I'll crash, of course I'm stuck with Builtin Video card as well. I havn't had time to setup TS12 on a desktop, and I realize it run better on Desktops overall, since I don't own ALIEN or similar gaming Laptop!

;)Anyway, consideration of exchanging said HD to Hybrid, or SSD, which in your opinion is the lesser of 2 evils. Not concerned on cost, I'm looking for performance.

I do the normal maintenance, Defag, mem. mgt. etc to optimize my Laptop as much as I can. Also try to make sure Trainz is only program running, but you can tell by HD light, this drive doesn't keep up very well. And the builtin Video card, well lets just say, I never liked the idea, it sucks, and I have 12 megs of memory, no issue there!
 
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SSDs for performance. A 5,400 drive is built for low power, SSDs are low power anyway. Raptors are high performance they run at 10,000 rpm.

Cheerio John
 
As John said an SSD for performance, Sandisk currently have 1TB SSDs for around £200 UK prices (USA will probably be cheaper), they claim them to be 25 x faster than a conventional disk..

Or if an SSD will physically fit in the case as well as your existing HD go for a 450-500GB GB SSD at half the price, this should cover you for Trainz / TANE etc (mine fits on a 240GB SSD).

I'm wondering though if your biggest problem is the laptops built in graphics. I have no idea if you can upgrade that at all...

Chris M
 
SSD for speed. HDD for capacity and Hybrid as a compromise between the two. Some modern HDD are in practice faster than the early SSD's so be careful if bargain hunting. You might also like to consider how much speed you will actually gain for the outlay when your weakest link is probably the graphics which you can do very little about other than disable or remove everything on the screen running in the background. Peter
 
HD Preference rersults

Gentleman, Thank you for the excellent info, in retrospect, unfortunately, the downside of owning any laptop, your stuck with the Video Issue, you can't switch it out, its part of the Mother Board, and I hate it, however for when I travel, it is great compared to hauling a desktop, which you know the cost of luggage on Airlines these days!

So yes, the video is an issue, just as it is on my IPAD, in fact that is where I learned about Video performance was on Apple Ipad with Trainz Driver 2, hard lesson for me, but it taught me respect, and I'm able to play my Game when I'm somewhere and IPAD is better to use than Laptop for convenience issues.

Now that being said, agree on SSD from your comments, from what I can see, Speed and Electrical usage very key for Laptop! and thinking it over faster drive, more heat, more drain on Battery, more to cool in enclosed compartment of Laptop shell?

So I'll snoop around :D and see what I can find along the line of SSD's, I haven't cracked the case yet on this Laptop so I not sure how this HD space is laid out in my Laptop. Looks like about 5 tiny screws and plate should reveal it easy.

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/9669/q5gsna.jpg

Mojave Sub, Session Pic is Walong Stall......Like the route, lots of exploring to do........

Thanks again for chatting with me helps me make a much more qualified decision.........
 
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Laptop graphics are an issue but you can still do a little to gain that extra few percent of performance.

It doesn't look pretty but first return to a single colour screen then remove all the icons and dump the widgets, as everything on the screen whether visible or in the background uses a little of the CPU/GPU resources.

Second there is little in Windows 10 which is not enabled by default. Go into Settings and taking each option in turn and work through the sub-menus switching-off/disabling everything you don't need. although its prudent to keep anti-virus and firewall I guess.

Third uninstall all the programs you don't actually need/use. They may not be running but anti-virus will still check them which in itself uses resources. The same can be said for any files which could be moved to external storage.

Forth, run the likes of CCleaner from Piriform, the basic version is free and safe but is excellent for clearing the junk and optimizing Windows. It will also list what is being loaded in the background and allow it to be disabled, and/or deleted in the future.

Fifth, defrag the HDD (BUT NOT SSD IF YOU EVENTUALLY PURCHASE ONE). Defrag not only optimizes the HDD read/write performance but reduces power consumption because the drive is used less. Again Piriform has a good free defrag utility.

I'll agree you will likely finish up with a bland, thinner laptop but the aim is to make the most of Trainz not particularly to own a pretty laptop however much most of us would like to have both. Peter
 
Agreed on buying the best, possibly in a couple of years, I'll spend more Pirates Booty on the next one, my parents passed last year, and well, you know, funeral expenses, gggrrrrrrrrrr specially when they didn't prepare for burial stuff. Going to take me a while to pay the burail bill, you see even when you die, the charges still add up for the family!

Thanks for tips on Win 10, Cleaner, and Icons, funny thing, I did have half my screen full of Icons, now on an 1/8th, been busy cleaning, deleting and throwing out excesses!!!!
 
Just check your power plan, you may find it is on Balanced which gives medium performance and battery time when using it on batteries, however, if you don't use it on batteries and its plugged in, you could change this to Performance and you might find you will get a bit more oomph out of it. Downside is of course shorter battery time when using it on batteries (unless you change it back to Balanced when you are on batteries).

Getting back to hard drives, make sure you create any recovery media before taking your existing hard drive out so you can do a fresh install on a new drive. You may also have to change some BIOS settings to "Legacy" to initially boot from a CD drive or USB drive.
 
I'm currently using a Samsung 850 evo in mine, and with the right settings in the Samsung control panel, you can get this thing working super fast. Currently using a similiar configuration to the OP's, with an i7-6600u, 12gb ram, hd 520 and nvidia quadro m500m at 1080p. Havn't tried trainz on it yet though
 
Gary625 & Iannz, copy on 850 Evo, n backup b4 chg drives. Appreciate all good info. I would like fresh install since i upgraded from win 8.1 to Win 10.
 
I just did a fantastic upgrade on my Laptop, and I will post more when I get a chance...And hopefully pictures I took.....Have a great weekend all.....
 
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