Notebook HD

HP claims that only "their" hard drives should be used in my notebook.
(dv9700t).

Does HP actually make hard drives?

AFAIK, HP has never made its own disk drives. Way back in the early days of
SCSI, HP imposed on Seagate to make drives with HP firmware, HP stickers and HP
part numbers. Those days are long past. Now, HP buys notebook drives from,
variously, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Seagate, or Western Digital (whichever is
cheapest), puts its own HP sticker on them, and puts them in its notebooks.

Depending on the meaning of "their", you have either been lied to or misled. In
this day, we also debate the meaning of the word "is", so maybe HP did not lie.
Regardless, what you have been told is a large crock of manure... Ben Myers

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:09:15 -0600, swalker <> wrote:

>HP claims that only "their" hard drives should be used in my notebook.
>(dv9700t).
>
>Does HP actually make hard drives?

"swalker" <> wrote in message
news:...
> HP claims that only "their" hard drives should be used in my notebook.
> (dv9700t).
>
> Does HP actually make hard drives?

I doubt it. I just replaced an 80 GB drive in a dv4550. The original drive
was, as I recall, a Maxtor but the label also had HP's name and part number
on it. I just called the local computer store and they had one close in size
and it worked fine. The replacement was most definitely NOT and HP drive.

I hope this helps.

--
Herb

[Disclaimer: Not that it *matters*, but ...]

Ben Myers <> wrote:
> AFAIK, HP has never made its own disk drives.

For *PCs* that's probably true. But in a distant past, HP *did* make
its own disc (note "disc", not that silly "disk" business! :-)) drives.
But those were the days that a disc of a few hundred *Mega*byte was a
very big - both in capacilty and physically - and expensive disc. IIRC
it started with a 5MB HP7900A and ended with a 350MB (?) HP7935A.

Your exposure to HP disks pre-dates mine, which dates only from the PC and
workstation era. The only HP-branded disk drives I ever saw were clearly OEM
products back in the mid-90s. To this day, a HP sticker on a disk drive still
indicates that it is an OEM. It seems like every computer manufacturer tried to
manufacture their own disk drives once upon a time, but most could not deal with
the inherent reliability issues especially as recording densities have
increased.

The U.S. of A. trade press and the general press (newspapers and magazines)
generally refers to them as disK drives, so naturally I comply with the brand of
English here in the colonies... Ben Myers

On 11 Feb 2008 21:38:16 GMT, Frank Slootweg <> wrote:

>[Disclaimer: Not that it *matters*, but ...]
>
>Ben Myers <> wrote:
>> AFAIK, HP has never made its own disk drives.
>
> For *PCs* that's probably true. But in a distant past, HP *did* make
>its own disc (note "disc", not that silly "disk" business! :-)) drives.
>But those were the days that a disc of a few hundred *Mega*byte was a
>very big - both in capacilty and physically - and expensive disc. IIRC
>it started with a 5MB HP7900A and ended with a 350MB (?) HP7935A.

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:09:15 -0600, swalker <> wrote:

>HP claims that only "their" hard drives should be used in my notebook.
>(dv9700t).
>
>Does HP actually make hard drives?


Thanks for all the comments.

Now, does anybody think that one brand is better than another?

If so, which would you buy.

The notebook has dual 120 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA drives.

If it matters, I plan to image (clone) the drive(s) using an external
holder and USB cable.

Thanks for all the help.

south walker

My short list in approximate order of preference is:
Fujitsu
Seagate
Western Digital
Hitachi

I would consider any of them to be acceptable, and any other brand not
acceptable. I would not even come close to a Maxtor drive.

The first two are more expensive and generally less available in mass retail
outlets like Frys, Circuit City and Best Buy... Ben Myers

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:21:02 -0600, swalker <> wrote:

>On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:09:15 -0600, swalker <> wrote:
>
>>HP claims that only "their" hard drives should be used in my notebook.
>>(dv9700t).
>>
>>Does HP actually make hard drives?
>
>
>Thanks for all the comments.
>
>Now, does anybody think that one brand is better than another?
>
>If so, which would you buy.
>
>The notebook has dual 120 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA drives.
>
>If it matters, I plan to image (clone) the drive(s) using an external
>holder and USB cable.
>
>Thanks for all the help.
>
>south walker

Ben Myers <> wrote:
[...]
> The U.S. of A. trade press and the general press (newspapers and
> magazines) generally refers to them as disK drives, so naturally I
> comply with the brand of English here in the colonies... Ben Myers

Yes, "disc" versus "disk" is partially a language thing, but also in
the US they *used* to be called "disc", i.e. HP - an American company -
said (only) "disc".

See for example:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_7935>

<http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=274>

and the two documents on <http://hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=274>

> On 11 Feb 2008 21:38:16 GMT, Frank Slootweg <> wrote:
>
> >[Disclaimer: Not that it *matters*, but ...]
> >
> >Ben Myers <> wrote:
> >> AFAIK, HP has never made its own disk drives.
> >
> > For *PCs* that's probably true. But in a distant past, HP *did* make
> >its own disc (note "disc", not that silly "disk" business! :-)) drives.
> >But those were the days that a disc of a few hundred *Mega*byte was a
> >very big - both in capacilty and physically - and expensive disc. IIRC
> >it started with a 5MB HP7900A and ended with a 350MB (?) HP7935A.

Frank Slootweg <> wrote:
> For *PCs* that's probably true. But in a distant past, HP *did*
> make its own disc (note "disc", not that silly "disk" business! :-))
> drives. But those were the days that a disc of a few hundred
> *Mega*byte was a very big - both in capacilty and physically - and
> expensive disc. IIRC it started with a 5MB HP7900A and ended with a
> 350MB (?) HP7935A.

My recollection is that the 7935 was 400MB removable. Used to copy
them with a disc copy station based on an HP85.

I thought that HP actually went a little farther in disc's - ISTR that
some of the 1GB SE or FWD mechs (Cmumble product numbers) may have
been HP rather than rebrands, and then there was the aborted
"Kittyhawk" 1.5" (?) discs which were just a little ahead of their
time.

rick jones
--
a wide gulf separates "what if" from "if only"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

* Frank Slootweg:

> For *PCs* that's probably true. But in a distant past, HP *did* make
> its own disc (note "disc", not that silly "disk" business! :-)) drives.
> But those were the days that a disc of a few hundred *Mega*byte was a
> very big - both in capacilty and physically - and expensive disc. IIRC
> it started with a 5MB HP7900A and ended with a 350MB (?) HP7935A.

HP also once made generic 3.5" disk drives. I still have the old HP-made
(no, it's not a HP-labeled OEM disk) 1GB disk somewhere that came with
an HP9000 E10 server long ago.

Benjamin