Yeah the test failed so writing zeros won't help any.
Some of our hardware guys may need to advise you better, but if you found an OEM for your model for a good price and you confirm it will fit or that they will guarantee it then it might be your best bet.
Ok, I'm new to laptops, are all brands of 2.5" SATA drives compatible since that's what I just pulled out of it?
I'm really just looking for the cheapest 500g I can find.
What brand goes in doesn't really matter, compatibility wise. Form factor has to match and interface has to match. Form factor in this case is 2.5 inch and the interface is SATA. If your buying a spinner a SATA II drive isn't going to be all that much faster than a SATA I drive. Still, if the cost difference isn't all that much I'd still get a SATA II drive if the laptop has a SATA II interface. One thing that will affect your performance is whether the drive spines at 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM. 5400 RPM drives are used in laptops to reduce power drain when on battery and reduce heat produced during use. The downside is poor performance speed wise compared to a 7200 RPM drive which is what you'd find in a desktop PC. The laptop manufacturer may have a list or suggested drives, drives that it knows will work with out issue. Me personally I haven't had a drive compatibility issue in ages, and the ones I had all resulted from putting in a large capacity drive that was unsupported by the BIOS. Those days are pretty well over for most of us unless your dealing with a multi tetra byte drive.
I've been trying to figure out if it's SATA I or II
I really just want to get the cheapest possible replacement for it to get it up & working.
It's an Acer aspire 5750Z-4830
I found this Cnet review of the 5750-4217, it might not be exactly it, but all of the specs seem to match, including processor, it's saying:
Acer Aspire 5750Z-4217 Specs (15.6" - P B940 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB HDD) - Laptops - CNET Reviews
Storage
- Hard Drive 500.0 GB HDD / 5400.0 rpm
- Interface Serial ATA-300
Is that it?
I took a pic of the HDD, but it didn't mention anything about the SATA
Is there any other way to tell since the thing won't boot?
I found a manufactured refurb on ebay for $47, seems to be the best deal I was able to find.
500GB Hard Drive for Acer Aspire 5720 5730 5735 5738 5740 5745 5750 5820 5910 | eBay
That was specific to searching for the 5750 model. So you're saying I can probably even find one cheaper by just looking at any laptop 2.5" ?
SATA I is SERIAL ATA 150, SATA II is SERIAL ATA 300. A SATA I drive will run on a SATA II interface and vise versa. WD5000BPVT is the model number of the drive shown. Untitled Page It's SATA 3 Gb's, a SATA II drive. You can put just about any 2.5 inch SATA drive you want in there. It doesn't have to be 500 gig either. You can go bigger or smaller. 120 gig should be fine. 80 gig would work too, but you'll be limited on how much free space you have to play with. How big a drive you install depends on what you do with the PC and what you want to store on it.
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