HDD recommendation

[bruce73]

Just got my T200 today (C1). I tried to put the HDD from my old Toshiba laptop into the dock, but the only way the screws line up is if the circuitboard is on the bottom, clearly not the correct way. I figured all 2.5" discs were sized the same way, but guess not (?). So, what would be a recommended HDD (not a SSD)?

Edit: more info, this Toshiba drive is SATA 2, probably 6-7 years old. Should I be looking for SATA 3?

Edit2: OK, think I have it figured out. The Toshiba is 9.5mm. I need to find one that is 7mm.

[scajjr29]

No just don't use the bracket that is in the keyboard dock. DO put the screws that held it in back in tough, I believe they help hold the dock together. I put a 9.5mm Crucial M4 I had laying around in my T200TA C1 and it fit after I decided not to use the bracket that comes in the dock.

Sam

[scajjr29]

As for the speed the T200 sees any drive in the keyboard dock as a USB external as that's the interface to the tablet so I get USB speeds to the SSD in mine.

Sam

[benbillybobjoe]

I'm using a 120GB Crucial SSD. I got it from Best Buy on sale for around $60 after tax. I loaded all my Steam and GoG.com games on it and still have over 50GB left.

I've got Microsoft office and some other critical programs on the built in SSD... Unless you are planning to load the thing down with several GB worth of video's and pic's then I would suggest just getting a cheap SSD. It won't compromise the efficiency nor data security. If you go with a regular Hard Drive then you are putting your data at extreme risk of corruption because a regular Hard Drive has moving parts.

Those are my thoughts.

[Chadder43]

So you guys should like this one. I feel like such a moron, but hey I figured it would be a normal thing.

Silly me thought I could just go in to a local store, and buy a 1tb SATA 2.5inch drive and jam it in, needless to say it didn't work, the drive was too fat. So I sent Asus a Email asking why, and I returned to the store that I got the HDD from, with T200TA in hand and went up to the front counter and started talking to one of the employees. He took the drive out of the box and tried to jam it into the dock, you could physically see the connections flexing and the cover wouldn't go on without squishing the keyboard out. so I said "is that alright to be putting that much pressure on the connections?" He said it is alright to squish it in there, it wont hurt anything...

Yeah Ill give you a second to take that in...

Oh and this was on the front counter....

After about 30 minutes I finally was told to get a 500gb drive and it will fit, so I bought it went home and tried to put it in. Guess what it didn't fit. At this point I checked my email to find a reply from Asus saying:

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is Carter and it is my pleasure to help you with your problem.
According to the spec of this T200TA, you need to install 2.5" 7mm HDD, this smart HDD tray allows self-upgrade storage size up to 1TB.
Welcome to refer Troubleshooting & FAQ for ASUS products in ASUS website:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support-

I was absolutely furious so I decided it was a good idea to sent an email to the GM of the store that I got HDD, and the poor service from. He was out, but one of his managers emailed me back and he ordered me a Crucial M550 512GB 2.5" 7mm drive, and paying the difference to make up for the service I received when I was in the store.

*UPDATE* I went into the store and returned to wrong HDD I had purchased. The assistant Manager came out and shook my hand, so I started to talk to him. I asked if he had a Samsung micro USB to USB converter for my old sgs3 and he ran and grabbed me one he had out back, He cashed me out and the total for the HDD and the USB connector was... well it came to like $21.00 yes twenty-one dollars... He gave me the HDD to compensate, and as remedy, for the experience that I had in the store that day.

Now that's customer service!
And for the fit I purchased another HDD while I was waiting for it to arrive It was a "500GB 7200RPm SATA 3.0GB/S 7MM 4K Hard drive.
The Hard Drives fit like a charm, although I imagine the Crucial is getting better battery life still to early to tell...