Laptop Hard Drives

The laptop hard drives here are 2.5 inch SATA drives spinning at 5400 RPM, from the Seagate BarraCuda and WD Blue ranges. Seagate runs from the 500GB ST500LM030 through the 1TB ST1000LM048 and 2TB ST2000LM015 to the 4TB ST4000LM024 and 5TB ST5000LM000, all with 128MB cache. WD offers the 1TB WD10SPZX and 2TB WD20SPZX. Seagate and WD each cover these drives with a 2 year warranty.

Choose by capacity first, then check the thickness your laptop's bay takes. The 500GB to 2TB models are the slim 7mm size that fits most laptop bays. The 4TB and 5TB BarraCuda drives are thicker than 7mm, so they suit external USB enclosures, consoles and desktop 2.5 inch bays rather than most laptops. For the 1TB and 2TB sizes there are separate pages for the 1 TB HDD and 2 TB HDD models, and the WD Blue drives have a page of their own. If your laptop has an M.2 slot or you want a faster boot drive, an SSD is the better fit. These hard drives suit bulk storage for files, photos and media.

Frequently asked questions

Will a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive fit my laptop? It will if the laptop has a 2.5 inch SATA bay. Most such bays take 7mm drives, which covers the 500GB, 1TB and 2TB models here.

What is the difference between the Seagate BarraCuda and WD Blue drives? Both are 5400 RPM SATA drives with a 2 year warranty. BarraCuda goes up to 5TB and lists 128MB cache, while WD Blue comes in 1TB and 2TB.

Can these drives be used as external storage? Yes. Any of them works in a 2.5 inch USB enclosure, and the 4TB and 5TB models are mostly used this way.