SATA drive upgrade question

[TechDean]

Hello,

I am looking to replace the original single SATA3 drive in my DV7t-7000 with 2 new drives.  I'm looking at a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD for the boot drive and a Western Digital WD10JPLX (1 TB/7200rpm/SATA3/4096 block).  I need some advice on if these components will work with my older HP laptop.

I've done some looking and I'm not certain a 1TB/7200rpm would be recognized by the system.  I've read where I might need to go with a 5400rpm drive instead (again, not sure).  I'm also concerned about the 4096 AF (Advanced Format) specs on the new drive compared to my old drive.  I've read that some of the newer drives can run in 512e (Emulation) mode to be compatible with older systems.  I've looked for SATA specs on my laptop and can't find if it would support the 4k AF format.

If someone with more familiarity with drive upgrades could let me know if these drives would work for my upgrade (or suggest other specs that would be better), I would appreciate it.  I can still buy a new version of the original 1TB drive for less money, but the new WD Black drive has a 5 yr warranty vs the 2 yr on the OEM Seagate drive.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dean

[Huffer]

Your laptop is not old enough for you to have to worry about these compatibility concerns. You can install the Samsung 850 Evo SSD as the main boot drive and the WD 1 TB 7200 rpm mechanical drive in the secondary bay with no problems. 

Do you have both adapters/caddies? Second bay caddy can be ordered at www.newmodeus.com

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[y2ken]

A good place to start is with the HP Advanced Format Hard Drive Identification Tool. 

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        If my answer solved your problem please mark it as the Accepted Solution. Thanks!

[y2ken]

Never mind. Mr. Huffer seems to have answered your question. 

[TechDean]

Yes, I ordered the SSD and 2nd drive bay (newmodeus) from Amazon.  I was waiting to order the new HD until I had an answer about the compatability. 

Will my laptop accept the new WD HDA/run it in 4k mode, or would I need to manually do anything to switch it over to 512e mode?  Thanks again for your help.

Dean

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Since it is just going to be storage all you need to do is put the 1 TB drive in and use the disk management console to initialize it, partition it, format it and assign it drive letters (mount it). Windows 7 and higher will work fine with Advanced format drives. 

[TechDean]

I'll do that then.  Thanks again for your advice.