I wanna change my Laptop Hard Drive

gillette147

Hello,

EDIT: See #11 where I thank you all and ask for more free advice lol

New to this area.
I have a Toshiba A100-522 (bought 1 month ago has 60GB) and want to up my Hard Drive Capacity.

I have my eye on the Fujitsu MHV2120AT (details below).
I cannot find on the web the spec of what is in my laptop.
So I've looked what Toshiba's current 60GB laptop drive is and it all seems to match the Fujitsu.

I phoned Toshiba and got what I think is a load of balls - "You cannot put another drive into the laptop even if it's a Toshiba unless it is another identical 60GB" - surely this must be absolute rubbish! She even went away and came back to confirm this.

I wanna buy this from dabs who have it at £99 - v.good I think.

Also..
I thought I'd buy a case to make the old drive into a USB external one.
I have access to Acronis at work so can I
1. Put the new drive into the external case - format and make an image of my existing drive.
2. Swap drives.
3. Reformat old drive now it's in the external case.

Would Bob then be my uncle?
Thanks for any help
Cheers


Richard (Keep on stoozing) :j


Fujitsu MHV2120AT:
Belongs to the Fujitsu MHV series 2.5" 9.5mm laptop hard drives, which featuring Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motors and high shock tolerance (900G, 1 ms, non-operating; 225G, 2 ms operating) for lasting performance, and RoHS-compliant.

Key Features / Specifications

Average Seek Time 12 ms
Data Transfer Rate up to 100MB/sec
Data Buffer 8 MB
Rotational Speed 4,200 rpm
Weight 3.35 oz (94 g)
IDE/ATA interface
Compatible with most (>95%) of the laptops of all brand

primeramikey

full specs for your laptop canbe found at this link
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/selected_product_option.jsp?service=UK&PRODUCT_ID=113591&DISC_MODEL=0&toshibaShop=false

as for swapping the hard drive out , i cant see a problem with this and also think toshiba are talking bulls**t.

the easiest way to check would be to look on the toshiba site for a manual as these normally tell ya how to upgrade parts thay can be upgraded for ya laptop

**EDIT** Manual can be got from here

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/download_manuals.jsp?service=UK

pleae be aware tho that if this laptop is under warrenty that you will totally void any warrenty by installing a new hard drive

Quincy_3

primeramikey wrote:

full specs for your laptop canbe found at this link

http://!!!!!!!.com/hdufr

as for swapping the hard drive out , i cant see a problem with this and also think toshiba are talking bulls**t.

the easiest way to check would be to look on the toshiba site for a manual as these normally tell ya how to upgrade parts thay can be upgraded for ya laptop

**EDIT** Manual can be got from here

http://!!!!!!!.com/jzqw7

Links dont work

They do now

Browntoa

one of the site's names words must be on the forum word filter for some reason

Quincy_3

gillette147 wrote:

I phoned Toshiba and got what I think is a load of balls - "You cannot put another drive into the laptop even if it's a Toshiba unless it is another identical 60GB" - surely this must be absolute rubbish!

This is absolute nonsense of the highest order I just replaced a 40g for an 80g HDD and nothing is wrong at all just made sure it had the same type of connector and type and size.

Quincy_3

Browntoa wrote:

one of the site's names words must be on the forum word filter for some reason

PC World maybe :rotfl: :rotfl:

primeramikey

sorry about the links folks i didnt realise that T I N Y U R L wasnt allowed on the site.. edited so should work now

amcluesent

I've put a Hitachi Travelstar E7K100 into an HP laptop, replacing a Toshiba drive and it's worked fine.

IMHO the Fujitsu MHV2120AT is a bit of a tortoise with a Rotational Speed 4,200 rpm. The E7K100 is 7,200rpm which makes a noticable difference when using the laptop.

nomoneytoday

If you can change the size in the bios, have the connectors and the same physical size drive (usually 2.5" ) then it is a pretty straightforward with modern laptops.

sco0ter

gillette147 wrote:

I phoned Toshiba and got what I think is a load of balls - "You cannot put another drive into the laptop even if it's a Toshiba unless it is another identical 60GB" - surely this must be absolute rubbish! She even went away and came back to confirm this.

What this might mean is you will have reinstall windows.. I had this problem with a Toshiba laptop. If you change the harddrive thier version of windows will take this as a change in hardware and wont let you run windows. I have also had this happen to me on a Time desktop.. I upgraded the bios for my Geforce 4 3 months after getting the comp and it refused to boot windows. I had to obtain an OEM version of widows and install it using the key that was stuck to my case and then activate it... Everything was fine after this

gillette147

Hi and thanx guys,

The plot thickens - I've fetched my user manual from home.
No label on any drawings about where the Hard Drive is - yet my older works tosh it is labelled and they tell you how to do it (Slim Select Bay) !?!

I've also heard bout Windows not working - I've only got a recovery disk from them (I think).

Also, would anyone know to recommend a replacement drive for my PC - I was really hoping to have 120GB - I've already filled up my 60GB with music and I haven't finished yet lol.

Again Cheers