Hard Drive Replacement

Tozer

Hi

Posted yesterday regarding a problem with my laptop HD following a bit of a drop.

I've run the diagnostics and it is revealing a 2000-0142 fault which appears to mean that the HD is failing.

So new HD time. The laptop is a Dell Vostro with a 120GB 5400rpm SATA drive. Am I right in assuming that I can simply pick up ANY 2.5" SATA drive from Ebuyer or somewhere? Can I use the opportunity to upgrade to 7200rpm and a larger capacity?

I've backed up as best I can and have the OS CDs so hopefully I can get up and running fairly quickly.

Any ideas what SATA II is?

Many thanks.

MX5huggy

Yep that's the general plan.

I have one of these http://www.!!!!!!!!!.com/product_info.php?language=en&currency=GBP&products_id=5

Not recommending the seller never used them. Then you can just plug the old HD in to your USB if you have left anything on it.

nomoreheroes

If you have access to another pc you can make an exact copy of your hard drive using software such as acronis true image, fit a new HD to your laptop and then copy the "image" back.
Your laptop will then be exactly the same as it was before but with a new / larger harddrive.

JasX

you you'll need to get an operating system back onto your PC, options include:

using restore disks that came with it

the image method mentioned above (if old drive is readable should be quite easy but I don;t tend to do it myself)

getting hold of a windows OEM install disk (borrowed, downloaded off the internet) and reinstalling your old OS that way

getting hold of windows7 and using it as an opportunity for an OS upgrade too

SATA2 is the 'next version up' to SATA1 and offers twice as fast access speeds, it is designed to be backwards compatible with SATA1 (ie if you have a SATA1 laptop and put a SATA2 drive in it it'll be fine to run at slower SATA1 speeds -were some issues with older chipsets not being properly compatible with SATA2 drives but these were relatively rare) -if in doubt some manufacturers included a jumper switch on their drives that let you force it to run as a SATA1 drive if needed and you could/should get one of those types. SATA2 is sometimes called SATA300, SATA1 is sometimes called SATA150

PS yes you should be able to pickup any 2.5" SATA drive and it'll work. speeds definitely don't matter, size should be fine unless the laptop was very old (some had limits to the max size they could see, but if it originally had a 120 GB one will likely be fine). other key spec is buffer size, generally bigger is better but use it to judge between 2 similarly priced drives don't spend much extra for it...

if you really want to go the whole hogg you could look up benchmarks for individual hard drive models and the data transfer rates they achieve

kwikbreaks

I recommend the Acronis True Image method mentioned above. I've used it several times along with a 2.5inch USB caddy to fit bigger HDDs to laptops.

There may well be freeware that does the same thing - try a search for drive cloning software. If you don't have a 2.5" caddy then consider just buying an external USB HDD and taking the drive out of the caddy it comes in after you've cloned it - that may work out cheaper than buying the two bits separately. Only snag may be that a commercial USB drive could be tricky to get into to remove the drive - my caddy is a cheap and cheerful eBay Hong Kong special which is only held together with a couple of screws.

mr_fishbulb

MX5huggy wrote: »

I have one of these http://www.!!!!!!!!!.com/product_info.php?language=en&currency=GBP&products_id=5

Having fun trying to work out what swear word that could be.

Or maybe it's a site that Martin has beef with.

Tozer

Thanks all. A touch worried about physical size of the replacement. Are they all the same size?

Wonderign what holds it in other than a snug fit!

kwikbreaks

Certainly the width and length are always standard. I think they are all 11mm high now although in the past it was possible to get some that were 9mm instead but they were rare.

Every one I've ever replaced was held in with screws.

JasX

the drive itself a standard size and usually held in place by 4 screws, what i have seen with some laptops is the bare drive is screwed into 'bracket' of some kind to make it easier to slide in/out of the laptop compartment. all you might need to do in that case is unscrew and separate your original bare drive from any 'bracket' and screw the new on into it in exactly the same way.