Has anyone replaced a laptop Hard-disk?

[Big.Wayne]

Greetings!

I am trying to patch up an old Fujitsu laptop (PIII 800MHz - 512MB Ram - 20GB Hard-disk) but seem to have hit a problem. I believe the hard-disk is on its way out as I cant get it to format, just errors out at about 19%.

I see that there are plenty of laptop hard-disks for sale now and just wondered if anybody here has replaced one of these before?

I'm not sure where the disk is located within the laptop and also how hard is it to disconnect etc? I'm hoping its a relatively easy job (straight swap etc). As far as I can see the chipset used is an INTEL BX and as far as I can remember that can handle disk sizes up to 120GB right? although I will probably buy the cheapest/smallest disk I can source at overclockers.co.uk

current choice:

Western Digital Scorpio 40GB WD400VE 2.5" 8MB Cache HDD - OEM (HD-040-WD)

Price: £32.95 (£38.72 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Thanks in advanced for any help, I guess in the meantime I will take the screwdriver to the Laptop and see whats hiding underneath the various panels!

 

[rpstewart]

I've only ever done this on IBM Thinkpads and it's usually a piece of bun but then again I've got access to the hardware manuals so finding the right bit to unscrew to access the HDD is simplified.

Every laptop I've seen has the HDD slotting in from one of the edges so start looking round there rather than the big panels on the underside. Best bet would be to locate the current disk and whip it out for a look, chances are it'll look like the image in your post (plus a lid over the platters of course). If it does you're laughing, simple case of swapping new for old. If it looks different post a description and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Mattw]

i have replaced numerous laptop hard disks. Samsungs are usually easy and u just take a panel off the bottom and it slides out, howver generally you have to take the keyboard out and it sits under there. All depends on the laptop. Google for a service manual

 

[jellybeard999]

only ever done it on a HP... and it was under the KB... right PITA TBH, i took all the bottom panels off first too... then looked on the net and found where it was

 

[smids]

IBM Thinkpads are a joke to fix - everything is extremely well laid out etc - I love my T41 .

I've also done this on 2 Sony's - one required more work than the other as in I had to remove a panel on the base followed by 3 or 4 screws. It's not hard if you have built desktops before really - just make sure you remember the screw order etc.

 

[Jay_t]

I just took the battery off my friends acer aspire & just pulled the hard drive out. Easy as pie on that model.

 

[utajoker]

hey i kind of have the same problem but i think my hdd is dead

i have an old toshiba sattalite, i tried taking it appart bit it seems good and propper stuck together

ive taken every possible screw out i can see and pulled as hard as i can to split it but it wont budge

even had me an my friend each pull a side and no luck :/

joker
xx

 

[Mattw]

look at the edge of the keyboard on the toshiba, theres little clips holding it in the case, simply pop those with a flat head screw driver and lift keyboard up slowly, you will find the drive underneath

 

[Big.Wayne]

So far so good!

Hi all,

thanks a lot for the helpful replies (and reassurance on how easy it is). Well so far I seem to have got lucky, just two screws on the underneath release a panel and there it is, really easy!

Above:Knackered old PIII(m)800MHz, not to bad looking though.

Above:The small compartment (Top right) hides the 2.5" HDD. The large compartment (Top left) is where the battery should fit.

Above: Take off the lid (2 screws) lift out the small silver box, then slide out disk from silver box.

Above: There she is, the source of the problem (or so I believe). Now to choose a suitable replacement drive, kinda leaning towards a Samsung. .

 

[W00dy]

I have an 80g Samsung in my lappy, and it is very quiet and pretty quick too.

 

[smids]

For laptop drives, I'd heartily recommend Hitachi and Seagate. I wouldn't bother with the rest, I don't think they've been around long enough. WD are ok too - but definitely Seagate and Hitachi.