I have like less than 2 GB free on my laptop's hard drive, and I don't know anything about the process for upgrading hard drives in laptops.

Can anyone tell me how to locate the model of my hard drive and then if I post that, can you tell me what would be compatible if I were to go buy a new HDD?

Also, how much of a bitch is it to just copy my existing HD's contents to the new one?

THX

10/21/2009 11:54:11 PM

post the model number of your laptop

to copy shit, you'll either need to back everything up to an external HD, or get a 2.5" IDE to 3.5" adapter (or if it's sata, you don't need that, just hook it up to your desktop)

10/21/2009 11:56:23 PM

Just post the laptop model.

10/21/2009 11:56:59 PM

Dell Inspiron E1505 (bought it around Dec. 2006)


apparently Dell improved it's site since i last looked. I just clicked through including clicking on E1505 for an inspiron and it gave me all these:
http://tinyurl.com/ygcbjq3

first one looks good, i think 500GB would do me just fine for $80

anyone have any opinions on hard drive manufacturers?

how noticeable is 5400 vs. 7200 on spindle speed

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 12:18 AM. Reason : ]

10/22/2009 12:09:38 AM

never mind, it's gotta be sata.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

go with this, the 16mb cache and faster spindle speed will make a difference... and 320GB on a laptop is plenty

10/22/2009 12:18:29 AM

nah

10/22/2009 12:21:24 AM

so it's for sure compatible with an E1505?

i notice a very similar drive on the dell website with a model number close to it

newegg model #: WD3200BEKT

dell model #: WD3200BJKT

i guess the J and the E aren't significant, maybe just a later refinement?

10/22/2009 12:54:18 AM

no idea on that.

but yeah, it's sata, it should work.

10/22/2009 2:57:52 AM

The difference is that one has a free-fall sensor and one does not.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=477
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=482

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_fall_sensor


there are only 2 things that make it "compatible" -

1) the interface. It's either SATA or IDE. Most likely it's SATA. if you're not sure, take the drive out and look at the end of it. It either looks like

SATA:


or IDE:



whichever one it is, is the kind you need.


2) Size. It's either 2.5".... or it ain't fitting in the laptop.


If it's 2.5" and has the same interface as your laptop, it's compatible.

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 3:09 AM. Reason : image]

10/22/2009 3:08:26 AM

Quote :

"if you're not sure, take the drive out and look at the end of it."

or type the service tag into dell's support website to see the original system configuration

10/22/2009 7:21:45 AM

Whoa! If you have an E1505, there's something you should definitely know about changing their hard drives. I have one and I'm assuming it has the MediaDirect button at the top? I think all of them came with MediaDirect. Anyways, there's some kind of hard disk lock Dell used w/ MediaDirect so that whenever you replace your HD it'll automatically truncate down to the size of the previous HD. I know because I replaced by 60GB HD to a 7200rpm 320GB HD about a month ago. I'm computer literate enough to do this on any other normal computer, but this was WAY beyond my skill level, until I just happened to find a tutorial on a forum.For the life of me, I cannot find the tutorial online. I can tell you I was Google searching for a walkthrough or something and I ran across this forum post and this user, who had the level "Demigod" like TWW has "All American" for example, knew EXACTLY how to do it! Step by step instructions. I will tell you you'll need 3 or 4 blank CDs and download Acronis True Image Free Trial.

What'll happen is:

- Follow the tutorial instructions (A hint: one of the tools used is called "sectedit" it's a sector editor. It's one of the last steps. You'll also change the bootloader to a win98 one and a few other tweaks.
-Then you'll use Acronis to create a perfect clone of your hard drive
-Slide in the new drive, and it'll be like nothing ever happened. Everything will be exactly the same, perfectly preserved, except you'll lots more room! But remember: check to see it's recognizing the full drive size to make sure you did it right!

I'll keep looking for the tutorial, I can't believe I didn't bookmark it. Couldn't have done it w/o the tutorial!

Good Luck!

Edit: I got this one from NewEgg.com (it's worked awesome so far!):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

For RAM I got this from them (Easy install and no problems thus far):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231116

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 7:58 AM. Reason : links]

FOUND IT !!!!!!!!!!!! :
http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1229215504



[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 8:17 AM. Reason : found the tutorial]

10/22/2009 7:54:28 AM

wow thanks for the legwork yo

oh yea, ive read that I can use a "hard drive enclosure" with USB 2.0 to attach the new drive while the cloning program just transfers stuff over

was that the case for you?

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 8:36 AM. Reason : ]

10/22/2009 8:35:31 AM

Yea, that's what I did. I ordered this enclosure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817349003

Yes, you will need one to do the cloning. You might be swapping them back and forth so make sure have steady access to small screwdrivers to open the computer and the enclosure. It'll take a few hours to follow the whole thing completely, but it works like a dream.

After trouble w/ MediaDirect in this model, Dell changed this feature in later models

10/22/2009 12:19:59 PM

ive ordered the HD and enclosure

and free C: space is at 959 mb and dropping lol

10/22/2009 5:15:46 PM

http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html

10/22/2009 6:09:20 PM

I ordered a WD Blue 500GB SATA 2½" HDD months ago & it came with a freebie external enclosure, useful for reallocating the original drive as a hugh jass portable drive.

10/22/2009 6:27:54 PM

hijacking for a second:

is any amount of light clicking or scratching normal from a HDD? just got a new one from dell and it's making those noises, though just barely audible.

chkdsk didn't find anything.

[Edited on October 23, 2009 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

10/23/2009 9:14:42 AM

ok, this shit is annoying. it's clicking constantly. two back-to-back clicks every second

10/23/2009 10:43:24 AM

^ good bet that it needs to be replaced. if it's that bad, i wouldn't trust it.

10/23/2009 10:50:41 AM

yeh. now it's just doing it occasionally... annoying.

10/23/2009 10:52:27 AM

didn't you just get that as a replacement, too?

10/23/2009 10:53:19 AM

yup

[Edited on October 23, 2009 at 11:06 AM. Reason : lol, sending me a new one. again.]

10/23/2009 10:53:39 AM

this isn't normal, right? (turn up the volume... can barely hear the noises and you can only hear the louder clicks)

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~wdprice3/

[Edited on October 23, 2009 at 4:24 PM. Reason : .]

10/23/2009 4:23:24 PM

what the hell kind of files did you post? Firefox says ney.

10/23/2009 4:36:18 PM

off of my blackberry. amr files (play in quicktime). I'm on FF and they work for me...

http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/amr

[Edited on October 23, 2009 at 4:47 PM. Reason : .]

10/23/2009 4:46:33 PM

i reinstalled QT earlier, but haven't restarted FF yet. guess i'm SOL for now.

10/23/2009 5:11:27 PM