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Replacing a laptop hard drive? (Solved)

OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
edited November 2006 in Help / Advice Forum
I think my laptop's hard drive has croaked (Windows fails to load from it, saying it can't find some file in the System folder, and OS reinstallations to the drive fail). I went to Fry's Electronics, bought a hard drive and stuck it in, but the laptop can't detect it -- it doesn't show up in the HDD menu for diagnostics. So clearly this is harder than it is on a desktop.

Laptop: HP/Compaq Presario R3000Z
Old hard drive: Toshiba MK6021GAS
New hard drive: MHV2100AH

My old hard drive was apparently an ATA-5 drive, and the one I tried to stick in is an ATA-7. Is there anything I should know about replacing laptop drives? The box for the new HD said "Professional installation recommended," but I thought that was just to scare away people scared of opening their computers. Does laptop drive installation involve special cables or installation disks, or do I just have the wrong kind of drive? Any help appreciated.

Orogogus on

Posts

  • exoplasmexoplasm Gainfully Employed Near Blizzard HQRegistered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Laptop hard drive installation is not much different from desktop drive installation. The wires/connectors are slightly different, and some even differ from laptop to laptop, but in those cases there is usually an adapter on the drive/cable.

    I don't know the difference between ATA-5 and ATA-7 but they should be compatible. Chances are you didn't hook it up right. Double check that it's connected the same exact way the other one was. Is there a seperate power cable? (Usually no for laptops, but you never know)

    The new drive could be DOA... may want to try exchanging it.

    About the professional install: it's just there because some laptops have warranty void stickers for trivial tasks, but generally replacing a hard drive or memory should never void a warranty except with a really anal and cheapskate company.

    exoplasm on
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  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Figured out the problem. On my old hard drive there's a thin rubber sheath (I guess that's the adapter) that goes around the pins, that extends them a little further so that they touch the contacts. I removed this sheath and put it on my new hard drive, and that worked.

    Orogogus on
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