How to remove hard drive from Acer Travelmate 4320 (disk, upgrade, replace)

Hello,

The problem is this model does not have any HDD "tray", so I cannot just unscrew 2 screws and slide tray with HDD out of the computer.
There is a big plastic cover (more than 50% of surface of the laptop) on the bottom and small icons indicating that below are HDD and RAM. I already removed all screws from that cover but it is not willing to move.

I don't want to break anything so I would be happy to hear some tips what to do next.

Thanks in advance for your help.

have a nice day, bye

PS. There is one sticker on this cover but there is no screw covered with it, checked manually, sticker does not bend when I press. Besides the sticker is just an info about wifi card model.

 

There are some covers that have small tabs around the edges, I'm assuming for a more secure fit. You need to start at one corner and gently pry the cover up, working your way around the entire cover. Do verify that there isn't a screw that you have missed. Same for repalcing the cover, you will need to press the tabs back into place.

 

The problem is I removed all screws meanwhile, even those which do not keep this cover, I tried to pull up the cover part (more than gently) and it didn't move. I have a bad feeling that with that model I have to remove keyboard first and unscrew some internal screw keeping all parts (up and bottom) together.
For example on this bottom cover after removing all screws I am able to bend gently the middle edge of the cover but none of the corners -- something is keeping them, but there is no room to put a finger nail between edges.

I can attach a photo if it would help.

Thanks for your help.

have a nice evening, bye

 

Take a look at the attached word doc. Is it similar or competely different then yours? If it is similar look here, it is a link to the user guide for the Acer TM 4200, it may help you some. Look at the PDF file. It's all I could find using Google. Can you take a pic of your laptop base, it may help us to help you.

 

It is very similar (in 4320) there is not even cover for memory. It is all integrated. However I could not find any service manual to read how to take cover off.

Take a look at the picture.

Cover to remove is the bigger one. In the upper, left corner there is some place, which look like to put a finger and lift it up -- unfortunately after removing ALL screws the corners of this part (of this cover) still sticks firmly to the computer.

Thank you for your help.

have a nice day, bye

 

The cover is similar to my 5672 and it should come off, starting at the slotted area. It may take a small screwdriver to pry it up. When I first took mine off, it seemed like I was going to break it, but you just need to apply some gently force. Also, remove your battery, I've read (in the forums) that some models may have access to it's HD from behind the battery (don't know how true it is, I've never heard of a HD behind a battery). I'll send a pic of my laptop tonight, don't have the time right now.

 

Just to ensure so I won't make a mistake -- I should pry a bit, the horizontal edge of the cover (in the upper, left corner of the image), near the vents?

Thank you in advance. About battery -- I sure do this each time I do anything with notebook internals. You never know what switches the circuits and I want to see computer booting up with memory/HDD/anything partially removed.

have a nice day, bye

 

Here's a pic of the 5672 base, The large cover for the CPU, GPU etc..is almost the same size as yours and it does come off. Just work it a little bit.

 

Skibums, thanks a lot, however I gave up. I managed to lift a bit this cover (so the horizontal edge was fully up), but the vertical edges next to it, were firmly fixed. I was raising and raising the cover (I mean, the top edge of it) to the point I was afraid something will break or the plastic loose its color.
Since this notebook it fresh, not a week after purchase, it is too risky.

Once again, thank you for your help and time.

have a nice day, bye

 

Hello macias,

I have a question about the screen of your Acer TravelMate 4320.

I am planning to buy this laptop, but I am not sure about the screen quality.

What about viewing angles and colors? Are you happy with them? Does it have glossy surface?

Are there any complaints about this laptop?

Thank you !

 

Quality is ok, usability is poor.

It is cheap, "budget" laptop so you usually do not complain too much ("as for such cheap computer it is even ok"). If you can afford something more expensive I would recommend some other, normal laptop.

Btw. this Acer is not mine, I just bought it for a cousin. I own Dell Latitude D610.

My biggest complains about this Acer:

* widescreen -- it is ok for the movies, for the rest 4:3 is way much better

* glare screen -- is a killer for your eyes, if you work ~1-2 hours per day you won't notice maybe, but I work at computer _entire_ day, and with Acer I felt dizzy, no such effect with my Dell (4:3, matte)

* keyboard and DVD drive are not flat (horizontally), this means extra effort (but tiny) while typing, but it is not good for a DVD drive, you cannot put anything underneath the tray because it is not flat, I can do this with Dell, so I am sure that I will not break the tray

* keyboard layout could be better, with widescreen manufacturers put column with end/home/pgdn/pgup on the right of the enter with no space. It makes pressing backspace, enter and right shift a bit more difficult

* wifi reception is worse than in Dell (Broadcom in Acer, Intel in Dell)

* a bit heavy

* extremely difficult to disassemble (read: more RAM, bigger HDD, etc.)

Anyway, from that experience I am 100% convinced that I will never buy anything with glare screen. If it is possible I try to avoid widescreens too -- great for TV, lousy for work.

So I would recommend maybe something from Lenovo (but branded "Lenovo" not "Thinkpad"), a bit more expensive, but they still make normal screens. Of course if you can afford Thinkpad I think it would be the best choice.

I hope this helps.

have a nice day, bye

 

Hello macias,

many thanks for your help !

After long research I am deciding between two finalists - Acer TravelMate 4320 and Lenovo N200. Mainly because of the mix of build quality, equipment, ergonomy and budget price. I don't mind the glare screen, because I do a lot of time with graphics and I need vibrant colours and optimal viewing angles.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages that I found on these laptops:

Acer Travelmate 4320:

+ lighter than 15" laptops (2,4 kg)
+ good construction
+ good specification (160 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, infraport, bluetooth etc.)
+ curved ergonomic keyboard
+ nice scrolling control near touchpad
- smaller screen
- smaller keyboard

LENOVO N200

+ very comfortable keyboard
+ great guality of casing, solid construction
+ low heat emission
+ fingerprint reader
+ larger screen
- the screen has quite small viewing angles (especially vertical angles)
- worse specification (120 GB HDD, 512 MB RAM, no infraport)
- touchpad has no scrolling control
- touchpad buttons are quite small
- left control button is not in the corner (there is the Fn button)
- delete button is not in the right top corner

I have one question more about Acer - how are the heat emission and noise?

Thank you verych much and have a nice day.

 

Btw. I think that this discussion should be put in separate thread. General principle -- one issue one thread.

It has nothing to do with ergonomic.

It is advantage for me. My next laptop will be max. 12" (or even better 10"). Laptop for me is for being mobile, so it is better to buy small notebook and external monitor (quite cheap nowadays) if you want a bigger display.

About infrared port, bluetooth, etc. -- do you intend to use it?

It is done programatically, not in hardware. Every touchpad can be configured to simulate scrolling.

Take a look at the N200 keyboard. It is not bigger -- keyboard (keys) is put as in 14.1" almost. It looks like smaller notebook is put in the 15.4" case. I like much better its cousin, V200.

Ok, but fan does not work well for me -- I rather opt for quiet fan running all the time. In Acer fan is off for some time, the heat is building up, so then fan is on (louder than my Dell), then it is off, and so on.

This constant on-off-on-off is awkward for me. However I worked several days with it, Acer was ok, I didn't notice some overheating BUT! I didn't run anything CPU demanding stuff -- only some system maintenance, web surfing, a bit of games (X3100 is really great), word processing, etc.

have a nice day, bye

 

Thak you very much, your opinions were really helpful to me !!