Dell M1530 from Outlet: What if I want to sell the hard drive and replace it?

Just got a Dell M1530 from the outlet and I'm ecstatic.

However, I don't know about the hard drive. It's the 250GB 7200rpm one with a free fall sensor. 250gb is good and 7200rpm makes it even sweeter, however, I'm definitely more of a capacity guy than a speed guy. Probably the most intensive tasks I'll perform are standard definition video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and using some undergrad level electrical engineering programs. I know that there is a 500gb 2.5" available (from Europe as of now only, though) and I'd be down for that.

Anyway, here are my Q's:

-I just purchased this tonight. Is there any way I can sell this specific hard drive here on notebookreview or on eBay? I would think that since my version of Vista will be installed in it there would be a problem once I try to install Vista on my new hard drive. I can't just throw this hard drive to the side and forget about it; it's just too good for that.

-Would Dell provide a free or cheap copy of the OS for me? I know most of the time they send a disk to restore an OS that's already installed on a machine, but what about a machine without the OS in the first place?

-If I can sell this hard drive, what would I get for it?

-Unrelated: Definitely going to get a blu ray drive down the road. Can I replace the optical drive with no voiding of the warranty? How much do notebook blu ray drives run nowadays, anyway?

I'm sure I have one or two more questions, but that's all I can summon up at the moment. Thank you so much in advance.

 

1. You will want to format the drive before you sell it.
2. Dell provides an OS disk with all XPS machines. Dell does not sell machines without an OS.

 

Won't you lose the free fall sensor? If that matters to you you could just get a desktop HD in an enclosure so you could get more capacity for your money. Also if you need space you could save the Hard Drive you have right now and just put it in an enclosure so you have an extra 250 gigs.

I think bluray drives still cost a TON but bluray quality movies are definitely desirable. I just got a surround sound system and realized that all my media is 2 channel anyway lol.

Anyway you could get this 500 GB HD (I never heard of them but I guess like you said it's only available in Europe) and sell the 250.
Or, save the 250 with the free fall incase you drop your laptop (don't wanna screw up a new 500 GB HD by dropping your laptop and corrupting it or something) and buy a 1 TB HD (I think it would be approximately the same as the 500 HD) and put it in an enclosure.
Or, buy the 500 GB and save the 250 in an enclosure for extra space.

Anyway good luck with video editing. I really wish I had stuck with adobe and learned how to use it well. Dunno how I didn't realize this earlier but send me a PM with the price you are asking for. I could always use more hard drives...

 

Hmmm... A hard drive enclosure. That's a pretty good idea. I'll look into that.

 

Alright, so I decided what I want to do. Please help me out.

I'm going to take the 250gb hard drive and just put it in an enclosure like tential suggested and order a 500gb 2.5" Samsung HD from eBay.

However, there are two things I don't know how to do:

1.) What am I going to do to get the OS off of the 250gb hard drive so I can just use it as a standalone external hard drive?

2.) What do I do to install the OS onto the 500gb hard drive once I get it? I THINK that Dell only offers a CD that reinstalls Windows on a hard drive that already has the OS in question, but I'd be installing Vista onto a new one. What will I do?

 

Hi,

1. Don't get the Samsung 500GB: it's slow and uses too much power. Try to get the Western Digital WD5000BEVT.

2. Put your new drive in the enclosure first. Use a program like Acronis True Image Home, or Norton Ghost to CLONE your C: drive to the new drive in your enclosure.

3. Swap drives between notebook and enclosure.

4. Ensure notebook boots up fine with new hard drive.

5. Format your old drive in the enclosure.