Dell inspiron hard drive replacement?

Would anyone happen to know of any hard drives compatible with an inspiron 1545, I've tried searching on the internet but this hasn't yielded much detail. I've seen one on ebay with 320GB but with that being the size of the one I already have and for the sake of improvement, I was wondering if there were any of a bigger size available for the inspiron 1545 or how I would identify one has being compatible?

Maybe I should point out that I'm asking about an internal hard drive, and the one I have has malfunctioned so I thought maybe I should try for an improvement if at all possible.

thanks in advance

 

The only critical specs are SATA interface, 2.5" form factor (aka, "laptop"), and height 9.5mm or less. That's the most common form of laptop drive nowadays, so that's what you're going to see for sale more often than not.

Within that group you have many choices, including capacity (1-2TB are going to be better $/GB deals), SATA speed (SATA-III has a higher theoretical transfer rate), and spindle speed (7200rpm is generally snappier than 5400rpm). All should work fine in the 1545.

There are also alternatives to traditional hard drives--such as SSDs (solid-state drives) and SSHDs (solid-state hybrid drives). SSDs are impressively fast but pricier. SSHDs are sort of in-between--faster than traditional hard dives but not as fast as SSDs, and not as pricey as SSDs. Note you'd still be looking for the same critical specs--SATA interface, 2.5" form factor, no more than than 9.5mm height. Despite the technological differences, SSDs, SSHDs and traditional hard drives all look the same to the computer. They'll fit in the same slot, but the differences are in performance.

Frankly, I'd stay away from ebay for this sort of product because you really can't be sure if you're getting somebody's cast-off or a refurb. The hard drive market is very competitive so you'll find good prices from more trustworthy sources. I recommend buying from a top online store such as newegg.com.

 

although 7200rpm laptop hard drives are faster than 5400rpm drives, they do heat up a little more quickly so make sure you also order a laptop cooling pad from newegg.com or tigerdirect.com to keep those 7200rpm drives as cool as possible

 

any 2.5 inch sata hdd is going to work in that particular laptop
your best bet is an sshd for modest performance improvement or ssd for best performance but its expensive

 

I'm gonna have to disagree here, the amount of heat generated compared to a 5.4K RPM drive is very little and if you need a cooling pad for that, something is terribly wrong with the laptop.

I'd avoid hybrids, having used some myself, the performance sits more towards a HDD than a true SSD. I'd either go 7.2K RPM with high capacity or full blown SSD.

Finally, as others mentioned, SATA is SATA is SATA. As long as the drive isn't too thick, it'll either be 7 mm or 9.5 mm (read the manual and it should tell you) it'll be a simple swap once you get to the drive. Getting to the hard drive may or may not be simple. Again, check the manual, it should be easy, but I've seen past Inspiron models where Dell got stupid and you needed to remove to the motherboard to access the HDD

Regarding the manual, it should be on Dell's website, it's one thing they do right, they provide the teardown manuals for their laptops.