Hard drive, optical drive self upgrade question

Is do-it-yourself upgrade of a Dell notebook hard drive and optical drive easy? Any thing to watch for when purchasing the drives from online vendors for compatibility (both physical and functional)? Or will any 2.5" drive do?

Also, I gather SATA hard drive is preferred over IDE due to its newer technology with future potentials, ease of connection and faster speed. I don't know much else about them; can all Dell notebooks accept either type?

I'm considering the Dell Inspiron 9300 and go with the lowest hard disk and CD-ROM drive as I could, with later upgrade in mind. Thanks.

 

You could buy one from Dell, that will ensure compatibilty, but will probably be more expensive. Couple things you may run into are the fit and firmware. Sometimes the bezel on the new drive does not match the old one, especially if it is a modular drive. It may be possible to swap or reshape the bezel, depending on your skill level. Second is firmware. Notebook drives don't have jumpers like desktop drives. It is set by the firmware or switches inside the drive. If you notebook wants slave and the drive is set as master, you are going to have problems. Last time I looked Dell was using NEC drive, but that was a while ago. Good Luck.




I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *

 

Before i sent my I9200 back for a I9300, i had a problem with the hard drive and was going to exchange it. My I9200 came with a Hitachi drive, they offered me an exchange for an IBM or Wester Digital drive. So those are atleast 3 manufacturers that Dell uses.

*Dell Inspiron 9300, P-M 1.86ghz 533mhz FSB, 1GB DDR2 533mhz ram, 17inch UXGA+ screen with TrueLife, 256mb Nvidia GeForce 6800, 60gb 7200rpm drive, XP Pro SP2, WiFi*

*Sony MDR-G74SL Headphones for music and gaming, best 40 dollar pair i have ever bought!*

 

So, I gather that if I stay within the known drive manufacturers (Hitachi, Western Digital, IBM, perhaps NEC), I'd increase my chances of compatibility. Or buy from Dell (which is the thing I was avoiding to begin with to save $$). But how will I ensure fit/compatibility prior to the drive purchase from other vendors?

And the slave-master firmware/hardware setting just adds to my confusion (but good to know).

Also, any advice on the SATA or IDE/PATA? How do I know what connector(s) the 9300 has available?

Hmm... Perhaps an external drive with USB enclosure solution is simplest. I won't be moving the notebook around much anyway...

 

Unless you think you are going to be burning discs while away from home, an external one will probably be your best bet. They are much faster than slim drives. If there is some data you need, you could still copy it to your hard drive and burn it when you got home. You could consider an external slim one. It would be much lighter and you could use your current drive as the source when copying a disc. Another place I would look is ebay. If you can find the Dell part number, you may be able to find it much cheaper. I saw ThinkPad DVD burners going for about 1/3 the price on IBM's website a while back. I didn't get one cause they are bad drives. The fastest notebook hard drive right now is the Hitachi 7K60. If you are looking for speed, thats where you should look. They are easy to upgrade. Good Luck.











I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *