Highest HDD Capcity for an Inspiron 1100 ?

Hi,

anyone knows if there is any limit for the capacity of HDD that can be inserted in a Dell Inspiron 1100?

I have a friend with such computer, 500K RAM and 40Gb HDD. I was planning to upgrade the RAM to 1Gb and change the HDD to a WD2500BEVE, that is 250Gb 5400rpm.

Anyone is aware of any problem I could have? Will that capacity be directly recognized and usable by the computer? Will I need to change also the BIOS? Will it be needed to partition the disk (I have the plan to do it anyway, but better if I have information in advance to size the partitions)

If there were any limitation in the HDD size, anyone knows which is it? I also have the opportunity of a similar disk but with only 160Gb.

Thanks.

 

You should be fine with a 250GB hard drive, just make sure you buy the correct kind as they use IDE drives. There was a limit on earlier computers but those were generally before your notebook.

 

Atbnet:

Thanks, yes, it is an IDE ATA100 drive. The advantages I'm trying to get is rotational speed (I believe the one the notebook currently has should be a 4.700rpm and the WD2500BEVE is 5.400rpm) and of course capacity and percentage of usage. My friend currently has his 40Gb HDD permanently at around 90-95% used space ... !!!!

Talking about RAM, am I correct if I say that the top limit of this computer, without any modification is 1Gb?

Thanks again.

 

You will see a benefit from the higher RPM as well as the higher disk density. And you are correct the max RAM is 1GB.

 

Thanks again and best regards ! I'll do both.

 

For your information, my friend's 1100 has two 256Mb RAM memory modules. I changed one of them by a 1Gb module and... surprise, surprise, system booted up and recognised to have 1.25Gb RAM memory.

So, it seems it is able to recognize more than 1Gb of RAM. In a week we hope to habe available a second module of 1Gb and we will do the test.

I'll update this forum with results.

 

Do you mind being more specific about the 1 gb stick you used? I was thinking of upgrading the RAM in my Inspiron 1100, and I was under the impression that a 512 mb stick (x2) was the max you could use.

 

I was installing this memory:

http://cgi.ebay.es/New-1Gb-Memory-I...m14&_trkparms=72:895|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

in an IBM Thinkpad T41 of a friend and we tried it in the Dell Inspiron 1100 of another friend for the case it worked.... and it did !!!. I tried in both slots and it worked, maintaining the other 256Mb module.

So, we bought one module for the Inspiron and as soon as we get it we will take again the one of the T42 and will put both in the inspiron in order to check if it works with 2x1Gb modules, if it does, we will order a second module for the Inspiron...

And of course I'll update this thread with the result. If you can wait for a couple of weeks you will have the result.

 

Yes, it does !!!

As soon as the 1Gb module for the Inspiron arrived, we tried with the two modules, the one of our friend and the new one, and you know what ??

The Dell Inspiron recognised both modules and works perfectly with 2Gb of RAM. So, we have ordered a second one for the Dell and in a couple of weeks the laptop of my friend will be working with the same Celeron processor (we don't plan to change it), 2Gb RAM and the 250Gb HDD.

I hope this info can be of interest.

regards.

 

Thanks for the update, fje. Your link goes to eBay-Spain. When converted to US $, the upgrade is more than I'd want to spend. However, the picture shows the memory is PC2-5300. This gave me an idea.

My daughter has the Inspiron 1525 and I had removed a 512mb stick of PC2-5300 and replaced it with a 2GB one to upgrade her machine. So, I figured it was worth a try to put it in the Inspiron 1100. However, no luck. The notch was off slightly, so I could not install it.

I don't use the Inspiron 1100 much these days, so I don't want to waste money if the SO-DIMM is not compatible. I'll probably leave things alone for now, but thanks again for your reply and follow up.

 

BullishDad:

It is NOT a "2Gb module" what we put in our friend's Inspiron 1100.

It is TWO "1Gb modules" what we put there. And surely you will be able to find such modules cheap in eBay USA. Look for PC2100 200pins SODIMM or PC2700 backwards compatible with PC2100.

Regards.

 

Inspiron 1525 uses PC5300 RAM which is DDR2, the PC2700/PC2100 RAM is what you need for the 1100. That's why the notches are different.

PC2700/PC2100 RAM is extremely cheap. Just go get one off of newegg.com or somewhere.