Installing new HD into E1505

I just purchased a Dell E1505 with the 80GB 5200 RPM HD (which was the smallest, cheapest I could configure my particular deal with). I plan on getting a 100GB 7200 rpm drive from newegg because it is cheaper (by ~$40-90 depending on which drive I get) and I can take the original HD out and store it incase there is an issue with the lappy itself. If I have an issue, I reinstall original HD (2 minute job) and send the lappy back to dell. No info of my every gets to dell.
Also, is cheaper in the long run.
Is there anything I need to know before installing the HD? I emailed Dell on Saturday and revcieved the OS, driver and applications reinstall disks today! How about that.
I was planning on installing a copy of XP pro that I have, the drivers and applications from the disk that I need. (Following SouthernGirl's direction)

Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Shoe

 

Only other thing I could think of would be getting/running the MediaDirect 2.0 Reinstallation utility. You'd have to request the disk from Dell....

That's assuming you want that functionality following the Hard Drive swap...

Mark

 

Thanks Mark!
I order and have already recieved 5 CDs from Dell today, OS reinstall, Drivers, etc. WOuld one fo these 5 CDs have the REINSTALLATION utility?

Thanks again,
Shoe

 

Shoe....

No.... It is on its own CD. There are at least 2 versions that I know of so be sure to insist [politely] on the correct version for your model. Then ask the question again....

I can tell you for sure you do NOT want DH371 part number. It appears to be a version for older chipsets/hardware. The one I tried that seemed to work ok was the RJ262...

vr

Mark

ps I guess I should add a few 'gotchas' wrt MediaDirect Reinstall....

The Dell instructions are incorrect wrt the amount of space to leave available for MediaDirect to create its partition. They specifiy 1308MB, but you should leave 1.5GB of free, unallocated, unpartitioned space.

Lots of folks make the mistake of creating a 1.5GB partition for MediaDirect. This is incorrect. MediaDirect Reinstall will create its own partition during the setup process. You need to just make sure you leave enough free, unallocated, unpartitioned space for the automatic MediaDirect partitioning step to complete successfullly.

The free, unallocated, unpartitioned space [yes.... I AM repeating myself... ] must be at the END of the hard drive after all other partitions.

Last thing.... There must be a 'slot' in the Partition Table in order for MediaDirect to enter its partition 'values'. So do not attempt a MediaDirect Reinstall if the Partition Table if full [four primary partitions].

If the MediaDirect Reinstall 'hangs' at 10% during Initialization phase, it is an indication that one of the above 'requirements' is not satisfied [e.g. free space size, location, Partition Table not full].

Note: fwiw There are ways to get the MediaDirect partition in a location other than the end of the hard drive, but it entails some more involved 'steps'. Just wanted to preempt any "Hey... I read that...." posts.