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    XPS m1330 -- How easy is it to swap the hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by responsible877, Jul 7, 2007.

  1. responsible877

    responsible877 Newbie

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    Hi,
    I plan to order an m1330 with the cheapest drive option and replace with a high performance one I can get cheaper from elsewhere. I was just wondering if I can change the hard drive without taking the whole thing apart. Does the hard drive have its own trap door?
    Thanks.
     
    responsible877, Jul 7, 2007
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  2. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    [​IMG]

    Hmm, I see the CPU/RAM and possible the wireless card doors, but I don't think I see the HD door. Won't know until someone with their hands on it figures it out of if Dell releases a users manual.
     
    coriolis, Jul 7, 2007
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  3. joseyu

    joseyu Notebook Consultant

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    From my previous experience of swapping HDs in Dell laptops, I am pretty sure that all you have to do is take out the 4 screws on the bottom right corner with the cylinders next to them and then pull out the HD bay on the side. So yes, the HD should be swappable.
     
    joseyu, Jul 7, 2007
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  4. kickace

    kickace Notebook Deity

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    yah it looks like the hard drive is on the bottom right - where you just pull it out, on 2 other dells of mine, thats how it was
     
    kickace, Jul 7, 2007
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  5. mattireland

    mattireland It used to be the iLand..

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    It SHOULD be pretty easy - a hard disk upgrade is pretty standard stuff. It's just I'm always a bit scared to take the back off my notebook for some reason. I'm more of a desktop guy myself.
     
    mattireland, Jul 7, 2007
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  6. CodeMonkeyX

    CodeMonkeyX Notebook Deity

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    In another thread Andrew posted two pictures of the M1330 close up with some panels removed.

    Andrews Forum Post

    It looks like the CPU, RAM, and Expansion cards are easy to get at. And if you look closely you can see the Hard Drive symbol next to several screws in the lower right like was mentioned here already.
     
    CodeMonkeyX, Jul 7, 2007
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  7. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I vote for the 4 screws with the cylinder symbol. You can see what looks like the end of the HDD caddy on the side of the computer near those screws. Dell doesn't want to make extra work for the service technicians.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 7, 2007
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  8. elemenopee

    elemenopee Notebook Consultant

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    Ditto. My current laptop has a similar symbol where my HD is.
     
    elemenopee, Jul 7, 2007
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  9. mattireland

    mattireland It used to be the iLand..

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    John Ratsey know what he's talking about. He's also cool and from the UK so listen to him!
     
    mattireland, Jul 7, 2007
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  10. Nalada

    Nalada Notebook Evangelist

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    but is it easy to create the hidden partition that Media Direct needs on the new drive? I saw some information on earlier versions of Media Direct which implied that most tools won't see the Media Direct partition.
     
    Nalada, Jul 7, 2007
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  11. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    We will have to wait and see about Media Direct. It is possible that Dell have put an installer for this onto the Recovery / Utility disk. Also, I have two different cloning programs so I can see if they can see this partition.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 7, 2007
    #11