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    Can I use these old hard drives?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by cosmic ac, May 26, 2008.

  1. cosmic ac

    cosmic ac Notebook Consultant

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    I have obtained 3 old laptop hard drives I would like to erase them and install linux on one of them. Is there any way I can pop them into my laptop or does it have to be done externally. I have an Iolo disc that will erase a hard drive but I have never used it.
     
    cosmic ac, May 26, 2008
    #1
  2. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

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    If they have the same interface as your laptop (IDE or SATA, whichever you have) then all you have to do is take out your hard drive, put in that hard drive, and install linux.
     
    Hep!, May 26, 2008
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  3. idq000

    idq000 Notebook Deity

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    You can pop them into your laptop by unscrewing your laptop's hard drive and replacing the one you want to erase into the laptop. You will need to refer to your user's manual to find out how to do that. Then, you can boot from CD or DVD and overwrite everything on the drive.
     
    idq000, May 26, 2008
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  4. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    I actually would not put the harddrive into your laptop, until you know that the drive actually works. I have installed old harddrives into systems, and they can lock the system up and corrupt it pretty bad.

    If you know the drive is good than you can install the drive into you laptop.
    If the drive does not fit, do not force it, cause you can break something.
    Keep in mind old 2.5" harddrives, like 1996 and earlier can be 12mm thick, and they most likely will not fit into your laptop.
    If your laptop has a sata port and the drives are ata than you will not be able to use them unless you bought an adaptor like this one.
    It can be used to hook up any 2.5" or 3.5" harddrive up tp a usb port.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, May 26, 2008
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  5. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

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    good answer K-tron,,, i've even seen a desktop system "BLOW_UP" beacuse of a problem with the power adapter on an old untested HDD

    it's also a good idea to have a cheap POS PC just for trying out unknown parts...

    later,
    bigO
     
    bigozone, May 26, 2008
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  6. cosmic ac

    cosmic ac Notebook Consultant

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    Ok I will have them tested. Then try them.
     
    cosmic ac, May 27, 2008
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