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    Hard drive upgrade in DV9500

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by unknowntt, Mar 14, 2008.

  1. unknowntt

    unknowntt Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey all, I've got a DV9548ca and I'm trying to upgrade it. I successfully upgraded to 4 GB of RAM, now I plan to get a WD 320 GB hard drive. Now recently, one of my hard drives screwed up, so HP sent me a new one. The two hard drives are IDENTICAL (same product numbers etc), but the HP spare part numbers were diferent. The new hard drive came with a different SATA connector and different BRACKET. When I swap the old connector and bracket, the new hard drive doesn't work?

    I've done all kinds of combinations, and I can't seem to get the new hard drive to work in my laptop!!!

    Now basically, I don't care about THIS HARD DRIVE not working, what I care about is IF I WERE TO GET ANOTHER HARD DRIVE (200GB 7200RMP, or a 320GB 5400 RPM), it won't work in my computer.

    I went into the BIOS and ran the hard drive check, and the QUICKSCAN ran PERFECTLY and was successful on the NEW hard drive! But for some reason, WINDOWS won't recognize it!

    Will this hold me back and prevent me from upgrading my hard drive in the future?
     
    unknowntt, Mar 14, 2008
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    What did the old connector and the new connector look like?

    You may need to format the new drive, did you try that? Or does the stupid thing just not work period?
     
    Greg, Mar 14, 2008
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  3. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    does it even get detected at all?
     
    flipfire, Mar 14, 2008
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  4. unknowntt

    unknowntt Notebook Evangelist

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    The only way it gets detected is in the BIOS, I can't format it otherwise. I run the quickscan and it passes, but other than that, it doesn't get detected in windows at ALLLLLLL.

    The two connectors are EXACTY the same, except one is literally ONE milimeter shorter than the other. Also, like I said the two hard drives are IDENTICAL, except the part where you put the CONNETOR ON is different on both. One has dots, one has lines. But both connectors work on my original drive, so the connectors ARE interchangeable.

    I'm so worried I won't be able to upgrade my hard drive =<
     
    unknowntt, Mar 14, 2008
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  5. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    what OS are you running?
     
    flipfire, Mar 15, 2008
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  6. unknowntt

    unknowntt Notebook Evangelist

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    Vista ultimate x64
     
    unknowntt, Mar 15, 2008
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  7. mujjuman

    mujjuman Notebook Deity

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    i may be totally off.... but i know in Windows XP, you need the SATA driver slipstreamed onto the CD for Windows to recognize it.

    im not sure if this is the case for Vista too. just throwing out an idea.
     
    mujjuman, Mar 29, 2008
    #7