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    Is it as simple as buying a hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by mcl52, Jun 17, 2008.

  1. mcl52

    mcl52 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was looking at a laptop on ebay that the original owner is selling without the hard drive? Can I just buy a hard drive, install it, and then load XP onto it? Or do i need the original hard drive to make this computer work? I have never re-installed an OS before so not sure if you can just put a brand new blank hard drive in a computer. thanks.
     
    mcl52, Jun 17, 2008
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  2. trwrt

    trwrt Notebook Consultant

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    Yep, it's pretty much that easy, just install it and you're set. A couple of things you should check on is whether the laptop comes with the "drive caddy" if it needs one, some laptops have a little sled-type thingy that the drive goes into, and then the whole assembly slides into the laptop. Make sure it comes with that if it needs one. The other thing is to find out whether the laptop uses serial ATA (SATA) or parallel ATA (PATA) drives. You'll need to know that so you can buy the correct type of drive to put in it.
     
    trwrt, Jun 17, 2008
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  3. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yes it should be. You need to find out if the machine takes IDE(aka PATA) or SATA drives. Also you will need an XP disc with a valid license and you should be set to go.
     
    The Fire Snake, Jun 17, 2008
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  4. synic

    synic Notebook Deity

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    yep, it's that easy. as the fire snake said, just make sure you know if your machine takes IDE or SATA and you're good to go. and there are many threads around here explaining how to install an OS from scratch.
     
    synic, Jun 17, 2008
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  5. mcl52

    mcl52 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks. I was worried that I might buy this computer than run into some password or code that I needed to install a new hard drive with xp.
     
    mcl52, Jun 17, 2008
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