New HD doesn't fit my Travelmate 8200, Help!

I just bought a 100GB seagate momentus 7200.1 HD. I currently have the 120GB Seagate momentus 5400.2 in my notebook, i.e. the original one. However as I opened the laptop to switch I discovered that my original HD is connected by a sort of a "plate" which slid into a connecter. The HD I bought has a pin connector (male on the HD) and a small connector for power. This is the connector I've previously seen. I was surprised by my Acer connector and I've tried to search the web on this issue, but no luck. Also my original HD had a special plate to which it was attached to the chassis, which the new one didn't have.

Could someone help me figure this out? What is the Acer connector? And how do I install a new HD, do I have to find a specific HD for this connector? Lastly, do you think it'll improve my performance upgrading to a 7200?

 

The "plate" is SATA and the pins are PATA. You'll need SATA HDD.

 

so ur new HD is SATA like ur old one? i guess u will have to remove the plate from the old one and use it on the new one.

As for performance, yes it will speed things up but this all depends on what you wanna speed up.

 

My new HD has pins (male) and a small slot for power.
My old HD (which fits in the laptop) has this plate, and no power connector.
It doesn't seem like I can remove the plate from the old HD and attach it to my new HD.

So my old HD is SATA, and I'll return this new HD (PATA, pins) and replace it with a SATA which would have a "plate" connector? I also bought a USB casing for my old HD, to use externally. But that casing also has pins (femal), i.e. PATA it seems. Do I have to get a SATA casing, or is there any converters available?

Thanks

 

As for speed I'm doing this to fasten the seek time. I use it for recording music and online gaming.

 

Yes, you'll have to get a different enclosure for the SATA drive.

 

Judging from the mentioned drive models it seems your notebook is SATA. Many laptops use caddys to hold the hard drive (sometimes made of thin metail which you refer to as "plate") and sometimes even a little cover for the connectors. The caddys normally can be removed and fitted to your new hard drive. A few pics would help a lot...

Notebook PATA drives don't have a seperate power connector.

 

You can reduce the speculation and confirm the connector type by checking the HDD model number (either by physical inspection or looking in Device Manager) and then looking up the model number on the www.

John

 

PATA:



SATA:



The best way to check is to really look it up, as John said however, but hopfully those pictures will help

I think you've got this mixed up. PATA/IDE would have a row of 40 pins, and no separate power connector. Is the "plate" your talking about look like that pictue under PATA (1st one).

If your new Hard Drive has pins and a small slot for power, it means that your new hard is SATA and your old drive is PATA/IDE. According to what you've said, I think this is correct, but can you post some pictures, and a link to what HDD you bought, or the page where you bought it from. That will be of great help to us