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    New hard-disc

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Ib14132302, Sep 5, 2005.

  1. Ib14132302

    Ib14132302 Notebook Geek

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    I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 running windows XP, which is 3 years old, currently my hard disc is only 30 GB, I would like to change to a bigger hard-disc, could my laptop handle a 80 GB disc or even a 100 GB disc? do I need to update the Bios before I change the disc?

    Many thanks
     
    Ib14132302, Sep 5, 2005
    #1
  2. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    I don't know how big of a hard drive your system could handle. What was the biggest hard drive offered on your system when you bought it?

    I would send an email to Dell and ask how big of a hard drive your system can handle. That is the safest thing to do.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Sep 5, 2005
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  3. Ib14132302

    Ib14132302 Notebook Geek

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    When I got my notebook,the biggest HD offered from Dell was 40 GB for this system, I have tried to email Dell, but as you can imagine Dell's tech support for an 3 year old notebook is not great, and I don't think I can trust what they told me. because some of them sounds like they know even less than me about notebooks.....
     
    Ib14132302, Sep 5, 2005
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  4. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Three year old laptop should be able to handle larger hard drive. Upgraded a T22 which is about four years old to a 60GB 7200RPM drive not too long ago.
     
    ZaZ, Sep 6, 2005
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  5. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    When I put a WD 80 GB drive in my old Presario Desktop I had to use the overlay software that came with the drive because the BIOS was limited to ~30 GB. With the overlay, it worked fine. I have since upgraded the BIOS and the 30 GB ceiling seems to have gone disappeared. You could also divide the drive into several partitions if you have a size limit in your BIOS.
     
    olyteddy, Sep 6, 2005
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  6. Ib14132302

    Ib14132302 Notebook Geek

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    thanks for the advice guys, I think I am going for A Seagate 80GB 5400 rpm disc. I had a look around on the forum, it seems Seagate has the best warrenty.

    JC
     
    Ib14132302, Sep 7, 2005
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  7. DownByFive

    DownByFive Notebook Consultant

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    My 80gb Seagate worked perfectly in my Sony, which is three years old...much quieter than the stock HD and the Toshiba drive that I replaced it with...
     
    DownByFive, Sep 7, 2005
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  8. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    Yes, I didn't know what to tell you about the max hard drive size....one time, I went to upgrade a desktop (an older one), and we had a 30 GB hard drive to put in. Put it in - BIOS didn't accept it. So that's why I'm pretty cautious about telling people how large of a hard drive they can put in notebooks these days...
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Sep 7, 2005
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