The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrading a hard drive...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by SpAcEmAn SpLiFF, Aug 16, 2006.

  1. SpAcEmAn SpLiFF

    SpAcEmAn SpLiFF Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    theres something i dont understand about upgrading a hard drive. my friend (who has the same brand and model of laptop as me, just with a bigger hard drive), is selling me his hard drive. if i just plugged it in, what would happen?

    hes going to reformat so that everything is exactly as it would be if the computer was brand new.
     
    SpAcEmAn SpLiFF, Aug 16, 2006
    #1
  2. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    441
    Messages:
    3,667
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    If your friend did the OS reinstall correctly, your notebook should boot from the drive without issue. People change HDs all the time. Just remember to both unplug from the wall and remove the battery before making any such hardware changes.
     
    brianstretch, Aug 16, 2006
    #2
  3. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    599
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    yes, you need to make sure that the HDD has the right connection. A SATA drive will not fit into an IDE HDD and vice versa.
     
    Lil Mayz, Aug 16, 2006
    #3
  4. Iter

    Iter Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    465
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    After upgrading a hard drive, you shold go to BIOS to check, and make sure the BIOS can detect the hard drive. Many of brand for pressing "F2" go to BIOS, might be some of them is "Esc" or "Del". If you laptop is many years ago, might be the BIOS need a update for refreshing, then it can help it to detect a bigger size hard drive.(i assume that the connector between hard drive and mainboard is solid.)
     
    Iter, Aug 16, 2006
    #4