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    Upgrading the hard drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Helo237, Dec 25, 2007.

  1. Helo237

    Helo237 Newbie

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    I just bought an HP dv6700 (1,73 GHz, 120 GB HD, 2GB of RAM) and I was wondering if i could, later in my laptop's life, upgrade the hard drive to say... 160 GBs. Could someone tell me how to do this...i heard on some website that you have to buy data transfer software. Can someone tell me how to do it and how much money it would probably cost me to do it?
     
    Helo237, Dec 25, 2007
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  2. HerrKaputt

    HerrKaputt Elite Notebook User

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    I never upgraded a laptop hard drive, but I have done so in a desktop and I doubt you need data transfer software. I think all you need is your operating system disc (such as your Windows XP disc or Windows Vista discs). To upgrade the hard disk drive (HDD), you should follow these rough steps:

    1) Start by having the original (old) HDD in your laptop. Backup all the stuff that you want to keep (documents, saved games, music, etc) to other media, such as DVDs.

    2) Turn the laptop off. Replace the old HDD with the new one.

    3) Turn the laptop on, and quickly insert the operating system disc in your CD/DVD drive. The computer should boot from the CD, despite having a blank HDD.

    4) Depending on which operating system you want to install, different screens will show up. But at least for Windows (XP or Vista), it is fairly simple to follow the on-screen instructions to format your new HDD, create a partition on it and install Windows on it.

    5) Voila! You just upgraded your HDD.

    Step 4 might scare you when you read it, but it's not much harder than installing a program in Windows. Besides, you really can't do much harm: the new HDD is blank, so format the disk at will. If you still don't feel comfortable, post here again and I'll help you further.

    As for how much it costs: apart from buying the new HDD (obviously), you will have to buy perhaps one or two DVD-R or DVD-RW if you don't already have some to spare. This is very cheap (here in Europe you can buy DVD-R for less than 50 cents in American dollars).

    A final remark: I wouldn't upgrade from 120 GB to 160 GB, it's not worth the money or the time. I would only do it if the new HDD is faster than the old one or at least double the size. But it's your choice of course.

    Hope this helps.
     
    HerrKaputt, Dec 25, 2007
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