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.

    can I use a hardrive from a diff laptop in mine?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by yah_trick_yaah, Jul 19, 2008.

  1. yah_trick_yaah

    yah_trick_yaah Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Something happened to my laptop a couple of weeks ago. I was using it normally and then all of a sudden it rebooted, and now it constantly reboots before even loading windows. Ocassionally it will run for a little while before the reboots start, and once when it did I managed to reformat. After reinstalling windows, the problem still existed.

    I took it to a geek squad yesterday, and he said the problem is narrowed down to either my hard drive or my motherboard. Since my laptop is already four years old, replacing a motherboard would not be worth the price. But I was wondering if I could just pull out a harddrive from my sisters old laptop and slide it into my hard drive slot?

    this may be a dumb question, sorry I don't know too much about technology. I haven't even checked if they hard drives are the same size. But if they do fit, should my sister's dell hard drive work in my velocity micro laptop? Or are the pieces not universal? Would the switch risk any damage to my sister's hard drive?
     
    yah_trick_yaah, Jul 19, 2008
    #1
  2. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    6,092
    Messages:
    12,975
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    481
    Oddly enough my notebook has the same problem (identical infact, 3.5years of age) and I have identified it as a motherboard problem, because my notebook's hdd works perfectly in an external enclosure.

    If your sister's hdd fits then it should boot, it just won't have the right drivers to run things...

    Weird, I even know where your user name came from...:-O YAH trick YAH! :laugh:
     
    Johnny T, Jul 19, 2008
    #2
  3. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

    Reputations:
    4,018
    Messages:
    6,046
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    There would be no risk of damage, but your sister's hard drive needs to have a matching interface with your motherboard. It might be an ATA or IDE hard drive, although many drives say so on the units themselves.

    You will also need to reinstall Windows because of the mismatched drivers and hardware.
     
    Bog, Jul 19, 2008
    #3
  4. yah_trick_yaah

    yah_trick_yaah Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    is there a guide somewhere to booting through an external closure? my friend suggested trying that, but I have no idea how to do it.
     
    yah_trick_yaah, Jul 19, 2008
    #4
  5. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    6,092
    Messages:
    12,975
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    481
    You don't need to boot it, just take the hdd from your notebook and put it in an enclosure and see if it reads anything from the hdd. :)
     
    Johnny T, Jul 19, 2008
    #5
  6. yah_trick_yaah

    yah_trick_yaah Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    oh i thought you meant you booted from an external hard drive. if my sister's hard drive doesnt work, i'll give that a shot.

    Thanks guys.
     
    yah_trick_yaah, Jul 19, 2008
    #6