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    hard drive upgrade dell inspiron 9400

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Lou13, Oct 24, 2008.

  1. Lou13

    Lou13 Newbie

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    i want to upgrade the internal drive of my 4 yr old inspiron notebook to 320 gb and the ram up to 4gb. can this be done without affecting the notebook or damaging it? :confused:
     
    Lou13, Oct 24, 2008
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  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Does it use SATA drives ?
    Though the notebook is said to support 2GB by Dell, you can try out 3GB (2+1)....
     
    Andy, Oct 24, 2008
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  3. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

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    Yes, both are pretty easy upgrades. You need DDR2 SO-DIMMs (2x2GB) and a SATA 2.5" hard drive.

    You can get both together for just over 100 bucks, maybe under if you're a thrifty shopper, and the upgrade can be easily done by yourself.

    The 9400 uses a 945PM chipset which supports 4GB of memory. There could be a BIOS limitation but I doubt it, people have reported 4GB working.
     
    Hep!, Oct 24, 2008
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  4. Lou13

    Lou13 Newbie

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    thanks for your help. it uses a sata drive. So if it didn't work with the new 2x 2gb ram could I use one of the old ones already in it with one of the 2gb.
    Do I need to clone the old hard drive before inserting the new 320 gb?
     
    Lou13, Oct 24, 2008
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  5. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    You could clone the hard drive but i would give the new drive a fresh install of windows.
     
    nizzy1115, Oct 24, 2008
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  6. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    If you want to clone the drive, check out this post.

    There is no point in upgrading to 4GB, because the whole 4GB won't be used, and only ~3GB will be usable.
     
    Andy, Oct 24, 2008
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  7. beecee

    beecee Newbie

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    HI
    im new on here so go easy on me :)
    im looking to do the above upgrade on my inspiron 9400 ,, 350gb hd ( or more if possible )and 4gb ram , but have no idea where to look for the parts , where i have looked its all much more expensive than $100 , ANY HELP WOULD BE MUCH APRICIATED . #
    BRIAN
     
    beecee, Jul 29, 2009
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  8. Loki[D.d.G]

    Loki[D.d.G] Notebook Geek

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    I don't think the mobo in the Inspiron 9400 supports 4gb of RAM. The max, according to my manual at least, is 2gb
     
    Loki[D.d.G], Jul 29, 2009
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  9. beecee

    beecee Newbie

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    From searching a bit on here it seems that 0nly 3 0f the 4 will be used , but you still need to use 2x2gb ,
    but its what and where to buy i need to know as all pc jargon just confuses me , i know its spoon feeding but i really have no idea what and where to buy .
    CHEERS BIAN
     
    beecee, Jul 30, 2009
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