Sony F12 5400 to 7200 RPM upgrade

Hey guys, I have the Sony Vaio VPCF126FM-B with a 600 GB 5400 rpm hdd. I would like to know if this can be swaped with a higher RPM hdd or even an ssd? My main concern is I only have the created disk I made for a factory restore which is the only option Sony offers out of the box. Do I use these disks with the new HDD or do I need to purchase Windows 7? Thanks guys.

 

You can replace it with whatever HDD you want - just use the same DVDs and restore the system on the new storage media !

Windows is not per HDD but per System and the system can be upgraded!

I'm also with an upgraded HDD and the same Windows as originally delivered

 

Thanks for the reply Gracy. Going to try it this weekend!

 

That said, some user-created Vaio restore DVDs have been known not to work correctly if the capacity of the new disk is different from what it was when the restore DVDs were created.
If so, the best bet is to use the generic DVD, followed by a restore of important files and folders from a backup (or by hooking the old drive up to an external dock, and simply copying the files over).

 

Just to clarify what arth1 meant:

If you have created the original restoration DVDs that Sony advises you to and that Windows almost forces you to from the first boot - then you will have no problems applying them to the new harddrive!

If you, however, created a SYSTEM IMAGE using windows - which means you so to say cloned your harddrive or even a partition out of it and want to restore that IMAGE - you will only be able to do so if your new drive is bigger than the one you have at the moment! You will most likely even not succeed if it is the same size (go ask Microsoft why.....).

But if you, as I understand, have the RESTORATION DVDs that you create right after you bought the PC, which include Vaio stuff and so on - you will not have any problems restoring the out-of-the-box "experience" to a new drive! They will install whatever you found on your system when you first bought and started the PC to your new drive.

 

When upgrading my hard drive in the past with different Vaio's my recovery discs haven't always worked. Others have also had that experience also.

Chances are that you will be ok. I guess wait and see if it works for you.

 

No, that is not what I meant at all.

If you create a the restoration DVDs yourself using the Vaio software pre-installed on the machine, you can run into problems restoring it after changing HDs to a non-identical HD. The problem is likely that it saves the partitioning information as part of the restore image.

However, if you use a bundled (i.e. Sony created) restore DVD, there usually won't be any problems.

 

I am one of those who had problems using restoration DVD on a higher capacity HDD even when it was the same manufacturer and model as the originally fitted.

I burned a lot of dvd's several times thinking about faulty copies, used different dvd types from different manufacturers. I also got the HDD to the store to be changed by another unit... Tried restoration more than twenty times but I didn't succeed.

I couldn't find where the problem was but, I guess in my case it had to do with storage size.

Good luck!

 

Strange. I never had any issues. The restoration even gives the option to specify partition size larger or smaller than the default - it always worked perfectly for me.

 

I haven't heard of this problem occurring on current or fairly recent models.

The F should be safe. Quite a few people have upgraded the HDD in their F series using the recovery install (myself included) with no problems reported. And as Gracy points out, the current VAIO Rescue software is flexible about partitioning.

 

Thanks guys! very informative stuff here. If all fails with the new speed HDD can I just plug in the original HDD as if nothing happened? Also while were on plug and play, can the graphics cards be swapped in my Vaio vpcf126fm? I would like to try the ATI 5870.

 

If you just remove your HDD (without formatting it) you can always just put it back and it will boot as before. But I am certain you will not have any problems with the new HDD.

 

Sounds good Gracy thanks. I'll post my results. Know anything about swapping these video cards and is it even possible? Thanks.

Emilio.

 

Should be possible to swap your video card with another one. Don't know anything about that specific one though.

 

Re: the graphics card. No. it is not swappable.

 

Yes you can as long as the other drive is the same physical size as your current one (which is probably 2.5" drive) If you dont want to reinstall everything, you can always make a clone of your current drive, then after installing your new drive, copy the clone over. (I recommend Clonezilla Live Boot disk)

 

I think you should be fine. An option if you do have problems is to buy a windows anytime upgrade. Not sure what Win7 you have. But for example, if you have Home premium you can buy upgrade disc to professional fo around $90 at a retail computer store or big box store (see attachment). Might be able to find on ebay or craigslist as well. If you ever want to buy full version of windows7, make sure to buy it from a computer store that sells component to make your own computer. At Microcenter Win7 Ultimate is $199.00 for those building their own systems. At Microsoft and elsewhere they charge $300 + for full version of win7 ultimate.

The nice thing about this is you can get a fresh/clean install but you will need to load drivers and any sony software you want from their support site. It is also a good learning experience.

Typically you can only use the disc to upgrade, so you have to use a little loophole. See, all upgrade discs have all versions of windows on it. After installing new HDD, load upgrade disc and when prompted do not put in product key and select the current version of win7 that you have. After install is complete, within windows, select upgrade and put same disc in to select the upgrade version. This time you can put the product key in. Their are plenty of instructions out there if you google it.

One other option is to contact Sony and ask them if they can send you recovery discs, for a fee of course.

Good Luck and Let us know how it turns out.

Chris

 

I've heard of this problem too, from someone in EU who's F13 would not allow the Recovery Discs to install onto an SSD. His response from Sony was that they don't support the discs installing onto any non OEM drive. Tacky.

I, personally, had no problem installing from recovery discs onto my SSD.

 

Worst case: Put your old drive back in, use Clonezilla or Acronis or Ghost to make image, switch drives, restore image to new drive.