Hard drive
Most modern laptops use 2.5″ hard drives. Older laptops use IDE hard drives, newer laptops use SATA hard drives. SATA and IDE drives are not interchangeable, they have absolutely different connectors.
If your laptop came with an IDE hard drive you cannot replace it with a SATA drive. The connector on your drive will not mach connector on the motherboard.
As you see on the pictuer above, a SATA drive has two flat connectors and an IDE drive has two rows of pins.
SATA hard drives has faster data transfer rate then IDE drivers. SATA – 150MB/s and IDE – 100/133MB/s.
Laptop hard drives spin at different speeds and most common are 4200RPM, 5400RPM, 7200RPM.
The RPM number indicates how fast the hard drive platters spin. Hard drives with high RPM number are quicker than hard drives with low RPM number because they can access data faster.
SATA connectors on a laptop hard drive are similar to SATA connectors on a destkop hard drive. You can connect a SATA laptop hard drive to a desktop computer using same SATA cables.
WHERE HARD DRIVE IS LOCATED IN A LAPTOP.
On most laptops the hard drive can be accessed from the bottom.
On some laptops the hard drive is burried inside the case and it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop in order to access and replace the hard drive.
HARD DRIVE UPGRADE.
A hard drive is the slowest part in any laptop. If you would like to speed up your laptop, replace your low RPM drive with a faster one. Fast RPM drives are backward compatible with low RPM drives.
If you would like to install a larger hard drive, take a look at the user’s manual and laptop specifications. Make sure your laptop supports larger drives.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 am
I want to upgrade the hard drive. I have a 40GB drive installed. Can I upgrade it to a 100GB drive?
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Ben,
Your laptop supports a 40 GB drive, so there shouldn’t be any problem with larger hard drives too.
I believe you can safely install 60GB, 80GB, 100GB or 120GB drives.
If you want to use drives larger than 160GB, you should the laptop specifications. In some cases it might be necessary to update the laptop BIOS in order to support larger drives.
Here’s something else you can do. Go to the manufacturer’s website and search for optional parts (upgrades) for your laptop model. If they list a larger drive in there, it means your laptop will support that size.
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
My laptop stopped booting. I have tons of pictures and music inside. I don’t care about the laptop it’s old. Is there any way to get my stuff? Please help.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
tim,
You can do that with an external USB enclosure for laptop hard drives. Buy an enclosure for your drive. It will cost you about $10-30. Remove the hard drive from your laptop. After that you install your drive into the enclosure and connect it to another working computer. The external drive will pop up in My Computers (if there is nothing wrong with the drive).
Now you can access the hard drive and backup all your data.
January 4th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Thank you. I have an IDE drive. Found a new enclosure for $17 and ordered it. Hopefully it will work.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Whoo hoo!
I replaced my old 4200 drive with a new 7200 drive.
My laptop is waaaaay faster now!
January 9th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
It should be. The hard drive can access data faster now.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Found many cheap hard drives on eBay, all different brands.
Toshiba, Hitachi, Western Digital, Seagate, etc… They all fit my laptop. Should I care about the brand?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Sam,
I don’t think that you’ll see any difference in performance or longevity if you use either one. Just make sure to buy the correct type which is supported by your laptop.
February 1st, 2009 at 11:08 pm
[...] the next picture I compare SATA connector found in laptop hard drives with the SATA connector found in CD/DVD drives. As you see, these two connectors are a little bit [...]
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I have a bad hard drive. As soon as I start my laptop it starts making very loud noise. I know it’s coming from the hard drive because when I remove it and start the laptop the noise disappeares. Can I repiar the hard drive or it has to be replaced?
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
You cannot repair the hard drive. When it starts making noise, it must be replaced. Back up all important files ASAP if you can.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am
I have a HP Pavillon dv6000. When I want to turn it on, it starts working, I can hear the fan and the lights come on just like normal, but after 30 sec (even before loads windows) seems like it turns off by itself and starts the process again, and again, after about 7-10 times it finally is working.
Do you think it could be de hard drive failing? Any ideas?
Thanks
March 4th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Diego,
Yep, could be a faulty hard drive. Does it display any error message when restarting?
Listen closely for sounds coming from the hard drive when your laptop loading Windows. Can you hear any repetitive clicking noises or maybe unusual grinding noise? If yes, probably it’s a failing drive.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Greetings….
If anyone’s HD will no longer boot and there are valuable files to recover, like Tim here:
My laptop stopped booting. I have tons of pictures and music inside. I
don’t care about the laptop it’s old. Is there any way to get my stuff?
Please help.
….one solution that avoids dismantling the computer is to use the Knoppix Live Linux CD link on the right of this page near the top.
Download and burn the CD, then boot the PC with the CD in the drive. May need to tweak the BIOS setting to allow the CD to boot. Not hard.
Inside Knoppix you will find an industrial strength Linux that allows you to copy files partitions and drives, reformat and sometimes repair partitions and drives and much more. Takes a little study, but well worth the effort. If we can do it, anyone can.
If the PC really is scrap, try reformatting the drive after backing up your files and then install a flavour of Linux, which will usually run faster than Windows (Ours was 35% faster on critical benchmarks) and will be a safe surfing machine for the web without 3rd party add-on software.
We did this a while back, still use our old (2001) lappies every day.
You can try most Linux flavours as a Live CD like Knoppix.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I agree. Knoppix is a very very useful tool. I use it all the time.
After you boot your computer to the desktop (looks and feels like Windows desktop by the way), the hard drive will appear on the desktop. Click on it to mount and if there if nothing wrong with the hard drive ( I mean hardware failure), you should be able to access it and find your files.
Now plug in a USB flash drive (formatted with FAT or FAT32) and it will pop up on the desktop too. Right click on the drive and enable writing to it. Now you can transfer files from the hard drive to the USB drive.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Arg… I have an old computer… But I don’t know where the hard drive is XD so yeah… So how should i take it out without Damaging it. Also I have another hard drive from my friends laptop so how do i switch the two? ( I have a laptop)
March 29th, 2009 at 8:31 am
John,
Maybe you should mention the model of your laptop?
April 1st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Hi there,
I came across this web site and hope you might be able to help me. I have a dell inspirion 8600 laptop. Recently it started having a problem when booting. IT begins to load the windows screen and then makes a static type sound (sounds like through the speakers) and reverts to the safe boot screen. Sometimes I can boot in safe mode. I cannot typically boot in safe mode with networking though. After sitting for a month or so I was able to start it fine – normally without problems. Just this week it began to have the same noise and safe boot screen problem.
I have windows xp, SP3. I have an IDE hard drive. Would this be a hard drive problem where I can replace the hard drive? or is is a motherboard problem? Can I replace the motherboard and upgrade to a SATA drive? Would it be a virus problem??
Thank you!!
April 1st, 2009 at 9:58 pm
James,
Maybe the noise is coming from the hard drive? When a laptop starts booting and then freezes, in many cases this problem could be related to the hard drive failure.
Test the hard drive. It’s possible that you can find the hard drive test in the BIOS menu.
Here’s what you can try. Remove the hard drive and boot the laptop with a live Linux CD (I use Knoppix). Will it work properly when the hard drive is removed? Is it still freezing even without the hard drive? If not, probably you have a bad hard drive.
Nope, you cannot do that.
I doubt it.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Hi Repair Man,
For the Kpoppix Linux CD, do I download the V6.0.1 CD.iso or V6.0.1-AdrianeV1.1CD.iso?
Once I have it on CD I can remove the hard drive, insert the CD into the CD rom, and boot the laptop? The system will read the .iso file? am I missing any steps?
thanks.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:41 am
James,
I’m not sure, both images have the same size. Go just with KNOPPIX_V6.0.1CD-2009-02-08-EN.iso
Yes, you’ll have to download the ISO file and burn it as image (not data CD). Start your burning software and select burn disc image. This will make your CD bootable. If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, Google “How to burn ISO file”.
After that you should be able to boot the laptop from that bootable CD even with the hard drive removed.
I’ve noticed that some newer laptops will not boot from Knoppix CD, but most of them do.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:24 am
My laptop uses a SATA hard drive, and I was wondering if there would be any problem with plugging in an IDE hard drive in an external USB enclosure into my laptop?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:32 am
George,
There will be no problem. Even though the internal hard drive is a SATA drive, you still can use an IDE drive in an external enclosure. Just make sure your enclosure is made for IDE drives so the connector inside matches your hard drive.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I just replaced my original 80GB SATA hard drive with a new 320GB SATA hard drive. Works like a charm!
Man, these drives are so cheap these days. I got mine for $67 and free shipping.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I recently bought a Western digital SATA 160gb hard drive for an HP Pavilion desktop computer – a335w. I now know that the cables were IDE type. Is there any way to adapt the SATA drive to the IDE cable? I am asking for a replacement from the eBay seller with a similar size hard drive that would be compatible with the older type of cables. Is that my only option?
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Paul,
Some motherboard have both types of connectors IDE and SATA. Take a closer look on the motherboard. Maybe your motherboard has SATA connectors. If that’s the case, all you have to do is buy SATA cables and connect them to your new hard drive.
September 19th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
My laptop has a 128Gb Solid State Hard Drive. It is hella fast.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Hello, Repair man. My laptop, Toshiba. Wont start up. it freezes at the toshiba logo. and makes a staic/popping noise.
What is the issue?
help, please
December 5th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I intend to change the 100GB HD of my Toshiba M45, upgrading capacity to 250 or 320GB. Current HD has an IDE connector (but not like the photo above, more like the SATA connector although IDE for sure). Is this type of connector commonplace? Most pictures I’ve seen show IDE connectors just like the one the picture.
December 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
many thanks!
March 8th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Repair Man,
Hi, I am trying to fix a Toshiba Satellite 1905-S301 for a friend. He found the laptop somehow and it didn’t have a hard drive or power supply. I ordered the parts from Amazon and upon trying to install the HDD found that it didn’t fit. Do you happen to know if there is a carriage for this model of laptop with an adapter cable? They are both IDE type connections but the new drive just doesn’t fit, Toshiba website doesn’t offer much useful information.
April 15th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
I have here a HP Pavilion dv6000…
first and foremost from most of the research I have conducted I see that they are notorious for overheating and such. I came across a link to update the BIOS and I guess it is suppose to tell the fans to run more… BIOS update here …. I was wondering if anyone would take a look at this as I have never updated a BIOS and am a bit fearful of messing something up. Does this seem legitimate?
And the other thing…
I suppose the overheating is causing this. The RAM to having VISTA ratio is pretty bad on this persons computer. So, I was(am) going to install XP so that the resources won’t be so bogged down all the time. the only reason she uses it is ebay anyway. Regardless … when I goto the setup on bootup for XP it says that it cannot install XP because the hard drive cannot be found or read. (this disc works on all other tested computers (3) to be double sure ) So, I do a HDD test in BIOS and it says to replace hard disc. From research replacing the HDD has worked for people. So, I go a buy a new HDD for her and put it in… nothing changes. The XP install won’t continue because it says the HDD cannot be read. Now, on the original vista still loads. In fact you can spend a considerable amount of time (maybe 1 hour) before the HDD/screen freezes up. Which this seems like a bad sector or something some kind of virus or something of that nature. Yet – as I said putting a new HDD isn’t working. So, I am about to attempt to install XP on the new disc from another external computer and then put it in the laptop to see if it’ll load. Other than that I am at a stand still… could I please get some help. Thank you so much in advance
also
I would like to add that I’ve done the BIOS diagnostics test on both HDD. The original with Vista that will load vista but not recognize a HDD through XP boot install fails the BIOS test. The NEW that will also not recognize a HDD in Windows XP boot install PASSES the BIOS test. Maybe this will help? I reseated everything in the back that I could ( RAM/HDD )
April 15th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Brian,
Why do you think your laptop overheats? Have you tried removing dust from the heat sink and cooling fan?
If the hard drive fails internal BIOS test, most likely it has a problem and has to be replaced.
OK, you’ve replaced the hard drive but XP doesn’t recognizes the new drive. What could be wrong? It’s possible that you have to load drivers for the new hard drive while loading XP. Isn’t your laptop designed for Vista. I’m sure if you start installing Vista, it will recognize the hard drive.
When you are installing XP, there should be an option to load hard drive drivers. Start the installation process and look carefully at all messages at the beginning of the installation. I believe you’ll have to press F6 (could be a different F* key) to load hard drive drivers.
You’ll have to find the driver, safe it on a floppy disc, connect the floppy drive to the laptop and load the driver while installing XP. This is my guess.
Where to get this driver? I don’t know. Check the HP website and go through all downloads available for XP.
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:43 am
Hi, I have a Microstar laptop, very old, and I would like to upgrade my existing IDE hard drive MHN2200AT 20GB with a new SAMSUNG HM160HI,
I searched a lot, till I found at the top of this page my IDE-SATA problem. Can I do any modify or is it impossible? I couldn’t find any forum about that. Thank you for your help.
andrea . ITALY
April 23rd, 2010 at 7:39 am
ANDREA,
You cannot modify the laptop. There is no way you can install a new SATA hard drive into your laptop. If you would like to replace or upgrade the hard drive, you’ll have to find another IDE drive.
By the way, you said the laptop is old and had a 20GB hard drive. There is a chance that your old laptop will not support larger drives. It’s possible that the laptop can support 40-60GB drives but not 120GB drives. You’ll have to do some research.
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:35 am
Hi, i’m using Compaq CQ35-216TU (Vista), having a problem when downgrading to XP. No option to disable native SATA in BIOS. Bluescreen problem while setup XP. How to resolve? TQ
June 13th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Hi! I have a Samsung MP0804H HD (80MB). It is supposed to be a ATA. The HD connection does not have 2 rows of 22 pins like the one you show (and everywhere. Mine has only one row with 22 pins plus 2 other pins separate. I want to buy an enclosure but does not know what to buy. Can someone help me?
June 13th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
marcelle,
Maybe you are talking about a connector which has to be removed before you install the hard drive into the enclosure?
Your hard drive should be a regular IDE drive.
June 20th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Hello.
I have a 5yr old laptop with an IDE drive that isn’t recognized in the BIOS. Is a pin bent an intermediate connector missing all i have at the moment is a large open slot and the bracket carrier. is the motherboard interface broken?
I ordered a tiny thin rigid black plastic connector from Ebay but worry it isn’t what i needed and will stay wedged out of reach in the slot.
It works okay using a linux live cd and a USB thumbdrive for stored files;-)
@James – Disk burning software dpesn’t always offer the option to burn an *image* to disk but that is what you want to do. It sounds like the FILE was saved to disk. An image can be read by hardware and is bootable.
Windows Powertoys for XP ISO Image Burner Free (Microsoft) was retired so. i have been using ISO Recorder v 2 Free/Donationware.
Great site and an informative discussion i really appreciate it.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Hi Rapair Man,
My laptop can not start becuase there maybe something wrong with the integrated graphics or the screem. I have give up to change a motherboard, but to buy a new laptop.
the problem is that my data is still in the hard disc. that is a SATA
July 27th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Hi Repair man,
My laptop can not boot anymore.the sound was ” dee~~~~dee~dee~” one long and two shorts when started. We don’t think we will reuse it cause it was old. but there are many data inside it.
I opened it, wanted to take out the hard disc. i just know it is a SATA connecter through the pictures from net. i want to buy a laptop hard driver box to copy the data out. I wander that is the laptop SATA hard driver box suit for all kinds of SATA-hard disc?
Thank you.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
jinhua,
You can remove the hard drive from the failed laptop and install it into an external USB enclosure (about $15-20). After that you connect this enclosure to another working PC or laptop and access your data.
Take a look at this guide: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/04/17/access-hard-drive-using-usb-enclosure/
July 29th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
jinhua,
This could be memory failure. If you have two memory modules installed, you can try removing them one by one and try turning on the laptop with each module separately.
You need an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives (2.5″ hard drives, not 3.5″).