Advice for a Novice Replacing Laptop Hard Drive?

frugalRepairs asks: "The hard disk in my Sharp PC-MV12W laptop recently died. It gave me warning and I had everything backed up. It was out of warranty and the repair folks want an arm and a leg to fix it. I would like to replace the hard drive myself but I've never done anything like this before. It seems to me that I would just extract the old hard drive, note the physical measurements, purchase new hard drive, and install it. However, I'm expecting Mr. Murphy to visit me as soon as I open the case and would like some advice from Slashdot experts. Do I need special tools? Does the BIOS have special needs? Are all 2.5" laptop drives created equal?"

Comments

Uh?

[ag0ny]

1. Open computer cover
2. Verify that it's a 2.5" IDE drive
3. Go to shop, buy new 2.5" drive
4. Go back home, remove dead disk from computer
5. Plug new drive when the old one was
6. Close computer cover
7. Install OS

Honestly, there's nothing special to it. But there are two issues that you'll probably find:

a) Laptops are very crowded inside their covers. Write down where everything belongs as you take it apart. Take photos if possible, to make sure that you put it together in the same way later.

b) Laptop manufacturers don't like users messing with the hardware. Your laptop most likely has a cover underneath that you can remove by unscrewing a standard screw, and the hard disk is most likely inside it (that's the case with my Compaq Presario). However, it might happen that you have to use some special hexagonal key to reach the hard disk, as is the case on my wife's Sony laptop.

Re:Uh?

[Artifex]

I'm currently replacing my Compaq's motherboard, because the AC adapter's power plug (being at a right angle) loosened the power connector from the board.

Did you try just buying a new power connector and soldering it where the old one was?
Sure, SMT is fiddly, but if it saves you $290 (give about $10 for the connector, to be generous), it's worth the hassle.

Re:Very simple

[cbcbcb]

The one in my Sony Vaio was 8.5mm. You can't buy 8.5mm drives any more - they are all 9.5mm and I had to bend the mounting bracket to fit it...

For the uninitiated...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shuttle cases come with the motherboard (and hence the BIOS), smartass ;)

OS

[NewStarRising]

One thing to watch for is if you are putting the Original (Windows) installation back onto the Laptop. Most OEM Restore Disks check your hardware, not just type/brand/model, but EXACT component. They "Tatoo" the HDD so the Restore knows what to do.

You may find that you are unable to Restore your OS back onto the new drive.

Only solutions to this are to put a new OS on it (Retail Windows, *nix, other ...) or to phone tech-support ...

Additional question

[cerberusss]

I have an additional question while people are reading this thread: I have a Dell D600 which has a severe harddisk heat problem. The harddisk heats up and because it is located under the left palm area, it gets uncomfortably warm there. I wanted to cool this disk, but there's almost no room. Could I try to transfer the heat using some sort of heat-conducting strip? The CD drive bay could be emptied so I could conduct the heat to that place and dissipate it using a small cooler.

Here's a pic of the internals: http://www.josesandoval.com/images/D600Fix2.jpg. The harddisk is in the lower left, the drive bay is in the middle right (the big grey cover).

Questions I have: what sort of strip (material?) should I use to conduct heat to the empty drive bay? Can it be really thin, like 1mm? And would any small cooler be enough? Or could I connect the heat conducting strip to the drive bay cover? (it's made of some sort of aluminium, AFAIK). The drive runs up to 55C. I'd prefer not to use a fan.

Re:difficult?

[Exocet]

Actually, most modern Dell laptops use one or two screws (externally accessable) to attach a drive bay to the laptop. Just like a Thinkpad (which I own), they're easy to swap out. I've got a crappy P4 Toshiba laptop next to me and it looks like it also has an one screw drive removal deal.

I have, however, seen VERY old Pentium-based IBM laptops where the drive was absolutely buried in the system. This is a stupid design and would be cause for me not to purchase a similar system.

When I read this Ask Slashdot I was confused: all the laptops I've ever deal with, except the aforementioned ancient one, the laptop HD's are one of the few ultra simple things to replace/remove, along with the RAM, battery and CD/DVD drive.

BTW: If the submitter of this Ask Slashdot has an IBM Thinkpad from recent years, be aware: IBM has instructions on their web site for replacing damn near everything in a laptop, including the motherboard. I'm not a laptop technician but I did replace the mobo in my T20 earlier this year and while it was quite nerve racking it was a successful operation. This is why I will probably always buy IBM laptops.

Wow

[CaptPungent]

I can't believe all of the responses. I can understand all of the caution, taking pics and labelling and all, but seriously, taking laptops apart isn't hard. I've personally taken my Thinkpad apart about 25 times now, sometimes just for the hell of it, to learn how it was put together, other times to put in new CPU, the several times after that looking for pins to set the multiplier. I've put in a new HDD on it too, on that laptop though the HDD was in an easily accessable tray that just slid out.

BUT, the biggest advice one can give is just to simply take it apart. Don't be afraid, just be gentle, and start removing. You'll figure it out.

Once upon a time (last year) I did repair for a teacher in college's Gateway laptop (I hate those damn things), he broke the damn surface mount for the AC connector, first time just broke the terminal pole connecting it to the board, after that he managed to break THE ENTIRE PLASTIC HOUSING. I repaired it several times, eventually I had to buy a cheap AC connector (couldn't find one that would fit) and cut the plastic off of, and used a flat solder tip to melt to the old housing and encase the replacement terminal pole that I'd shaped from some copper with a dremel. Did I ever do anything like that before? Hell no, just tried it and did it. Thats the only way to learn it.

that said, I have a bit of a problem, when I buy something the first thing I do it take it apart and put it back together. When something DOES go wrong then I know my equipment inside and out. Just go for it man!

Re:Do, do not. There is no try.

[Anonymous Coward]

Or as hard as hell like anything from Apple (except the 15 inch TiBook).

True enough. But the 15 inch was a piece 'o cake. Here's how I did it

1. Go to store and buy a 2.5" drive. I bought a 5400 RPM Toshiba 40 Gig (I had no need for anything bigger).
2. Back up old hard drive to external firewire drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (free)
3. Shut down, remove battery.
4. Remove six identical screws on the back.
5. Pop open case.
6. Remove two screws on side of drive.
7. Pop out drive.
8. Remove cable.
9. Attach cable to new drive.
10. Put new drive in.
11. Screw in the two screws.
12. Put case back on.
13. Screw in the six screws.
14. Pop in battery, boot up off of external firewire drive.
15. Restore internal drive with Carbon Copy Cloner.
16. Reboot.

Steps 3 through 14 took me eight minutes.