Change to a larger hard disk

The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would like
to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish this
task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance locates.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott, I would try the manufacturer of the Notebook first. They
probably have Support, Knowledge Base and maybe a forum.
"Scott" wrote in message
...
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott, I would try the manufacturer of the Notebook first. They
probably have Support, Knowledge Base and maybe a forum.
"Scott" wrote in message
...
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I
would like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to
accomplish this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where
such guidance locates.

Laptop manufacturer/user manual/FAQs on their web page, etc.

Essentially you need to be sure to get the right type of drive (and one the
BIOS of the laptop supports), you need to clone/image the old drive and then
you should be up and going.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I
would like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to
accomplish this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where
such guidance locates.

Laptop manufacturer/user manual/FAQs on their web page, etc.

Essentially you need to be sure to get the right type of drive (and one the
BIOS of the laptop supports), you need to clone/image the old drive and then
you should be up and going.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf

If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to worry about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I allow
to access them.

Paul

Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf

If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to worry about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I allow
to access them.

Paul

Paul wrote:
Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I
would like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to
accomplish this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such
guidance locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf


If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to
worry about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at
lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its
advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I
allow
to access them.

Paul
If the notebook is more than 2 years old chances are that the drive is
2.5" IDE.
If the drive is SATA you can plug it directly into a desktop pc with a
free SATA port and SATA power connection without any adapters.

Personally I think your best option would be to buy a USB 2.5" enclosure
as you can use the old drive with any machine for backup etc..

In regards to copying/cloning the drive I would recommend clonezilla,
you can burn it to CD or even boot it from a USB Flash Drive (providing
that the notebook supports booting from USB).

For more info about clonezilla you can visit their website:
http://clonezilla.org/

--
Mark Mckee
CompTIA A+ Certified www.comptie.org

Paul wrote:
Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I
would like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to
accomplish this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such
guidance locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf


If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to
worry about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at
lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its
advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I
allow
to access them.

Paul
If the notebook is more than 2 years old chances are that the drive is
2.5" IDE.
If the drive is SATA you can plug it directly into a desktop pc with a
free SATA port and SATA power connection without any adapters.

Personally I think your best option would be to buy a USB 2.5" enclosure
as you can use the old drive with any machine for backup etc..

In regards to copying/cloning the drive I would recommend clonezilla,
you can burn it to CD or even boot it from a USB Flash Drive (providing
that the notebook supports booting from USB).

For more info about clonezilla you can visit their website:
http://clonezilla.org/

--
Mark Mckee
CompTIA A+ Certified www.comptie.org

"Paul" 在郵件
ä¸*撰寫...
Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf

If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to worry
about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its
advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I allow
to access them.

Paul

Paul,

Many thanks for your detail info. The computer is about 4 yrs old and would
like to replace the existing 60 GB hdd with a 250 GB one if possible. Is
there any way to know if the computer can support upto 250 GB? The copying
utility is great and if it is suitable for all hard disks or their brand
only.

Regards,

Scott

"Paul" 在郵件
ä¸*撰寫...
Scott wrote:
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott

To copy the old drive to the new drive, you need a way to connect
an additional drive.

One way to do this, is with USB. Your internal drive is some kind of
2.5" hard drive. Depending on vintage, it could be IDE ribbon cable
or SATA.

This device, for example, allows connecting a 2.5" IDE, a 3.5" IDE,
or a SATA drive. The output is a USB plug, that connects to the
computer. The product includes a power supply to operate the drive.
No power should be drawn from the USB. This one is $21.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812195005

Basically, that is a USB enclosure, without the enclosure. It contains
the adapter electronics and power source. And it allows a drive
to be temporarily connected while copying files.

If you had a desktop computer, you could save a few dollars, by
getting a 40 pin 3.5" to 44 pin 2.5" adapter plug, then plug the
laptop drive into a desktop ribbon cable. That is another way to
gain access to a disk.

Some disk drive makers, provide copying utilities.

Data Lifeguard Tools
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=1&lang=en

Manual
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2779-001005.pdf

For other advice, you should give the make and model number of the
laptop. It could be, that there are other considerations when
doing the upgrade. (For example, you'd probably want to copy the
hidden partition on the old disk, as that has your backup copy of
Windows on it. I don't know if the Data Lifeguard can see that
partition or not. If the computer is from before 2003, the
BIOS may not support large disks.)

If the web.archive.org site starts working again, you could try to
download the old Seagate document, about the 137GB barrier. The
document is 398,893 bytes. Seagate appears to have removed this,
but this site should have an archived copy of the PDF.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www....c/tp/137gb.pdf

If you replaced a 40GB with a 120GB, you'd have (almost) nothing to worry
about.
(Again, if the computer is *really* old, there are other barriers at lower
capacity levels.) So sticking with something below 137GB, has its
advantages.
I own a few disks bigger than that, but I'm always careful what OS I allow
to access them.

Paul

Paul,

Many thanks for your detail info. The computer is about 4 yrs old and would
like to replace the existing 60 GB hdd with a 250 GB one if possible. Is
there any way to know if the computer can support upto 250 GB? The copying
utility is great and if it is suitable for all hard disks or their brand
only.

Regards,

Scott

Scott wrote:
Many thanks for your detail info. The computer is about 4 yrs old
and would like to replace the existing 60 GB hdd with a 250 GB one
if possible. Is there any way to know if the computer can support
upto 250 GB? The copying utility is great and if it is suitable
for all hard disks or their brand only.

Laptop manufacturer/user manual/FAQs on their web page, etc.

Essentially you need to be sure to get the right type of drive (and one the
BIOS of the laptop supports), you need to clone/image the old drive and then
you should be up and going.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Scott wrote:
Many thanks for your detail info. The computer is about 4 yrs old
and would like to replace the existing 60 GB hdd with a 250 GB one
if possible. Is there any way to know if the computer can support
upto 250 GB? The copying utility is great and if it is suitable
for all hard disks or their brand only.

Laptop manufacturer/user manual/FAQs on their web page, etc.

Essentially you need to be sure to get the right type of drive (and one the
BIOS of the laptop supports), you need to clone/image the old drive and then
you should be up and going.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Rich Barry" ¦b¶l¥ó
¤¤¼¶¼g...
Scott, I would try the manufacturer of the Notebook first. They
probably have Support, Knowledge Base and maybe a forum.
"Scott" wrote in message
...
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott



Rich,

Thanks for your advice.

Scott

"Rich Barry" ¦b¶l¥ó
¤¤¼¶¼g...
Scott, I would try the manufacturer of the Notebook first. They
probably have Support, Knowledge Base and maybe a forum.
"Scott" wrote in message
...
The existing hard disk of my notebook pc becomes low level and I would
like to change to a larger one. I am looking for guidance to accomplish
this task. Can someone provide the pointer to where such guidance
locates.

Thanks,

Scott



Rich,

Thanks for your advice.

Scott