|
|
Hard
Drive Failure
Fortunately, laptop hard drives are the one really generic
part (aside from most memory) that you don't have to worry
too much about replacing.
I just price watch or call
dirt cheap drives and buy the closest capacity match, which is
usually somewhat larger. Depending on the model, you may be
able to really upgrade to a much bigger drive on a
replacement, but you probably won't get the benefit of a
faster interface on an older notebook and the BIOS may not
recognize most of the capacity, so there's no point in
spending much more than you have to. Laptop hard drives can
be extremely easy to replace or moderately difficult. The
difference lies in how they are accessed. Many older
notebooks allow you to replace the hard drive through a
single-screw access panel on the bottom of the unit,
sometimes it's right under the battery or the RAM. Other
laptops require that you crack the body open, remove the
keyboard or the motherboard (assembly varies from
manufacturer to manufacturer), really take the whole thing
apart. The interface for the IDE cable on the drives that
come out easy is often fixed in place, so the drive
basically plugs in, while the drives that require you to
take the whole thing apart often make remove the connector
on a flexible (and fragile) flat cable before removing the
drive. I have an illustrated guide on how to replace a
laptop hard drive of the easier type:-)
|
|