Laptop hard drives - Can I change it easily?

[ERU]

I got a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18L laptop and was wondering if I can upgrade my internal HDD? Is it just a case of swapping the unit out for a new one? I've had the thing in pieces today fixing the power and SD-Card reader - so I have no worries about actually doing it. I just wanted to know if it was like buying a desktop drive? Will things like power become an issue? Do I have to stick to certain models for compatibility?

[Little John]

You just need to know if the laptop uses a SATA drive or the older IDE style connector.

[psxcity]

Hard Disk Drive
160 Gb (S-ATA)
(7.5 GB reserved - recovery space)

[n00bz0rd2]

Most laptops make the HD accessible. If you turn the laptop upside down, there may be a cylinder icon, the same icon that shows with the LED, when the HD is in use (it usually flashes). Check if you have that and any screws near it. I know that my Dell laptop does and all I do is remove the 2 screws, slide out the drive and caddy, replace the drive and slide back in.

[ERU]

Yeah it's very easy to get out. I was just wondering about compatibility and potential BIOS problems.

[Mickey]

There shouldnt be any issues, its easier to change a lappy drive than a pc one

clone the drive before hand with the usual software
stick in the new drive and run the backup. When you do this the sw will detect a bigger partition, just tell it to leave as free space

[Waka]

I've just put one of these in a friends HP:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-G...MB-Cache-12-ms
piece of piss
Make sure your bios is up-to-date, and if' it's older than 2 or 3 years it might not know how to handle drives bigger than 160GB.

W.

[Simate]

This is a very good drive for a very good price http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/351659...e/Product.html