Can I Replace Laptop HDD Myself ?

[dr_jimit]

Hello Friends,

I have an old laptop of toshiba,
with 40 Gb HDD, which crashed, it shows xp F8 advance boot menu, but doesnt proceed further.
I tried all things,
It shows HDD in BIOS
98,XP And Vista setups detects it when CD/DVD boots,
But setup cannot continue [hangs]when it accesses HDD to check/format/ install
I deleted all partition from FDISK,
and then could not repartition in FDISK [error] or in OS setups[hangs].
and now i am on conclusion that i have to replace it with new one, mostly 80 Gb Seagate/ Samsung, [ Or do you think that it is still usable? ]

I can fully assemble PCs, done many times succesfully, but never tried on laptops,
So i worry if i can replace it on my own or have to go to dealer?
As it was an imported 2 yrs ago so without warranty, [I can dare 1 time]
Should i open it and give it a try? As I think mostly it will be similar to PCs, as i assume,only smaller and compact design.

Or do u think it is well and good not to open it myself,
Pl help,

[Sykora]

It is possible. I have done it on my old Acer 512T many times, with no (major) problem, and none of them permanent. The only difficulty you may encounter are the parts of the laptop which are not screwed down, but rather pressed down with tabs or something like that. I'd expect that most laptop keyboards are pressed down in that way, you'll have to take it out carefully. Below that, there'll be a magnetic shield, which you can unscrew. From thereon, it'll be pretty obvious.

But remember to treat the hinge of your screen carefully, if you find you have to unhinge it.

[mohsin_parwez]

Yes you most certainly can replace the hard disk yourself. If you have the manual for the Laptop, it will have instructions on opening the harddrive casing. You don't even have to dissassemble the laptop, you just need the right sized phillips screwdriver, one screw, one cover, thats usually it. Make sure that the drive that you will be replacing your old one with is compatible and comes with a warranty. Ask around for the rates cause dealers love to dupe people espcially with hardware related to mobile computing (Laptops, Mobiles etc).

Its Really easy, You can go to the Toshiba website and download instructions on replacing your harddrive easily.

BTW, on TOSHIBA laptops, you don't have to touch the screen or anything like that. Look under the laptop and you will see a HardDisk symbol over a cover that is attached with one screw. There will be another cover for RAM access, WIFI/Modem Card etc and one for the Battery. Simply unscrew the cover for the HardDrive and carfeully remove it. Slide the HDD out, Gentle Pressure on one end will push it out. Then Simply lift it out.

[ax3]

yes u can do it .......

bt carefully ....... many lappies dont have screws bt clips .........

[dr_jimit]

Thank you all for replying,

But what do u think, Is the HDD still usable from what i have described ? or it is dead?

Mean while i will seach web 2-3 days as mohsin_parwez said for details,

Thank u all again