Topic: Laptop HDD questions (Read 442 times)

Vaj is for Fags · « **on:** October 22, 2009, 04:48:38 PM »

I'm thinking about when I return stateside upgrading my netbook's HDD from the measly 120GB to a 500GB HDD. I do have several concerns. First off, what I've read about it makes me uncertain as to whether or not it can handle an SATA II connection or just an SATA I connection. I'm still trying to figure out if the Toshiba NB205-N312 which has an Intel® Atom™ Processor N280 uses the 945 Chipset and if that chipset can handle SATA II or not. Dunno if anyone can help there.

So, assuming I know what it can handle, picking out an HDD is a piece of cake. The next issue though would be I guess copying everything over. I've always just done a fresh install, but that was in a PC that actually had a disk drive. This time there is no disk drive so a fresh install makes me nervous. Also, I figured that if I am taking out the 120GB HDD I might as well buy it an enclosure and have it as external HDD just in case. I'm assuming there isn't much to that other than sticking it in the enclosure and putting the connectors into place. So, assuming that is all I have to do, would I be able to do that first w/ the 500GB drive to just copy everything over and then just swap them?

I want to figure this all out so I can have it ready to go before I return to the states and actually hopefully have everything sitting there waiting for me when I arrive.

Hoping for stuff like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136459
or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193061

Agent Orange · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2009, 08:56:40 PM »

If you want to transfer things exactly as they are, you'll have to create an actual HDD image. Copying and Pasting won't really work, unless you do it while its unmounted (software wise) meaning that the OS isn't booted on it. It is Windows and not Linux afterall :p

Anyway, I don't have much experience with SSD's, but usually swapping out an HDD requires you to open the case and void the warrenty. Its not a big deal, but you do have to be careful if there's no access panels on the bottom, because then most likely the screen needs to come out.

I wouldn't worry about SATA I vs. SATA II for performance in the first place. Do you know what your SSD uses now?

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2009, 03:13:08 AM »

No, I don't know which SATA it uses which is one of the questions I was trying to figure out. I will definitely look into where the HDD is located and how I have to swap it out. There are 2 panels on the bottom, 1 is for Memory (which I already swapped out), and I'm not sure what is behind the other. The other has weird 6 pointed star shaped screws, which will be somewhat problematic.

Can an SATA II drive run on an SATA I connection? I realize it wouldn't run at SATA II speed.

It isn't an SSD drive. It is a 120GB 5400rpm drive.

So, how do I make an image then?

The Duct Tape Phantom · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2009, 07:59:22 AM »

the other problem is that laptop hard drives are different thickness's. the higher capacity ones are 12.5 mm tall while the smaller ones are only 9.5 so make sure which ever one you get is the right size.
for the image you need something like Norton Ghost or something.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2009, 11:17:07 AM »

I saw the 9.5mm thing. From my understanding the extra 3mm is from an extra platter. There was a good review for the 640GB HDD discussing it.

The Duct Tape Phantom · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2009, 11:36:41 AM »

Quote from: Vaj is for Fags on October 23, 2009, 11:17:07 AM

I saw the 9.5mm thing. From my understanding the extra 3mm is from an extra platter. There was a good review for the 640GB HDD discussing it.

Yeah the extra thickness is for an extra platter. But what I'm saying is if your netbook was designed with 9.5mm one and you buy the 12.5 then your SOL so make sure you check and see whether the computer can handle the bigger one.

Agent Orange · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2009, 09:06:22 PM »

I thought you were buying a netbook with an SSD. I think I even advised against it or something. Anyway, maybe I'm confusing threads.

To make an image for free, if the HDD is a Maxtor, grab MaxBlast 5 for Windows; for Western Digital, grab LifeTools, for anything else you can try g4u (Ghost4u).

You'll need somewhere to store the image of course. Might be best to go with an enclosure like you suggested. That's actually what I'd probably do.

And yes SATA II can be used in SATA I with no modifications. The specification was made backwards compatible on purpose so people wouldn't be forced to buy new motherboards or what-not.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2009, 04:21:26 AM »

Okay, sounds good. I just wish I knew for sure that the HDD was behind the panel here. I'll have to see if I can find a 6 pointed screw driver somewhere here.

But is it possible to copy and paste everything if I were to take out the HDD in the laptop, put it in an enclosure and then copy everything to another drive?

Agent Orange · « **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2009, 06:41:19 AM »

Quote from: Vaj is for Fags on October 26, 2009, 04:21:26 AM

Okay, sounds good. I just wish I knew for sure that the HDD was behind the panel here. I'll have to see if I can find a 6 pointed screw driver somewhere here.

But is it possible to copy and paste everything if I were to take out the HDD in the laptop, put it in an enclosure and then copy everything to another drive?

Some stuff. Its better to make an image with a bootable program. The HDD that you are going to paste to, will need to have the Operating System installed and loaded and you may not be able to just "paste everything" because copy/paste isn't meant for huge jobs and you'll error out as soon as it can't do something. I suppose you could pop in a Linux Live CD and do it that way.

But I mentioned some free programs that you should probably use.

Those "6 pointed" Torque Screws can be found in some hardware stores. Though in my experience those are usually going to void the warranty by removing them and probably have some pink or orange torque stripe in them.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2009, 12:32:09 PM »

Good to know, I'll look into that and decide. I think the warranty might be only 1 year so I'll think about it. Also, I might consider loading Linux, and while I'm at it setting my keyboard to Dvorak... Just so I can go full weird.

Agent Orange · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2009, 07:51:04 PM »

Quote from: Vaj is for Fags on October 26, 2009, 12:32:09 PM

Good to know, I'll look into that and decide. I think the warranty might be only 1 year so I'll think about it. Also, I might consider loading Linux, and while I'm at it setting my keyboard to Dvorak... Just so I can go full weird.

You don't have to load Linux up. Just pop in a LiveCD. It loads into RAM, so it doesn't touch your HDD's.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #11 on:** December 04, 2009, 07:08:16 AM »

So, for the ghosting software, should I base it on the drive that I am making an image of or the one I am putting the image onto? As in, I'm not sure what brand I have inside, but I'm buying a Western Digital drive, so should I get life tools then?

Agent Orange · « **Reply #12 on:** December 04, 2009, 08:13:06 PM »

Quote from: Vaj is for Fags on December 04, 2009, 07:08:16 AM

So, for the ghosting software, should I base it on the drive that I am making an image of or the one I am putting the image onto? As in, I'm not sure what brand I have inside, but I'm buying a Western Digital drive, so should I get life tools then?

Lifetools won't work for non-WD drives. PowerMax does I think (Maxtor/Seagate's). Otherwise, you could try some of the various other images out there. Just make sure you have space somewhere to store it.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #13 on:** December 08, 2009, 08:49:55 PM »

Can I not use the new drive to store it? Or will I need a 3rd drive?

Agent Orange · « **Reply #14 on:** December 08, 2009, 10:19:15 PM »

Quote from: Vaj is for Fags on December 08, 2009, 08:49:55 PM

Can I not use the new drive to store it? Or will I need a 3rd drive?

You'll need to store the image somewhere and then load it on your new drive. So long as you have enough space for the image on your original drive you can store it there as well.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #15 on:** December 11, 2009, 03:48:34 AM »

It would seem that g4u requires that I have an ftp. So, I searched around and came across this program: http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp Another issue I have is that I don't have a CD/DVD ROM. I only have USB ports.

I formatted the new drive and then ran the Macrium program and told it to do a clone. Once that finished (4 hrs later) I tried switching out the drives. It told me "incorrect partition" or something like that in the boot sequence. So, something obviously didn't work.

It would also appear that there is a sort of mounting rack that is attached to the HDD that came w/ the laptop and there is not one with the HDD I just bought off of Newegg. I can't fit the netbook HDD into the external enclosure w/ the little stabilizing rack and the other drive is loose in the netbook when I put it in. Now, I realize that I should just take the rack off of the one and put it on the other, but the screws holding it on feel like they are glued on. They won't budge at all. One of the screws is already slightly stripped. Any tips?

And since the mounting rack is on the original HDD and I can't even fit it into the enclosure I can't hook just take it out and use a different computer to do an image/clone of it.

Agent Orange · « **Reply #16 on:** December 11, 2009, 07:39:18 PM »

It may be erroring, because you have one of those recovery partitions on the original HDD. You should be making the image while the HDD is "offline", meaning its not in use. I've successfully have done them online a few times, no big deal, but that recovery partition may be the issue. You could always try Norton Ghost as well.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #17 on:** December 12, 2009, 02:41:25 AM »

I ended up using the trial version of this: http://www.xxclone.com/iproduct.htm. It worked great. Now the issue is getting the stupid cage thingy off of the old drive. I took it into a computer shop and they couldn't get it. It is like they glued the screws in. Frigging ridiculous. I can't stick my old drive in the enclosure with the cage on it and my new drive sits loosely in the bay without it. I think I'll have to get some electrical tape or something to hold it in place.

Oh, and I'm having some weird issues with deleting things again. I deleted my My Music folder which should have had about 80GB of data, but I only gained 50GB of space. Then I deleted some audio books that I'll never listen to which were about 8GB and I somehow lost space. I went from 75GB used to 80GB used. I can't really understand that...

Agent Orange · « **Reply #18 on:** December 12, 2009, 12:02:35 PM »

Its probably Loctite in the screw threads. So, with small diameter screws you'll probably strip the heads trying to get them out.

As for the "having trouble deleting" stuff, I think I gave you some advice before, so maybe look at that. I believe I probably advised you to run an AV scan, defragment, open the command line and type:
sfc /scannow, schedule a thorough checkdisk by clicking on My Computer -> Right-click the HDD -> Click Tools tab -> Click Check Disk and restart (its possible bad sectors could have been copied over, meaning the sectors on the new HDD aren't bad, but the corrupt data transferred to it was), unchecking all things that start up with msconfig (and subsequently not starting anything, especially something that you may have gotten through suspect means), and running HiJackThis! and posting on a HiJackThis! forum.
Its hard to actually diagnose something like this with little information (not criticizing), but it seems to be an obvious software issue which if you can't fix yourself, then you may need to reformat anyway. The good news is that at least you have a backup drive.

Vaj is for Fags · « **Reply #19 on:** December 12, 2009, 04:03:52 PM »

I'm really apprehensive of doing a reformat since I don't have any sort of drive from which to reinstall things. I'm also wondering if I was really tired and just looked at it as "free space" or "used space" which would be a bit of a blunder on my part. The space being used right now seems about right on my new drive so I'm not worrying about that at the moment.

As for the loctite or whatever, you think I'll have to drill them out or something? I can't put the stupid drive in the external case with the cage on it. And I really want to put the cage on the new drive so I don't have to have it held in place with electrical tape.

Agent Orange · « **Reply #20 on:** December 12, 2009, 04:34:47 PM »

Normally, loctite is used on bolts, but yes, if used on screws I have had to drill them out. It is possible that instead of using loctite, they used Torque Paint/Inspector's Anti-Sabotage Paint (exact same thing). If the latter is the case, then you may be able to get away with slowly turning the screw head clockwise and then counter clockwise.

You could also see what you manual says I suppose.

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Author Topic: Laptop HDD questions (Read 442 times)