There is essentially one hard drive to upgrade to for this laptop: 250 GB EIDE by Western Digital, WD2500BEVE. It is 5400 RPM but at least you will have some space.

• • There are no issues with 48 bit LBA on the Inspiron 6000. (with latest bios)

  • Scorpio Blue Western Digital WD3200BEVE 320 GB EIDE Laptop Notebook Should be fine.

  • BIOS - BIOS

    Description	Importance	Version	Released	Supported OS	Download
    Dell Inspiron 6000 System BIOS, A09 Dell Inspiron 6000 A09 System BIOS	Optional	A09	10/12/2005	BIOS

  • The only issue is the Registry setting and the Service Pack Requirement for WIN2000, XP

    Windows XP service Pack3 does not need the registry change for 48 bit LBA.

    You can use

    The following are Windows based partition utilities:

    Seagate DiscWizard 2003/2002 and later.
    Power Quest Partition Magic
    Acronis Partition Expert

    To enable EnableBigLba in the Windows registry, perform the following steps:

     

  • Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe). In Windows, click on Start->Run, enter "regedit".
  • Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters registry subkey.
  • From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
  • Enter the name EnableBigLba, then press Enter.
  • Double-click the new value, set it to 1, then click OK.
  • Close the registry editor.
  • Restart the machine for the change to take effect.

Use EnableBigLba tool to test and set EnableBigLba in the Windows registry without
having to do it manually with the regedit tool.

http://www.48bitlba.com/enablebiglbatool.htm

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0307366

WD3200BEVERTL

Interface PATA (IDE)
Capacity 320GB
RPM 5,400 RPM
Manufacturer Warranty 3 Year Limited Warranty

 http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/System_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A0939958

160 GB 5400 RPM Easy-Plug Easy-Go Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive for
Dell Inspiron 6000/ 9200/ 9300 / XPS M170 / XPS Gen2 Series Laptops

Overview
The 160 GB 5400 RPM Easy-Plug Easy-Go Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive from CMS Products
is an ideal storage solution for your Dell™ laptop. It offers a storage capacity
of up to 160 GB to store files, music, photos and data. Additionally, a spindle speed
of 5400 RPM with a buffer of 8 MB ensures fast disk access. It delivers data transfer
rates of up to 100 MBps using Ultra DMA Mode 5. Featuring an average seek time of 11 ms,
it offers excellent performance. This laptop hard drive is designed for
the Dell™ Inspiron™ 6000/9200/9300 laptops.

Manufacturer Part# : D9200-160
Dell Part# : A0939958

That 320GB hard drive is practically impossible to find though. I found one for $250 on Amazon. I still think the only reasonable upgrade is the WD2500BEVE!

BIOS UPDATE is also HIGHLY recommended BEFORE changing CPU.  However you need a battery that works.  Also Keep in mind you can get a D630 used for UNDER $300 and that uses SATA not PATA drives and works with Windows 7.

2.5" IDE-PATA 320gb 8M cache Western Digital WD3200BEVE

Thanks Speedstep. I was not aware of the 320GB EIDE hard drive. I guess that makes it 2 resonable options for upgrade.

You just need to load the OS on a separate partition and use the remainder as drive "D".

Speedstep: are you talking about the A09 bios?

Speedstep, I've read users are running Windows 7 after the M780 upgrade. Are you saying Win 7 wouldn't run? Also do you mean the secondary battery that works?

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 780 (2M Cache, 2.26 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)

Lithography 90 nm

Max TDP 27 W

VID Voltage Range 1.260V-1.404V

Sockets Supported H-PBGA479, PPGA478

SL7VB  SL8QK   SL8RF

Speedstep: are you talking about the A09 bios?

Yes.

That 320GB hard drive is practically impossible to find though. I found one for $250 on Amazon. I still think the only reasonable upgrade is the WD2500BEVE!

If you don't have a real GPU then Win7 is quite a waste.  Even with an ancient Radeon only vista drivers are available.

Microcenter and Amazon and others have D630's etc with Windows 7 in the under $300 category.

At some point the Economics of upgrading an NON CORE 2 Duo or faster system is a waste.

I also see CORE I3 and CORE I5 laptops under $400 new with windows 7 or windows 8 on them.

Dell Latitude D630 Laptop Computer Refurbished -..

Dell D630 Windows 7 Professional Laptop Computer.

Dell D630 Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz Laptop Notebook 4GB. 120GB. DVD±RW, Bluetooth, 9-Cell Battery

Available from these sellers.

I originally stated a 780, but I bought a 770. what is the downside of the different core stepping? What problems should I look for? CPU was installed in 2010.

Snoopy49: I did some more research and it seems that 470 should work, the core stepping is actually the same, though another poster said that it may be different/cause problems. I think the other posters with 470 issues got faulty chips.

Speedstep, Hence my recommendation that the only reasonable HD upgrade is the 250 GB since you can get them for under $50. Spending $200 on a 320GB HD is not practical with what core 2+ machines are going for.