Inspiron 8600 - Upgrade Hard Drive

it depend what type of hard hard is your laptop need, is it SATA or IDE?

Get a Hitachi Travelstar IDE drive if you can find one!  The drive is fast, fast, fast -- but it may be hard to find because everyone is going to the SATA interface now.  The IDE interface is also known these days as PATA (Parallel ATA) which differentiates it from SATA (Serial ATA).  The Hitachi information will refer to the drive in some places as ATA-6 and in others as PATA.

I have the I-8600 with the Hitachi Travelstar 60 GB which has been most satisfactory.  I was lucky to purchase a Hitachi Travelstar 100 GB drive which I will use as a replacement and then put the 60 GB in a carrier as a portable drive.

Here are the model numbers you should look for:

HTS721010G9AT00 (100 GB), HTS721080G9AT00 (80 GB), and HTS721060G9AT00 (60 GB) any of which will work.  Pay particular attention to the "72" which designates 7200 rpm and the "AT" which designates the ATA-6 interface.  The other things you might see are "54" which is 5400 rpm and "SA" which is SATA (Serial ATA).  You could use a 5400 rpm, but you'll LOVE the zippy performance of that 7200 rpm drive which will make your I-8600 outperform many current production computers.  You cannot use the SATA drive, so don't go there!

I don't know if this will make it, but here's a link for a spec sheet on the 7200 Travelstar drives.  You can change this drive out yourself if you have a #0 Phillips screwdriver and just a little skill.  You will have to reinstall the Operating System -- I'd recommend you get the Apricorn EZ-Gig software, clone your drive (very easy) and then swap the drives.  After you are satisfied with the new drive, format the old one and use it for a portable drive.

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/50C8DBC2A315A4C786256F400065B756/$file/7K100_SATA_FINAL_DS.pdf

Here is a link to a hard drive that will work with your laptop. This is just one brand, you can check the specs so that you can see what type of HD you will need if you do not choose this brand or model. As for your Tech, you can have them image (or clone) your present OS on to the new HD, making it plug and play for you. This process will let you keep your present OS intact and all your programs and files working as before, the only difference will be the extra space you now have. I would highly recommend you max out the memory as well, it is fairly inexpensive at this time and you will notice a very nice increase in speed.

Good luck!

,Fuminsho

Link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136130

I used to have an 8600, and replaced the hard drive myself. Any 2.5" laptop drive with IDE interface will work. Seagate, WD, Hitachi will work just fine. newegg.com is a good source for research. Installing is the easy part...setting up your software is time consuming. Good luck!

Hello, all suggestions welcome. My Inspiron 8600 laptop is running out of hard drive space. It is only 35GB. Can I purchase a much greater capacity hard drive which is compatible with my Inspiron laptop and if so, what make and model is recommended. I would then have it installed by a local technician (I know and trust a suitable person).

Many thanks to all who replied. You radvice is most welcome. The hard drive has an IDE interface an di will suggest to my technical friend that we purchase a compatible Hitachi . Thanks a lot:emotion-2:

Regarding the 250 GB drive, I don't know the answer --- if there is a limitation on hard drive size, I don't know what it is.

Here is another drive that will work:

ST3160812A by Seagate (Barracuda 7200.9 PATA) -- that is a 160 GB drive, 7,200 rpm, PATA (IDE) and Dell documents the setup of that drive in the 8600 at https://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/P120718/

EDIT: I don't know why Dell lists that drive as "supported" because I just looked at the data sheet on Seagate's website and that is a 3.5" drive!! It is four inches wide and one inch high and there is no [expletive deleted] way it would fit in the laptop.  I hope you didn't get your hopes up on that.

If you bought a 250 GB drive without careful consideration of the applicability, you may have a couple problems.  The drive is probably 5,400 rpm instead of 7,200 rpm.  While that won't prevent it working, it is a shame to not take the opportunity to get a fast drive in your computer.

Apricorn makes a nifty little case which attaches by USB and holds a 2.5" drive (IDE) and they also make an adapter which will allow you to connect any drive (IDE 40 pin, IDE 44 pin, or SATA) via USB.  Go to NewEgg.com or some favorite vendor and search for "Apricorn" and you'll find something.  Try to get something which includes their EZ-Gig software.  That software and the drive adapter will allow you to boot your I-8600 from the EZ-Gig CD and clone your drive onto the new drive.  You can choose a "proportional clone" which will clone the 35 GB into a X size (250 GB perhaps?) and then see what happens when you swap them.

You may have to play around if the drive is not recognized by the BIOS.  But many large drives have drivers which trick the BIOS into recognition.

If you can return the 250 GB drive, maybe you should do that and try to get the Hitachi or the Seagate which are known to be supported by the Dell BIOS.  Good idea to make sure you have A14 BIOS installed.  If not, go to http://support.dell.com and obtain it.  That could make a difference.

Let me know if I can help.  I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your specific question about the 250 GB drive.  I did read something like that also but I don't see it right now and don't really know the limit.

Chuck

Just a followup on the 250 GB issue. There may be a problem using 250 GB via the internal IDE interface, and I'm not equipped to answer that. But, if you can't get the 250 to work internally and can't return it, you can use it as an external drive via USB.

I am using various USB connected drives up to 1 TB with my Inspiron 8600 and there is no problem with that.  But, keep in mind, drives connected via USB are not examined by BIOS; the internal drive IS examined by BIOS, so it must be "acceptable" to BIOS or it will not work.

The idea of partitioning the 250 GB drive into two 125 GB partitions (I think the writer used the unfortunate term "cut it in half" :emotion-1: ), is not a likely solution.  The DRIVE is examined by the BIOS -- not the partitions (I'm pretty sure that's right).  That's why I said there may be a driver available with (or for) the 250 GB drive that would trick the BIOS into accepting the drive internally.  We used to do that all the time back in the 1980s.

The Western Digital drive recommended by another writer will work and my only reservation is the 5,400 rpm -- I'm spoiled by now. However, the drive you are replacing might even be a 4,200 rpm!

No one is making 7200 rpm notebook drives in EIDE format any longer - 5400 is as fast as they come.

Remove the drive and check the back of it.  If you see pins, you did not transfer the adapter from the original drive to the new one.  You need the adapter to connect the drive to the system board.

I am replying to this post because it contained very detailed notes about Hitachi drives. I have bought a Hitachi disk advertised on eBay as inspiron 8600 compatible. It's details are as follows:

Model: HTS541612J9AT00

5400 RPM, ATA/IDE, 120GB

P/N 0A28418

My original hard disk is Toshiba HDD2191 80GB. I notice that the Toshiba and Hitachi disks have different pin structures. When I put the new Hitachi drive in, BIOS shows "Primary Hard Drive" as "None". Does any one know if this particular Hitachi disk works with 8600? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Raghu

> Remove the drive and check the back of it.  If you see pins, you did not transfer the adapter

> from the original drive to the new one.  You need the adapter to connect the drive to the system board.

Indeed. All seems to be fine once I attached the drive with adapter. Thanks a lot.

Hi,

I was wondering if you were able to replace you hard drive successfully in your 8600 inspiron laptop, as mine has also failed, and would welcome suggestions on the drive you used.

I was told 100GB is the max...what did you use

thanks

derek

Yes. I got drive from newegg. For more details, check http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145176.