Step by Step Guide to Swapping Hard Disk?

Question

I've got a Inspiron 8600C, 1GB, 1.5GHz PentM, Radeon Pro-Turbo, 30GB laptop and I'm running out of space on the HDD - about 3GB left.

Can anyone here point me in the direction of a step-by-step guide to replacing the existing drive with a larger one? I have some specific questions also;

1) What's the best way to copy everything off the 30GB disk so that I can easily load it back onto a new one? Again, is there a step-by-step guide anywhere here?

2) Do I need to upgrade the BIOS if I put in a brand new, bigger disk? I've got the original BIOS from 20 months ago, that while old is (touch wood) ok. I've been told if the BIOS isn't broken don't fix it...

3) Is there anything I can use to re-use the outgoing 30GB HDD or is that a bad idea?

4) Are there any potential pitfall in trying to do this?

Thanks for any help...

ejn63 · Answer

@Ramer wrote:
Ok, that makes sense (with a couple of follow up questions:)

Does this mean that the new disk would normally come with an external case that I can put the old internal drive into?

No, and it's cheaper to buy an internal 2.5" drive and a separate case. There are kits for doing this (Apricorn), but it'll be less expensive to buy the drive, case and software separately.

How do I get the laptop to boot off the old drive that's now external? Will the laptop look for the external drive automatically if there's nothing at all on the new internal drive, or do I clone to the new drive whilst its external and hasn't yet been put into the laptop and then swap them over?

Thanks.

You cannot boot the external drive. You put the old drive in the external case, use the TrueImage CD to boot the system, and clone. When done, the new drive (which is internal) will boot.

ejn63 · Answer

Your best bet is to buy an external 2.5' USB 2 drive case and a copy of Acronis True Image. Mount the new drive internally, the old drive in the external case, and boot True Image. Clone the external to the internal, then shut down, disconnect the external, and boot the new cloned drive. Reboot, reconnect the old drive, and you can then use the external as storarge (format it).

Ramer · Answer

Ok, that makes sense (with a couple of follow up questions:)

Does this mean that the new disk would normally come with an external case that I can put the old internal drive into?

How do I get the laptop to boot off the old drive that's now external? Will the laptop look for the external drive automatically if there's nothing at all on the new internal drive, or do I clone to the new drive whilst its external and hasn't yet been put into the laptop and then swap them over?

Thanks.

Storage, Drives & Media

Step by Step Guide to Swapping Hard Disk?

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