Dell Inspiron Laptop 1150 Will not recognize Hardrive

Question

Recently my hardrive died on my 4 year old Dell Inspiron Laptop.  From watching someone lese install a hardirve I figured I could do it.  The hardrive I purchased was a Seagate Momentus 5400 and it is 120 GB.  It is model ST 91208214.  I get this message run I start my computer.  Primary hard disk drive 0 not found No bootable devices I hit F2 to got to setup utility and this shows Primary Hard drive: None I wrote the company who makes the hardrive and they tell me that no CD is needed or comes with it and that it should work with my computer.  Does anyone know why my hardrive is not being recognized.  I installed it exactly the way it is shown on Dells webpage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ejn63 · Answer

If you see pins on the back of the hard drive, the adapter is missing. Look at the back of the original drive and you'll see a plastic connector that looks like a blade. That needs to be moved to the new drive.

If you do not have the original drive/blade you can order a drive kit from here, which will include one:

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=115&prevaction=search&previd=&prevstart=0

(the adapter is the long black piece in the photo).

Transam2217 · Answer

The hardrive sits in a little tray.  Now in my opinion I was thinking that the metal prongs from the hard drive are not connecting to the holes that they need to go into.  I am  not 100% sure what you mean by blade connector. But form what you posted I am thinking that is the case.  I thought I had saved everything but the old hardrive itself but maybe I did not.  Do you have a link to what this stuff may look like so I can see what I do and do not have.  I am fairly good with computer but as far as harware related things I do not know much.  Thanks for posting.

ejn63 · Answer

Did you remove the blade connector from the back of the original drive and place it over the pins on the new drive? If not, the drive isn't connected to the system board, which is why you are not seeing it.

Transam2217 · Answer

Looking at the photo, I believe I am missing that adaptor.  Unfortunately I do not have my old hard drive anymore but it is very cheap to by the new adaptor (less than $10).  I am going to buy one of these and see if it works.  Thank you for pointing that out for me.

imupset · Answer

Can I buy this caddy adaptor from somewhere else as it is out of stock from the page you provided?? Thanks so much for the tip!

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