Inspiron N5010 Hard drive replacement

Hi wolfy234,

You can run a diagnostic test on your computer to ensure the functionality of hard drive by following the steps below:

• Please restart the system.
• As soon as you see the blue Dell logo, start tapping the ‘F12’ key which is at the top of the keyboard.

Note: If you wait too long and the Microsoft Windows appears, then continue to wait until you see the Windows desktop. Now shutdown your computer and try again.

• After you tap ‘F12’ key, a new window would appear in front of you. Use the 'Down' arrow key to highlight the option “Diagnostics”
• Hit Enter to initiate diagnostics and make a note of error code if any. 

Inspiron N5010 / 15R system uses SATA II hard drives and is offered by Dell with a configuration of 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm drives. The hard drive capacities are as follows:

If the system is under warranty, you can private message me the service tag of computer for hard drive replacement. I have added you as a friend. Please accept my friend request by clicking on my name highlighted in blue and then click on “Friends” tab at the top and then click on “Request to Review” and finally click on “Accept” button.

I am sending you a private message as well. Click on “Inbox” to respond to the message and provide system’s Service Tag and contact details so I may access your system records and check for further course of action. You could also click on Start Conversation to send a private message. 

Please reply with information. 

So I guess I need to buy the Sata II drive, anything else I need to make sure before purchasing as far as pin connector/size?

Hi Wolfy234,

Laptop SATA drives are pretty standard.

I also see 2 different sizes for laptop drives, 2.5 inches and 3.5 inches. I am guessing i need 2.5 inch

Sorry, missed your first question.

You cannot set up a drive without the drive installed in the laptop. If you want to test the drive, install it, and boot your laptop with a diagnostic CD or flash drive to do so.

There will be a slight performance improvement with a 7200 rpm drive. Some people claim the fast drives drain the battery more quickly but I think this is an urban legend.

Yes, 2.5" drives are for laptops. The 3.5" drives are for desktops.

Also you can install a Solid State Hard Drive such as a Crucial M4 or an Intel Solid State Drive.

osprey4 thanks for your help so far. Last question I have is is there a way this hard drive can be fixed? Reformat would help? This is a samsung drive and now seagate owns it, i ran the seagate dos tools and the long test ran but did not fix any bad sectors (at the end of the test it found 24 errors and told me that it's a 3rd party drive, contact the manufacturer). Usually the Seagate dos tool can fix the errors. 

Thanks

With due regards,

 Recently i replaced a dying 320gb hard drive of my inspiron n5010 with a segate momentus 500gb hd. After installing Windows7 OS from a DVD made by me at the time of buying the laptop, major portion of the HDD was unallocated space and moreover new volume could not be created. After installing (factory restore) the OS i was left with these partitions 125mb OEM, 5 gb unallocated , 100 gb C(OS) drive, 1mb D drive and 350 gb unallocated. To compound my problems touch pad also stopped working.

                   Suggestions and fixes welcomed.

Thanks.

Hi dhiraj,

How was your original drive partitioned? When you restored the OS from your recovery discs, did you see any options as to how to allocate the different partitions? The 125MB partition is, I believe, the utility partition.

Thanks for replying to my querry. My original drive (320 gb) had 125mb OEM, 10 gb recovery, 60 gb C(OS) and 220gb D drives. 

Did you try deleting the D partition and re-creating it in disk management?

I did delete D partition once and tried re-creating it in disk management. However, the process could'nt complete since maximum allotted partitions have already been created. Tried changing drive letters as well but unsuccessful. Moreover after deleting 1mb D partition system fails to boot due to missing MBR. OS was re-installed with the same result.  

It sounds to me like expanding your D partition is what's needed. But for whatever reason, Windows cannot accomplish this. I believe a program like Partition Magic or Easeus (free) might work.