Many owners of laptops face a problem when the operating system stops loading or freezes tightly. Advanced users begin to reinstall Windows, but they fail, and the message about the lack of a hard drive introduces panic. What to do and how? Change hard drive on a laptop? But what will happen to the data that remains on it?
Do not despair! If you yourself do not have enough knowledge and skills to fix the breakdown, then you can refer the device to specialists. They will be able to quickly change the hard drive on a laptop. The price will be much higher, because you will have to pay not only the cost of the hard drive, but also the service for replacing it. It is possible that the wizard will charge for the diagnosis and troubleshooting. And if you need to recover information, then this will also lead to costs.
Hard drives differ in capacity, speed, cache size, form factor and interface. The main parameter is the capacity, that is, the amount of stored information that can fit on it. An interface is a type of connector for connecting a hard drive to the motherboard. The form factor is the size (for laptops 2.5 inches). The cache size is a place to store temporary information. And an important parameter is the speed of rotation of the disk, on which the speed of work depends.
When is a hard drive replacement required?
The reasons for changing the hard drive may be the following:
- hard drive malfunction;
- lack of memory;
- worn disc to prevent breakage;
- slow speed.
How much does it cost to change a hard drive on a laptop?
If the replacement is made by the master, then the price will depend on the list of services that he will produce. It is necessary to immediately determine which hard drive is required (with a large amount of memory or not), what speed of the hard drive is optimal, and also to understand how much it is desirable to keep within. On average, the price of a hard drive starts at 2,000 rubles and can reach 20,000 or more. The cost of a replacement service in Russia is 300-500 rubles.
Thus, changing a hard drive on a laptop can be inexpensive. However, it all depends on financial capabilities. Is it possible to change the hard drive on a laptop, and are there any such services in the city? It is not difficult to find out about this, since now this information is available to everyone, and you can find a specialist in almost any locality.
Parsing a laptop
How to change the hard drive on a laptop without the necessary knowledge? Everything is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The whole procedure takes a maximum of 15-20 minutes. The first thing to do is turn the laptop over and unscrew the screws holding the back cover. Depending on the model of the device, there may be several caps on the bottom. In this case, you need to know which one to unscrew, and where the hard drive is located. Before unscrewing, the laptop must be disconnected from the network and the battery removed. Then wait until all elements have cooled. Next, an example of how to change the hard drive on an HP laptop will be considered.
Battery removal
To remove the battery from your HP laptop, you need to turn it over and snap the latch to the open position. Then raise the front edge of the battery and remove it from the laptop.
The battery is inserted in the reverse order: insert the front into the connector and press the inner edge until it clicks.
Eject a hard drive
After the battery has been removed, you need to unscrew the cover at the base of the laptop. To do this, use a Phillips screwdriver. The screws holding the cover must be loosened. After that, the cover should be moved to the edge of the housing, raise and remove the tabs. Thus, it will be disconnected.
There is a hard drive connected by a cable to the board. This cable must be disconnected by pulling the black loop. After that, you can get the hard drive out of the bay. Then you should remove the hard drive cable and remove the rubber stops from its edges. Here it must be remembered that these rubber stops are different, and you must not forget in which position they are inserted back.
The next step is to unscrew the four screws from the hard drive and save them so as not to lose. Now you need to remove the transparent panel from the hard drive. The hard drive must be placed in an antistatic package.
Installing a new hard drive
First you need to fasten the hard drive to the panel with four screws that held the extracted disk. In this case, the hard drive should be installed with the sticker down. Next, fix the rubber stops on it and connect the cable to the corresponding connector. Then you need to put the hard drive into the compartment on the laptop case and connect the cable to the board. Next, close the lid, tighten all the screws and put the battery in place.
If you follow this instruction, even the most misunderstood user will not be wondering how to change the hard drive on a laptop.
If the hard drive was removed in order to fix it, then after fixing the problem, you can put it back in the same order. Remember that information on a faulty hard drive can be restored. But to do this on your own is not recommended, since you can accidentally destroy all the necessary data. This should be done by a professional.
What to do with the old hard drive after changing the hard drive on the laptop to a new one? If it is serviceable, then it can be used as an external medium to extract or store information.
It is important to remember that the new hard drive does not contain an operating system, and it will have to be reinstalled. This can be done both independently and by contacting a service center.