If you have a laptop, your hard drive may eventually go bad. Even if the rest of the computer has no problems, without a working hard drive, you have no way to use your computer. Despite the number of great laptop deals, it is usually less expensive to replace or upgrade your hard drive rather than purchasing a new computer. If you have a hard drive that is failing, or simply want to put in a hard drive with more storage space, there are a few ways of doing so.
Before you do anything, you’ll want to find out what replacement hard drives are available for your laptop. The two most common hard drives are SATA drives and solid state drives. SATA drives are more common and usually offer more disk space. Solid state hard drives are newer and more expensive but operate faster than SATA drives. SATA drives will work in almost any laptop; solid state drives are newer, so they do not work in all laptops. However, laptops that are more than two or three years old may require an IDE hard drive.
If you are not very computer savvy, you may want to have a professional replace the hard drive for you. You can either purchase your own hard drive, and bring it to them to replace, or buy a hard drive from the location that you are taking your laptop to. Some places will offer a discount on installation of parts that they sell, so even if you find a cheaper hard drive online, it may be less expensive with an installation discount to buy the replacement hard drive at a store.
If you decide to replace the hard drive on your own, you will want to find out how to get to the hard drive in your laptop. If you do not have the manual that came with your computer, you should be able to find it online. Most laptops have a panel that is easily removed on the bottom of the computer. Once that is open, it is as simple as removing the current hard drive and its connectors and then hooking up the new hard drive.
Keep in mind that when you replace your hard drive, your files and programs will be gone unless you back them up. If you are having a professional replace your hard drive, they often offer packages that include doing this for you. Should you replace your own hard drive, you may want to use an external USB hard drive to copy data to before making the replacement.
Walter Carlyle a software and marketing guru for a medium sized online company. He enjoys sharing his expertise with entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Emre Nacigil.