Step 1

Step 2

Remove the screws that attach the hard drive to the hard drive tray.   Set aside the screws, as you will be using them later.

Step 3

Remove the old hard drive from the hard drive tray/caddy/case.

Remove the ribbon cable from the old hard drive and attach it to the new hard drive.

Step 4

What do I need to know about hard drive installation ?

Bare hard drives are not normally secured to the Laptop or to laptop to hold it in place. A metal or plastic device of some kind (caddy) is secured to the hard drive or in some cases totally encases the hard drive. The caddy is therefore the anchor that holds the hard drive in the Laptop
 computer. When you purchase a new bare hard drive from us to replace your old one, you need reuse the caddy from the old hard drive. 

The bare Laptop  hard drive connector is 44-pin connector. Some Laptop
 computers use some adapter to convert this 44-pin connector to a different type connector, in that case, you need reuse the adapter from old hard drive also.

3. Third party software may need for some old Laptop
 computers
Some old Laptops computers are limited to accessing hard drives with a capacity of 8.4GB or less (7.9GB on some systems). 3rd party software is available that breaks the "capacity barrier". Some suggestions are EZ Drive by Micro House and Disk Manager™ DiskGo by Ontrack. But if your current Laptop  hard drive is already bigger than 8.4GB, then you have no problem to replace it with anyone of our hard drives, and no extra software is required.

4. Partition & Format New Hard Drive
New hard drive need to be partitioned and formatted before loading any software. See your laptop manual for more information.
 

Caution: Your Hard Disk Drive is a delicate device and even a small drop onto any of its surface can cause damage. Electrostatic discharge can also damage the drive. You should ground yourself prior to handling the drive.



Installation Notes

• The drive should be mounted carefully on the surface of 0.1mm or less flatness to avoid excessive distortion.
• In order to prevent short-circuit under any circumstances, a space of 0.5mm or more should be kept under the PCB.
• Space should be kept around the drive to avoid any contact with other parts, which may occur due to shock or vibration.
• The temperature of the top cover and the base must always be kept under 60ƒC to maintain the required reliability.
• Be sure not to cover the breathing hole to keep the pressure inside the drive at a certain level.
• Do not apply any force to the top cover, except the screw areas on top cover. Maximum force to the specified area is 2N.
• The drive contains several parts which may be easily damaged by ESD (Electrostatic Discharge). Avoid touching the interface connector pins and the surface of PCB. Be sure to use ESD proof wrist strap when handling drive.
• The four mounting screws should be tightened equally with 0.3N-m (3kgf-cm) torque. The depth should be 3.0mm minimum and 3.5mm maximum.
  
  Important Note: Disconnect power from your computer system before beginning installation !!
  
   
• The thickness of the hard drive is a factor in selecting both the caddy and the hard drive. 90% of the Laptops computer built today will take the 9.5mm thickness.  and if you have a thicker drive, you can simply install a piece of card as a spacer
   

Special notes for Laptop computers made prior to 1998

In most Laptops or laptops the hard drive mounting pattern is a simple. It consists of eight screw holes, four on the bottom and two on each side. Hard drives made prior to 1998 may have had three screw holes on the sides. All of the hard drive manufacturers agreed on a new mounting hole pattern for 1998 and newer hard drives. This new pattern places the screw holes to within 1/2 inch of each end of the drive, length wise. 

Laptop  and laptop computers made prior to 1998 may require a new caddy when upgrading to hard drives manufactured in 1998 or later. All of the new caddies are built to accommodate the new mounting hole pattern. Generally speaking, the smallest hard drive (capacity in megabytes) with the new mounting hole pattern is a 2.1 Gb.

How to partition and format a new hard drive?

• 1. Boot from a Startup disk.
• 2. Type FDISK and press Enter.
• 3. Answer "Yes" to the question that appears to create a partition over 2Gbs. (Older versions of FDISK will not ask this question.)
• 4. Choose "1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive", the Enter.
• 5. Choose "1. Create Primary DOS Partition", then Enter
• 6. Click Enter to accept the default size or N to define custom partition size.
• 7. Press Esc until back at FDISK Options.
• 8. Choose "2. Set active partition."
• 9. Press 1 to make the primary partition active.
• 10. Press Esc until back at DOS Prompt.
• 11. Restart the computer for the change to take affect