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Most new laptop computers today utilize 2.5-inch hard drives. Most older notebooks utilize IDE hard drives also called PATA or ATA.  The newer more innovative laptops use SATA hard drives also called serial ATA.   SATA and IDE drives are not interchangeable; they have completely different connector pins.    If your notebook came with an IDE hard drive you cannot supplant it with a SATA hard drive.   The connectors on your drive will not match the connector on the motherboard.  In order to see the difference between SATA and IDE drives, you have to look at the connnectors.  The IDE drive has two rows of metal pins, while the SATA drive has two flat connectors.

The manufacturer, Alienware, mostly uses SATA hard drives because they offer much faster data transfer rates than IDE.   SATA – 150MB/s and IDE – 100/133MB/s.  If you are searching for Alienware laptop parts, or other laptop hard drives, keep in mind that they operate at different velocities.  The most common is 4200RPM, 5400RPM, and 7200RPM.  The RPM number indicates how fast the internal hard drive discs can spin.  Hard drives with higher RPM speeds are faster than hard drives with secondary RPM speeds and enable them to get at and transfer data much faster.  SATA connectors on a laptop’s hard drive are similar to SATA connectors on a desktop PC hard drive.   You can also connect a SATA  laptop hard drive to a desktop PC computer using the same SATA cables.

Where can I find the hard drive in my laptop?

On most laptops the hard drive can be accessed from the bottom or from the side.  The hard drive is usually mounted inside a caddy or tray which allows the drive to glide in and out fairly easily.   On some laptops, for example, Apple places their hard inside the case and it may be necessary to disassemble the notebook in order to access and replace it.  If you are searching for Apple laptop parts, or other hard drives keep in mind to match the original part number with the drive being replaced.

Do you need a hard drive upgrade?

If you want to speed up your laptop, replace your low RPM drive with a faster one.  A faster RPM drive can be swapped with a lower RPM drive.  If you would like to install a bigger hard drive with more capacity (Gigabytes), take a look at the user’s manual and specifications to make sure your laptop supports the larger drive.  intend to back up your data before upgrading or servicing the hard drive.  Also, keep in mind that you will need to install your operating system onto the new drive as well.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.