Laptop HDD replacement question

Lost1 · December 11th, 2001, 03:45 AM

The HDD in my Toshiba Satellite 1605CDS just died. Was doing a system restore and on reboot got the message "No Fixed Disk Found." Not good. FDisk tells me the same, so I guess I'm looking at a HDD replacement.

Question- I know the HDD is a 4.3Gb Fujitsu 2.5" 4200rpm drive, but in looking for a replacement, Fujitsu drives are "9MM" and IBM's are "9.5MM." Does the "MM" refer to the unit's thickness in millimeters? If so, is it a safe bet that a replacement 10Gb Fujitsu 9MM drive will fit in the space occupied by my dead 4.3Gb Fujitsu?

This will be my first time opening a laptop, and I got the details on doing the disk replacement from a Toshiba forum, but does anyone have any additional tips to pass along?

Thanks

JacobM5727 · December 11th, 2001, 04:09 AM

you could check and see what size your laptop takes... i dont know....anything about them but i would guess that it would work
laptops have part size standards too right?

just my opinion

Xaotic · December 11th, 2001, 10:14 AM

The standard thicknesses for the drives are 9.5mm and 12mm. Usually, the drives that are very close in size will fit, but better to be safe before ordering drives since thay can get very expensive. I would expect that it will fit since many of the older drives were 12mm and the smaller driveswill fit without problems.

Lost1 · December 13th, 2001, 04:34 AM

Thanks for the responses!

Regards

aldtech · December 20th, 2001, 04:51 PM

Yes it will fit.

AL

UncaDanno · December 30th, 2001, 09:07 PM

Lost,

Check your current (dead) drive. It's likely mounted in a caddy. An aluminum tray thingie with an interface plug that matches the plug on the drive itself and the plug in the computer.

If it's in a caddy (which it probably is) you take out some screws, usually four that hold in the drive and two that hold the interface "card", and take out the drive. Then you can get an idea of the actual size of the drive.

I replaced a Fujitsu 4.3GB with an IBM 12GB in my old laptop by taking the old drive out of the caddy and putting the new one in it. The computer accepts the caddy's size and plug.

No prob.

What was bizarre was the 4.3 GB drive is about twice as thick, physically, as the 12 gigger!. The mounting holes in the drives match the holes in the caddy, so even the "skinny" drive works fine even though it looks like its really lonesome in there.

Richard Cranium · December 30th, 2001, 09:15 PM

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t8348.html

Siguard · February 2nd, 2002, 10:02 AM

How do you get this thing open without destroying it? I've been searching the Toshiba forum and didnt find the method. I posted a message on there and the only reply I got said it wasnt user servicable and I should pay Toshiba $800 to replace the hard drive.

KenKun · February 2nd, 2002, 10:30 AM

Hi Siguard

Replacing the HDD of Toshiba laptop was very very simple process ... there is a little removal plastic part on the left side of the laptop ... you can't remove it unless you release the screw attched to it at the bottom ... after releasing the screw, pull the plastic ... you have to release another screw attached to the HDD itself .. and then you are free to put in the new drive ...

Which model are you using now ?...
Regards and Welcome to TechIMO

Siguard · February 2nd, 2002, 11:33 AM

Hmm, doesnt look like mine has any kind of removable panel on the side. It's a Toshiba Satellite 1605CDS