Can I replace the HD in Inspiron E1705?

I'm sure I can but my main question is if it is easy to do without messing anything up. Also, does anybody know of an online tutorial with pictures to help me do it?

I'm considering buying one with the base HD and upgrading to a 100GB 7200 drive from NewEgg.com.

 

Well you will have to re-install windows on the new hard drive and will have to re-install all the programs.

It is just 2 or 4 screws. Hard drive slides out and you slide the new one in. Not hard at all.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I'm going to be reinstalling the OS anyway.

:dell:

 

Remember you are going to have to download the drivers if you are using the OS disc you got from Dell.

Also...you cannot just use the restore disc from Dell...since there won't be a restore partition on your new HDD.

 

That's fine, I got my own disk restore program I'll be using anyway.

Also, do you see any problems with this HD?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822146052

 

Does Dell void the warranty if the user pulls the HD? I know some companies do....

 

No, the new HDD is just not covered by the warantee. That is the only thing. Other than that Dell covers everything if it is stock.

Anything that you upgrade yourself is not covered under the warranty.

I think the Keyboard...RAM...and HDD are the only User upgradable parts according to Dell's info.

 

Oops, nevermind. The Dell is SATA and the NewEgg 100gb is ATA 6.

 

I believe that the video card is also upgradable. There is this website on dell that says most parts are upgradable. While they won't be covered in your warranty, they aren't voiding your warranty.

I'll have to find the link for it.

 

"Also...you cannot just use the restore disc from Dell...since there won't be a restore partition on your new HDD."

What does that mean? Do they put a partition on your HDD with all the data you need to restore?

If thats the case then how much room does it take up? Sounds like a waste. I dont see why they wouldn't just put all of it on a disk.

 

I think USAF meant the actual XP disk that Dell sends you.

There is a partition on your HDD which is called the restore partition. This will turn reformat your laptop back to the orginial factory settings. Generally this partition can't not be transferred to other HDD. You *might* be able to burn a copy of it using Ghost, and use it on your new HDD, but i'm not 100% sure of that. The restore partition takes up around 5-10gb of space.

Yes, it generally is a waste if you have the XP disk because chances are you'll never use the restore partition. Several manufacturers are doing this because they want to save money.

If you order the backup XP disk or call dell, I think you can still use that on your new hard drive eventhough the disk is OEM. I say that because I've seen cases on dell where the user did replace his HDD, and called dell for the replacement disk. They sent the OEM disk and was able to install XP with no problems.

Here is the link on warranty which i was referring to in my previous post:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...ent?dn=1057010&l=en&langid=1&c=us&cs=19&s=dhs

 

Can the restore partition be deleted? Heh heh...

 

Yes you can. Just be careful and not delete the MediaDirect partition.