Laptop hard drive

lizzieb · Guest

Hi

Could someone tell me something about Laptop Hard Drives and their
connectors. I have just received a replacement hard drive for a Dimension
Inspiron 500m and it has a different pin arrangement. I ordered an
identical replacement to the HITACHI TravelStar DK23FB 60 5400 (or so I
thought) which has 22 flatish pins. The replacement had a different model
number but looked similar except it had two rows of pins (43pins) a bit like
a normal ide connector.

What do you call the flatish 22pin connector and is it special to Dell? I am
wrong to assume that ordering another HITACHI TravelStar DK23FB 60 would
have the same pin arrangement? Did I order the wrong drive, should I have
bought from Dell or is it just that Laptopspares sent me the wrong drive.
What pin connection should I have specified.

Any information welcome.

Thanks

Lizzie

Glenn · Guest

If you look closely at your old HD you will probably see that it is
inserted in a shell. You need to slip it out of the shell and insert
the new one. It will be a very tight fit.
Check to see if the pins on the old drive are permenate or if they are a
block held on by a couple of small screws. I have seen both kinds.

lizzieb wrote:

lizzieb · Guest

Thanks - its always amazing how something so simple can totally confuse!!

Liz smile

"Glenn" <gdickso@swbell.net> wrote in message
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Barry Watzman · Guest

There are only two laptop drive connections.

The IDE (PATA) connector has 44 pins in 2 rows of 22 pins each. In
addition, there are 4 more pins to the side of this main connector,
separated from the main connector by a gap. The 44 pin consist of the
normal IDE 40-pin interface (same as a desktop IDE drive, but with a
smaller connector), plus 4 power pins. The extra 4 pins are for master
/ slave / cable select setup, but there is NO standard for how these are
used (although, most commonly, no jumpers is a master ... but there are
exceptions even to that).

The only other alternative is for SATA laptop 2.5" drives, and these
have only been introduced within about the past 2 years. These uses the
standard SATA drive interface .... it is EXACTLY the same as a desktop
SATA drive (SATA data and SATA power). Obviously, any given laptop and
any give drive are either IDE or SATA. The two are completely
incompatible with each other.

You really need to search the web for some photos. NO ONE is using any
kind of non-standard drives, and these are the only two interfaces that
are being made.

For service work, I highly recommend one of these:

This is a USB adapter for hard drives, and it handles them ALL:

-Desktop IDE
-Laptop IDE
-SATA (both laptop and desktop)

lizzieb wrote:

Barry Watzman · Guest

Ah, yes, I omitted that: You may be looking not at the hard drive
itself, but at a hard drive "caddy". These are proprietary and are not
only manufacturer specific, they are model specific. But these are just
"cases" for the actual hard drive, they come apart, and you can change
the [standard] hard drive within them.

lizzieb wrote:

lizzieb · Guest

Hi - now I know a bit more I shouldn't get confused again. It turned out
that the old drive had a tiny adapter that turmed the 44 pins into 22 pins
but having never looked at a laptop drive I hadn't noticed it as it just
looked like part of the drive. So all is well now as I just transferred
adapter and that was that.

Thanks again for all the information.

Lizzie
"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
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smackedass · Guest

Barry Watzman · Guest

I suspect that it turned 44 "pins" into 44 flat fingers. Fingers on
opposite sides of a flat surface are not necessarily -- in fact not
usually -- the same.

lizzieb wrote:

Barry Watzman · Guest

No, this item is made in China and is shipped directly from Honk Kong.
Delivery takes about 3 weeks. There are lots (tons) of similar devices
(perhaps made by the same manufacturer) that have the two IDE ports on
opposite sides, but this is the only one I've seen with SATA as well.

smackedass wrote:

Tom MacIntyre · Guest

On Thu, 03 Aug 2006 20:32:40 GMT, Barry Watzman
<WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:

Barry Watzman · Guest

It's not the exact same one, but it's functionally the same and
physically similar (the SATA connector is located in a different place).
However, the other one is about $18 total including shipping, that one
is $25 plus shipping.

Tom MacIntyre wrote:

Tom MacIntyre · Guest

On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 02:31:14 GMT, Barry Watzman
<WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:

TwoBearCatz · Guest

lizzieb wrote: