How can i replace my ST500LM012 500GB samsung HDD

Jatin Kashyap

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Aug 9, 2014
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hi i want to replace my existing HDD(ST500LM012) in my Dell Inspiron N5110 , so i got two questions:

1. What are things one have to check/make sure about new hdd so that it will run without any difficulty in the system i.e. RPM, Ampere , voltage , interface speed etc. ? I found one ST1000LM024 with same RPM but its showing SATA 3.0 Gbps Interface and i am not sure whats the respective rating for my existing derive , i hope it will not create any problem even if does not match.

2. How can i make my existing 500GB HDD to portable one, i tried all sorts of enclosure casing one without adapter and one with adapter but nothing is working. Can anybody guess whats wrong with it, shopkeeper told me you need to format it but i was able to see he is just guessing to avoid cancelling his sale.

Thank you.
 
Solution
Your laptop uses a SATA 2 interface, but SATA 3 drives are backwards compatible. You don't have to match the drive speed either- if you're going to upgrade it, you can get a 7200 RPM HDD which will speed up your boot and file retrieval considerably. A faster drive will use more power though so your battery won't last quite as long, but you may not notice the difference. Basically you just need to match the form factor, which is 2.5".

One drawback to that particular model though is that to change out the hard drive, you're pretty much going to have to dismantle the whole chassis. Not sure how comfortable you are with doing something like that.
Your laptop uses a SATA 2 interface, but SATA 3 drives are backwards compatible. You don't have to match the drive speed either- if you're going to upgrade it, you can get a 7200 RPM HDD which will speed up your boot and file retrieval considerably. A faster drive will use more power though so your battery won't last quite as long, but you may not notice the difference. Basically you just need to match the form factor, which is 2.5".

One drawback to that particular model though is that to change out the hard drive, you're pretty much going to have to dismantle the whole chassis. Not sure how comfortable you are with doing something like that.
 
Solution

Jatin Kashyap

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Aug 9, 2014
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Yeah it was quite difficult but thanks to guy who upload dismantling video on youtube and i just followed it step by step successfully.

Please can you answer my 2nd question above?
 
I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that when you tried to use your old one in the enclosure, you were trying to use it with your laptop without an HDD and OS already installed in it. If so, the problem is probably that your laptop BIOS is not set to boot from a USB port. Try changing your boot priority in BIOS to put USB first in the priority list.

If that works, then use cloning software to clone your old drive to your new one, and reformat the old one. This avoids the need to do a Windows install and all your files are right where you're used to seeing them. The draw back is all of the kludge you've accumulated during use of the old drive will transfer along with the rest of it.

The alternative is to install the new drive in the laptop and do a clean Windows install. Then connect the old drive using the enclosure and transfer your files, then reformat the old one for use as a storage drive. This is more work, but you get the benefit of having a shiny clean OS. The only hitch is if your laptop won't recognize or access the old one without a reformat. I've never had that happen before, but it's possible.
 

Jatin Kashyap

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Aug 9, 2014
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I am using enlosure with my friends laptop who had already running win 8 in his system.

Ok if format is compulsary , then what would you suggest if i say that i am replacing my old derive because i already format it by mistaken while installing ubuntu in it and now want to keep it at a safe place so that later on i can use multiple sources(softwares) to recover data i lost due to formating. Because here cost of new hdd is almost same to the cost those cheap shopkeeper are asking me for data recovery (ofcourse they will use their pirated software). So i thought that, instead of going to those shopleepers i should buy i new hdd(to make my computer working again) and buy a HDD case/Enclosure which is cheaply available, to perform data recovery on it by my self. But as you said, i could have been to perform formating of the disk , will it not decrease my chance of recovering data from it?

 

Jatin Kashyap

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Aug 9, 2014
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It gives that sound which you listen when ever you hooked up any new usb device and also it become visible in Printer and Derive section but do not show up in My Computer.

 
Have been offline - sorry for delay. You're kind of in a tough spot, as I'm sure you're already aware. Installing the new HDD in the laptop and installing Windows is a straight-forward proposition, but if you can't access the old drive, recovering the data will be difficult outside of a professional recovery service. You can try installing Recuva, which is the best free data recovery program I'm aware of, on the new disk and see if it can find and process the old HDD.

Alternatively, if you have access to a desktop, you can download the portable version and hook both drives up to the desktop. If the desktop can access the old HDD, you can use Recuva to recover the data from one disk and save it on the other. Then reformat the old one and try it again with the enclosure.

http://www.piriform.com/recuva/builds