HP laptop hard drive question

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danepak

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#289684 23-Sep-2021 10:10

My wife’s laptop isn’t working anymore.
Comes up with a boot error and Google tells me that the hard drive is gone.
I’ve opened up the laptop. For some reason, I thought that when I got it (2nd hand), it would have an SSD hard drive.
However, although I’m a newbie, it looks to me like it has an ‘old fashioned” hard drive.

Would someone who knows more about this be able to confirm this?

Also, the middle part - is that the ram?
And is the empty bit next to this one, space for more ram?

Finally, can I install an SSD like the attached Kingston in the port which had the old hard drive?

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#2782501 23-Sep-2021 10:28

That's an early edition SSD (or may be). You are probably more familiar with pictures of M.2 drives.

https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c04355112

Is it 128Gb? as that can be the format they come in. Standard SATA casing.

Note there is no bearing mount on the base for a spinning disc. So it is possible. But if it was a larger drive I think you'll find per above it could be a hybrid or spinning

Yes, that's the RAM. And there are normally an additional slot.

7mm will be the drive height. As long as it doesn't exceed the slot height so the base doesn't go on. It should fit.

danepak

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#2782505 23-Sep-2021 10:36

Oblivian:

That's an early edition SSD (or may be). You are probably more familiar with pictures of M.2 drives.

https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c04355112

Is it 128Gb? as that can be the format they come in. Standard SATA casing.

Note there is no bearing mount on the base for a spinning disc. So it is possible. But if it was a larger drive I think you'll find per above it could be a hybrid or spinning

Yes, that's the RAM. And there are normally an additional slot.

7mm will be the drive height. As long as it doesn't exceed the slot height so the base doesn't go on. It should fit.

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately I don't know what the size is. I know, I should really know.

Is it possible to get some sort of an enclosure, so I could try to connect it to another laptop and retrieve data?

Will the Kingston SSD work?

SpartanVXL

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#2782525 23-Sep-2021 10:38

Yea thats a SATA SSD, not a hard disk.

I’d test it to see if it still works, otherwise you might have a laptop with a dead connection.

xpd

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#2782577 23-Sep-2021 10:46

The Kingston will be fine as a replacement.

Any 2.5" SATA USB external enclosure should be fine to test it with.

XPD / Gavin

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Oblivian

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#2782579 23-Sep-2021 10:50

If you can find the model string#ABG like number on a panel/under battery. This can tell what it shipped with

https://partsurfer.hp.com/

But if it was swapped aftermarket, anyones guess.

If you can't find a cradle, standard SATA cables from a PC will also extend into it. They're just a bit more side by side on laptop size ones

danepak

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#2782582 23-Sep-2021 10:54

Thanks, just picked one of these up for 10 bucks.

2.5" SATA External HDD SSD Hard Drive Disk Case Enclosure Tools Free Up to 4TB

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

timmmay

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#2782594 23-Sep-2021 11:07

If you get a replacement check out the height. SSDs come in two heights, sometimes you need the smaller one rather than the larger one.

danepak

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#2783063 23-Sep-2021 18:50

Thanks, managed to get the data of the old hard drive. Was very temperamental, but I succeeded in the end.

Will go for an m.2 SSD. To me they look better with my limited knowledge.
There’s a Barracuda and also Kingston around 500GB for 90 odd bucks.

Are there any disadvantages with an m.2 drive compared to a SATA?

Oblivian

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#2783065 23-Sep-2021 18:52

Appart from the lack of a M.2 slot on that machine?

It's a totally different format

danepak

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#2783066 23-Sep-2021 18:55

Oblivian:
Appart from the lack of a M.2 slot on that machine?

It's a totally different format

Oh, that was lucky.
Thanks, I thought it would fit in here:

timmmay

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#2783212 23-Sep-2021 20:28

Buy another SSD the same size, including the same height.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

danepak

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#2783228 23-Sep-2021 21:11

timmmay:
Buy another SSD the same size, including the same height.

Thanks, will do.

Mehrts

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#2783288 23-Sep-2021 22:29

You'll get yourself into a world of potential confusion once you start dealing with M.2 SSDs!

Here's an explanation to the various SSD formats most commonly dealt with by consumers:

So the drive form factor that you have is the 2.5" one, this has the SATA connection interface.
Back in the day when SSDs were starting to become a thing, they were made to match the same size & specs of the existing 2.5" HDDs. These are 100% backwards compatible & offer a great speed boost over mechanical HDDs.

Eventually, there needed to be a size reduction due to laptops becoming ever increasingly slimmer & crammed full of other things, plus a lot of 2.5" SSDs only contain a half-size circuit board anyway, so it was a no-brainer to make a smaller form factor.

The M.2 form factor became a thing, which allowed for 22mm wide drives of various lengths to be installed. This was a massive space saving.
However, these M.2 SSDs were still SATA based, and offered no performance advantage over the 2.5" predecessors.

The real change came about when the NVMe (PCIe) SSDs became available. These drives use the same connector as the M.2 SATA counterparts, albeit keyed differently, but that's about where the physical similarities end.
Performance however is much much greater than any SATA SSD. Instead of being limited by the interface speed of around 500MB/s, now speeds of 3-6000MB/s are achievable which practically removes any bottlenecks caused by storage devices.

danepak

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#2783317 24-Sep-2021 07:40

Thanks, very helpful.
I’ve learned something new 😁

Andib

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#2783343 24-Sep-2021 09:08

FYI, That SSD (the original white one) Looks very similar to the generic m-sata to sata adaptor case everywhere sells. Once you replace it, If you take it apart you'll likely find an M-sata ssd inside

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