New HD - How big can I go..

[dsmith90]

Hard drive on my DV7-1426 took a dive. No warranty from WD cause it is an OEM. What ever...

Is what I need to know is how large of a new HD will this laptop handle? Current one is 500G but not a lot of difference in price to go twice the size if it can accept it.

Any help would be appreciated. PS. No guessing... need to know for sure.

Thanks

[iseeu1001]

any laptop/ computer can go any size you just need to buy the correct type of hard drive. hard drive for laptop are small and desktop are bigger. Laptop hard drive are 2.5"

[dsmith90]

LOL....

I am not a novice on computers. But from my past experience with HP help desk on another HP laptop they told me that it would only accept a 500GB HD. I am presuming it has something to do with the BIOS or Firmware and they didn't say it could be updated. Not that all HP support people know what they are talking about...

I realize I can physically fit a 1T drive in place of the 500G but will the computer recognize it?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Please see this related post below.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-Questions/dv7-3173nr-Max-hard-drive-size/m-p/543019#M...

Now, I personally disagree that 500 GB is the max you can go to.

However the only way you can go to a 1 TB is if the drive has the same physical dimensions as the 500 GB one you removed.

Problem being...many 1 TB drives are thicker than the 500 GB drives.

So, if you can find one that is the same thickness as yours, you can install a 1 TB drive with no problems.

I think (but I am not 100% positive) that a 750 GB drive is the same thickness as a 500 GB one.

Just see if you can get the physical dimensions of the drive you are interested in and compare them to yours.

Needless to say, if the drive is too thick, the connectors won't match up because it will be too big for the drive bay.

That to me, is the only factor which would prevent you from going to a 1 TB drive.

I would not exceed that size, then you may run into issues with compatibility other than physical dimensions.

Paul

[dsmith90]

Thanks for the help. Never thought about the thickness but I am sure you are correct.

I will check out the dimensions.

Really ticks me off because on another laptop I have, I put a 500G in when I could have gone larger. This was based on HP support. Oh well, that's in the past.

Thanks again for the information.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Please post back and let us know what size HDD you eventually go with.

Paul

[dsmith90]

Looks like the 500 and 750 are the same physical size so will probably go with the 750. Bigger is always better...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Absolutely.

You may even want to go with a 7,200 RPM drive, if you want better performance at the expense of time between battery charges.

[dsmith90]

OK, here is what I had/have. Have 2 laptops, both HP. Number 1 is my main one with 2-500G HD's and Number 2 is the one with a bad 500G HD. So I bought a new 750G HD for N1 and cloned my C drive to it and put it as my main drive with a 500G second drive. I had a 320G HD that I installed in N2 laptop, just put windows and a few pograms on it. Then took backup HD from N1 and cloned the 320G in N2 latop. So now I have Number one Laptop with a 750G main and a 500G second. No2 laptopp with a 500G main and 320 second drive. Now just have to install a bunch of software.

I also have a spare 500G HD cloned for my number 1 laptop. Paranaoid???? Yup, have lost too much stuff in the past.

Thanks again for the information.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

...and I bet you have a portable HDD to back up the back ups.  

Enjoy!