replacing HD for dv9000t [ Edited ]

[c2g]

I haven't been able to boot my laptop for some time (dv9000t with 2x80 GB drives). About 1 in 10 chances I was able to do a system restore that allowed me to start up, but no luck the rest of the time. I ran a Hard Drive Self Test, which came back "#2- 07 Fail" on the primary drive. The second drive came back with no errors. After backing up all my data, I did a complete reinstall of factory settings using the DVD that came with the laptop. This installed windows, but only 23 out of 80 GB were useable on the primary drive (57 GB greyed out in disk manager) and it reached maximum capacity before all the Vista updates could be installed.

I know I need to replace the primary HD. My question is, should I just switch and reseat the two HD's I have now so that the good one can be used for the primary? I think I remember reading that two things might happen if I purchase a new HD: 1. I would have to get some proprietary adapter from HP before I can install a new drive, or 2. that the restore factory settings DVD won't recognize a new HD and won't reinstall Vista.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

Note - The Hard Drive I was looking into getting as a replacement was a Seagate - Momentus 500GB Internal Serial ATA -- only because it is in stock at a local electronics store and is the only 7200 rpm drive they have.

Message Edited by c2g on 08-14-2009 07:37 AM

[CherylG]

1. The adapter can be removed from old hdd to use on new hdd.
2. Recovery Disks can be used on replacement hdd.