Can I use this hard drive in Inspiron 1150 ?

[kyutip]

I'm trying to fix my friend's hd. His Inspiron 1150 hd went kaput and need a replacement.
Called Dell and they said it's $81 for 40GB, I think this is the one :

Dell's Hard Drive

However, CompUSA have this for $80 + tax after MIR (60GB) :

CompUSA Centon HD

and I think the Centon is the OEM of Samsung's :

Samsung MP0603H


The Centon/Samsung is ATA-7 while Dell's is EIDE ATA-5.
Can I use the Centon/Samsung with the Inspiron 1150 ?
Is ATA-7 compatible with ATA-5 ? I notice that they have almost exact dimensions.
Do they use the same connector ?
Basically can I just plug ATA-7 drive to ATA-5 drive ?

Thanks.

 

[fbrdphreak]

I believe all the ATA drives use the same connector, but ATA-5 is 66Mbps while ATA-7 is 133Mbps. You should be fine.

 

[SilentVixen]

Yeah. The only thing to watch for in laptop hdd's is the thickness. If you're computer takes. 9.5mm and you try for a 12.5, you may be out of luck.

 

[bacillus]

On a side note, do remember to remove the bladelike adapter which is on the old hard drive ide pins and transfer it on to the ide pins of the new hard drive.

 

[kyutip]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
Hopefully everything will go smoothly.

 

[niggles]

My work PC is a Dell Latitude 600d. The image that was installed on it is locked down pretty drastically so before I bought my current laptop I tried swapping the existing laptop Hard drive out with a matching drive... It didn't work. When I started investigating why, it turned out that althought Dell uses the same interfaces on it's hardware as everyone else, some of their hardware is proprietary. Sure some drives will work in Dell Laptops, but others don't. I'm having the same issue with my current Laptop for RAM. Apparantly if I don't want to pay Dell's ridiculous RAM prices for my I6000 I have to pay almost as much for compatible Kingston RAM.

 

[kyutip]

That's what I'm afraid of niggles.
With CompUSA restocking fee, I had better be sure that this hd can be installed in the Inspiron 1150 before opening the packaging.

I just did the reinstallation a couple of hours ago, WinXP home format the drive and installed just fine.
bacillus tips came in handy during the installation
I was wondering why the different look in the connecting pin when I remember your advice.
Thanks again.

Now, any idea what to do with the defective hd ? it is a Toshiba.
Maybe I can stick it to an external case, reformat it and hope for the best

 

[niggles]

that would be my advice also... that or turn it into an ashtray.