I need to replace my laptop harddrive

[watdahel]

I have a Toshiba that needs a new harddrive. All notebooks use 2.5" SATA harddrives right? That's all I need to know before I go buy at newegg?

 

[DarkRogue]

Depends on the model. Older models could be using 2.5" PATA/IDE drives.
Would help if we knew the model number, or you could look it up on the Toshiba site and see what it comes with.

 

[corkyg]

DarkRogue is right. SATA or PATA laptop drives depend on the age of your laptop and model. To be sure, just remove your HDD and look at the connectors. They are totally different. You might also consider looking it up in the manual.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Google your notebook model, with "specs" that should tell you your interface.

 

[watdahel]

ATA6 is PATA right or enhanced ATA?

 

[corkyg]

ATA6 (or, more fully, ATA/ATAPI-6) is a standard for interfacing between host computers and IDE storage devices such as disk drives and CD-ROM drives. The specification covers cable onfiguration, electrical characteristics, device addressing, power management and command set.

ATA6 defines a parallel interface, and is the most recent specification for this interface. (ATA7 specifies a serial interface).

Short answer . . . yes. 🙂

 

[watdahel]

I just noticed the harddrive on my Toshiba laptop has what I can only describe as fins instead of traditional pins that I'm familiar with. The pics of the harddrives at Newegg all had pins for connection. Do I need to get an adapter or something?

 

[TheStu]

That is probably an adapter that is already on there. Just pull it off and then you can put it on the new drive.

 

[corkyg]

Just about all laptops use adapters and/or caddies. Here are the two types of 2.5" drive connectors:

25HDD

These are naked - no adapters or caddies.

 

[watdahel]

The old drive is wrapped in aluminum foil. Should I transfer this to the new drive as well? Doesn't that heat up the harddrive? How come other laptops don't have this wrapping if it's important?

 

[TheStu]

It should be fine without it. I have seen any number of laptop hard drives (namely most all of them) that are bare drives with the possible exception of a cage/caddy.