notebook hard disk faulty I think

[Martyuk39]

It was working fine until yesterday. Then it froze on the user. And now there's no disk according the BIOS, "Operating system not found". So I'm going to get another disk and try it out.

This is a Sony GR114SK. It's well out of warranty so I can't even speak to Sony without spending money. How difficult is it to replace a hard disk on a notebook? Compared to say replacing PC components, which is something I'm reasonable at? Bearing in mind I can't find a technical manual for the GR114SK (PCG-871M) anywhere?
Thanks

 

[squirrel dog]

If you can get it out the freezer trick may work long enough to get the data off of it .

 

[CrispyFried]

on some notebooks its a breeze, others are harder. look on the underside at the access hatches, see if any have the HD icon. otherwise it may be under the keyboard.

generally its pretty easy though, if youve done desktops you can do this. just go slow and treat the cables and connectors with care, theyre very fragile compared to desktop connectors.

hopefully another Sony GR114SK owner can help with specifics.

 

[corkyg]

Most notebook HDDs are user accessible - and are mounted in caddies. Remove the caddy, the remove the old HDD and replace it with a new one.

If you can still read data off of your old drive, it is sometimes possible to image or clone it to a new drive in an external enclosure, USB or Firewire, then do the swap. I always keep a spare HDD loaded and ready to go for my notebook.

 

[Martyuk39]

Thanks - getting it out and putting in another one was a breeze - 1 screw to get at it and then a simple mounting kit. I raided a dead laptop for a replacement and had to remove I think 11 screws - I'd have a big job if I had to put the dead one back together, but fortunately I don't!