i can't figure out how to get the old drive out of the laptop. i can't see anymore screws and the thing seems to be stuck. am i looking for a lever or is it screwed in like with a desktop pc?
137853
It depends on the model.  A lot of laptops have DVD/CD drives that are VERY easy to change out.  First, look under the computer.  There should be one screw under the bottom of the drive.  Remove that.  Next, there should be a button of some kind under the drivers drawer.  It may look like a flat rectangle.  Some of these buttons pull out.  Some of them you push in to make them eject.  Once the button is ejected, pull it and the drive will slide out.  Now insert your new drive, push in the button, and replace the screw.  Of course make sure that the new drive is made to be compatible with your laptop and that you have the drivers if it needs them.  Sometimes they are plug-and-play, meaning that they will be automatically recognized by your computer and may only require you to restart you system for them to work properly.
210406
For future reference, as soon as any computer device gets wet - REMOVE POWER and BATTERY ! \n If you have manual, remove battery and harddrive. There is a 40 pin IDE ( with 5V, GG, 12V adapter) to 44 pin laptop adapter available at most computer stores. This allows you to jumper your laptop drive as a SLAVE on a working computer ( Desktop), and just transfere the files. This assumes that the Desktop is newer and using the same or newer version of Operating System ( OS), ie win98, win2000, winME, winXP, etc.\n Leaving the battery in a wet machine allows the voltages to continually cook the chips. If you have the time, you can go online and look for technical diagrams on the laptop, and start taking it apart, carefully. If you clean the areas that were shorted with coffee, dry, and re-assemble, you have a "chance" that you can repair the thing... Most people do not have the tools or the patience to do this, but it is entirely possible to do.\n Putting the laptop drive in another laptop is a bad way to try to get files copied, since the new laptop will boot on the old hardware system files, and be very mixed up- the modem, the ethernet, the CD, and even the display with probably not work properly.... so what do you copy the files to???\n Since you now have nothing and nothing, putting the drive in a working desktop, using the adapter ( usuually a green circuitboard with two connectors on the ends ), is the best bet.\n Then work on getting the old laptop going. Take it apart slowly, and stick all screws to a piece of paper, numbering them, and putting little masking tape numbers where they go.\n good luck.
259609
BEFORE trying to pry it open forcefully...Just reboot your computer then hit the button to see if the tray will come out! Sometimes Windows doesn't always load the drivers like they're supposed to on boot-up...
243301
Remove it from Bios and try, not so sure it'll work, cos drive B is reserved for secondary Floppy Disk Drive.\n\nGood Luck :)
359814
Well u should take it to a technician, and only if they will guarantee in writing not to lose your files.  Formatting will definately lose your files.  And, also, u have to delete windows from the old drive too.
29978
If it's what I'm thinking, you can't see the drive in Disk Management.  Read this post on my technology blog and follow the DiskPart instructions.\n\nhttp://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2005/11/adding-external-hard-drive-hard-way.html
192228
it's very important that the hard drive be thoroughly "cleaned" first.  I don't mean to blow out the dust -- I mean to erase all the data, and possibly reinstall Windows if you think the computer may be useful to someone.\n\nSchools may accept them, or possibly Goodwill.  There are companies that will accept computers and related hardware and give it to charities for you.  If you let us know the general area where you live (Toledo, Phoenix, Glasgow?) someone may have more specific ideas.
297332
The drive went dead or the IDE cable or 12V cable became loose and needs to reattached.\n\nEither way, first enter 'Setup' during boot to check whether the drive is recognized.  Press F12 or 'Delete' during boot.  Browse around and look to see if the CDROM shows up in your IDE configuration.\n\nIf it doesn't then you have to open up the computer.  Open it up by taking out the screws in the back and remove one or both side panels (or the top in the case of some older computers).\n\n1) Pull the power cord off the back of the computer.  Don't want to shock anything...\n\n2) Look for the cables that are attached to the CDROM drive.  There should be two: 1 ribbon cable gray or black and another cable with a white connector having 4 female receptacles (what a dream!).  \n\n3) Try the power cable first.  It may be hard to detach so don't worry...  you won't break it.  Reattach it.  It only fits one way.\n\nReattach the plug to the computer and power up (don't touch anything).  Try the CDROM door (does the light go on?) Power down.\nIf not working:\n4) Pull off the ribbon cable (straight out - don't bend it down or up, shimmy it side to side gently).  Make sure you look for the red wire on the cable because this is #1 and needs to be reattached on the side closest to the power cable.\n5) Reattach the cable  by pushing it in straight and power up again.\n\nIf it doesn't work your CD-ROM is dead and needs to be replaced... $40.  By a DVD combo drive or a DVD writer this time.\n\nLook at the bright side! Now you know how to install it!!!\n\nI'm betting a cable is loose.\n\nOh and By the Way.  If you HD light is always on then it is looking for something or you don't have enough memory in your computer to run all the stuff that is trying to run at startup.  Defragment your hard drive and uninstall some programs before you try to fix the hardware.  You can do this from the Control Panel.
488432
That is extremely bad news, a few years ago it would be the worst. I'm afraid what you'll have to do is reformat the drive. \n\nFortunately all is not lost as there are two pieces of software that will recover the data from the drive after this has taken place.\n\nGetDataBack and Ontrack Easy Recovery - I've used GetDataBack before in the same situation and found it works brilliantly.\n\nThe best of luck, and next time remember to back up to DVD or CD.
72384
Not worth the effort. Guessing u want to dump "trashed" computer rather than get rid of the "horse". I'd get rid of the horse and save the computer. The other optionis "scrap" the hd (as thats only place the horse lives) and stick a blank (cheep used) ("F" disc it first and don't put anything on it) drive in it, and sell it for what ever....
614577
Perhaps just the motherboard of the hard drive died. Buy a second hand one exactly the same as yours and swop the boards.
343500
you need a new DRIVE take it to a PC repair shop.
599423
well my first thought is....it over-heated and died.\n\nHD's produce heat, quite a bit of it actually, so it being in an external HD case, when it's meant to NOT be covered, probably caused the temp to rise and your HD to burn out, or it could just be normal  mal-function, and the drive could just be done.\n\nalso sometimes it's connectors etc....there are many things to troubleshoot when it comes to a HD not functioning properly
410761
i have fixed those connectors before.\nits not real easy to get to one of those.\none must take everthing off the motherboard, then, pull the motherboard.\nthe connector will need to be reseated and soldered back on.\nputting a laptop back together can be hair raising
155121
open the case...you will have to figure that out on your own. most likely removing screws on the back. look for the old hard drive. NOW before you touch ANYTHING, touch a bare metal spot on your case to remove any static electricity you may be carrying. there will be a wide flat grey ribbon cable on the back of the hard drive. carefully remove it from the hard drive only. there will also be a smaller white plug with 4 wires unplug that too. Most hard driver are held in by 4 screws. remove them and slide out the old drive. slide in the new drive, the 4 screws, and the 4 wire cable and flat ribbon cable. the connectors are keyed and only go in one way. that was the easy part. now you need to install the operating system. boot the computer up and pop in your o/s disc, then reboot. you will want to boot from the cd, with cd support. when you see the A:/ prompt. type in "fdisk" with out the quotation marks and hit enter. follow the prompts with yes to everything until you get to the menu screen. here you need to create a primary dos partition using all available hard drive space. when it done, reboot by pushing and holding down on the power button until it shuts down. start it up again and boot from the cd with cd support. this time you can start installing windows(98 or ME). when asked if you want to format, yes you do. when thats done, the o/s should start to install(we having fun yet?).....good luck
491504
Ignore the noobs who say nothing can be done.\n\nYou can try this software\nhttp://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm\n\nOr, if you are prepared to pay real money, there are a range of professional 'data recovery' firms who can get data off almost any drive. Not cheap but possible.\n\n///
628913
Open the laptop and pull it out. Alot of laptops are hard to get open though. Most will have tabs around the keyboard area that you must pop up with a flathead screwdriver. But first, make sure there are no screws on the bottom of the unit that go all the way through and hold the keyboard pad down.