Do It Yourself Laptop Repair Techniques - Changing The Hard Drive Of Your Laptop

Many people look at a laptop as a confusing device, and indeed are rather intimidated by the thought of any do-it-yourself laptop repair. But in reality a laptop is only slightly more complex than a desktop computer, and in many cases, it can be just an easy to repair. If you need to replace the hard drive on your laptop, for example, there is no need to pay a technician a premium to do it for you.

It is quite possible for a reasonably technically competent person to repair a laptop himself or herself. Generally speaking, if you wouldn’t hesitate to repair your desktop PC, you shouldn’t hesitate to repair your laptop either. When laptops first came out there was a certain tendency among laptop manufacturers to build a mystique around their products. 

If something went wrong with a laptop, such as, for example, a hard drive needing replacement, the customer was encouraged to turn the laptop over to a professional repair specialist, or to ship the laptop directly to the company.

These professional repair specialists would usually charge a small fortune for repairing the device. If the device was within the warranty period, the company would replace the drive for free, but often enough the user would be unable to use their machine for quite some time in any case. However, attitudes have changed, both on the part of big companies, as well as of users.

The manufacturers have simplified the components of the laptops so that laptop repair is now fairly easy, and users, on the other hand, also seem to be less intimidated at the thought of repairing a laptop on their own.

The size of most laptop drives is standardized, most of them being no more than two and a half inches thick. There are some ultra portable drives that are a little slimmer than this, but by and large the two and a half inch drives are the industry standard for laptops today. 

Remember to only buy a laptop drive that is compatible with your laptop drive controller. Laptop designs for SATA drives will have a slot controller, while certain laptops have a special connector that is unique to them.

Now, you should disconnect the power from your laptop and place it face down on a table. There will usually be a panel at the back or on the side that will give you access to the drive itself. This panel will be held in place by either a cache or by screws. 

Release the cache or the screws, and remove the panel, and then replace the hard drive according to the manufacturer’s instructions. And pay nothing to the laptop repair professional.