Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 21:19:16 -0800 From: richard childers / kg6hac <fscked@pacbell.net> To: parv <parv@pair.com> Cc: f-mobile <freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Hard drive for Dell Inspiron 5000e - place to buy Message-ID: <3FB07154.2080902@pacbell.net> In-Reply-To: <20031111025207.GA39424@moo.holy.cow> References: <20031111025207.GA39424@moo.holy.cow>
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> > >I suppose my question is if a hard drive purchased anywhere else >other than Dell.com would fit the above computer. > Without looking up "Dell Inspiron 5000e", there is no easy way for someone unacquainted with Dell's products to know whether the computer you are referring to is a desktop or a laptop model. Assuming (given the context provided by a mailing list devoted to mobile computing) that it is a laptop, there should be a variety of access screws on the bottom of the laptop, which, when loosened, may allow batteries, hard drives, CDROMs and whatnot to be lowered, or slid, out of the chassis. This is germane because if you are able to do this you will probably find that the hard drives in laptop computers, like their big brothers, all fit into the same form factor. So the answer to your question - can you buy hard drives for your laptop from third parties - is an enthusiastic yes. Dell doesn't make their own hard drives; they buy them from other OEMs (Hitachi, IBM, etc), in big lots, whatever's cheapest at the moment. Everybody does it. Sun, HP, Silicon Graphics, Apple, etc. That having been said, you may also want to consider replacing your current hard drive with something larger; many laptops issued with 10 GB hard drives - the limit, at their time of manufacture - can easily contain 20, 30 or 40 GB hard drives, now that drive manufacturers can pack two, three or four times as much data into the predetermined form factor. A good place to start would be by identifying your hard drive's exact model number, via the above steps; if necessary, go to Dell's website and find instructions on how to remove the hard drive from your laptop. Carefully remove the hard drive and write down anything that looks like an identifying characteristic - model number, manufacturer, capacity in gigabytes, disk geometry, anything that looks useful. Then, use those keywords in your search, but add "price", and see if you can find a vendor that sells the same hard drive as what you have now. (Hint: pricewatch.com.) That's your starting point. From there you may wish to note the cost and capacity of a few other hard drives, and calculate the cost per megabyte for each model, so that you can see if you are truely getting the best deal; it might be cheaper to buy two 20 GB hard drives and use one as a spare, instead of buying a 40 GB hard drive and having all your eggs in one basket, as it were. Hope this is helpful. Regards, Richard Childers / Senior Engineer Daemonized Networking Services https://www.daemonized.com (415) 759-5571 parv wrote: >Could anybody suggest a place, web based preferred (except EBay), to >buy a hard drive -- either as a replacement for primary one or for >modular bay -- for Dell Inspiron 5000e? > >I suppose my question is if a hard drive purchased anywhere else >other than Dell.com would fit the above computer. > > > - Parv > > >
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