Need to replace a failing hard drive- Laptop, HP Pavillion DV&. Internal HD is Toshiba MK6465GSX. Review here on Tom's Hardw

Saso_13

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Mar 7, 2013
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Need to replace a failing hard drive- Laptop, HP Pavillion DV7. Internal HD is Toshiba MK6465GSX.
Review here on Tom's Hardware mentions it has a SATA 3Gb/s interface.
I am uncertain to what compatibility (don't understand the SATA interface if that plays a part in compatibility) - Do I want to get the same HD...only ones I've seen are refurbished (don't want!) or get one at a ridiculous price from HP. $200.00 (Does come with Win7 pre-installed. )
I can get the Win OS discs from HP for $15.00.
Toshiba site had just a 500GB or 1TG ($80.00) So with shipping and OS from HP total comes to ~115-120. ... Toshiba sales person said they should be compatible. Would consider other manufacturers as well, just need to know connections will work (the pins are not exposed like a very old HD out of an HP laptop that had video card failure that .I'd pulled out the HD before recycling the laptop since I was not able to format the HD - so seeing the physical connection difference got me worried!)Thanks
 

das_stig

Distinguished
Splash out on a 128GB SSD and put that in, very easy to do.

Hope you create a backup of the recovery partition to DVD, or you will have to download and use an ISO of Windows 7 Home OEM and use your licence key to activate. Taking a backup of drivers also a good idea, although they are all available from HP.
 
SATA is the type of connection, and there are no 'pins', that would be IDE connections which is totally different. SATA II is the type of connection yours has (caps at 3Gb/s), and current systems are SATA III (tops at 6Gb/s), but the physical connection is the same for all SATA devices. Any drive from any store can be bought, I would suggest a 7200RPM as that is much better performance then the cheapo 5400RPM slower versions.

The normal process I would suggest is:
1) Get a Ext HDD AND a new HDD
2) Run Windows Easy Transfer on current HDD to Ext HDD
3) Swap old HDD for new HDD
4) install Windows, run all patches and options (except Bing) until none exist.
5) Download SLIM DRIVERS, patch all drivers as necessary
6) install AVAST or AVG AND Malwarebytes from www.filehippo.com
7) Install all games and apps
8) Run Windows Easy Transfer and restore from Ext. HDD
9) Run Windows Backup and use Ext HDD as backup drive for your system to ensure no future data loss.
 

Saso_13

Honorable
Mar 7, 2013
3
0
10,510
Got a new hard drive today, the store made a copy of Windows since I had the product key, they installed the HD free, Thing was dead out of the box when they tried loading windows. They then said might be mother board and wanted to run some tests & of course could put in a new mom board. Said it would be worth repairing . I was kinda stuck got home then called them saying I was going to donate it local computer club where they would fix it and give it to someone who could not afford one. I said I ran tests and got just HD failure error. I had taken a pix of the screen and told them all the results. He looked up the info I gave him and "oh sounds like a HD" I said I would just pick up the laptop and donate it to our local computer club. They said they would put in a new HD. So picked it up, they did not try to load Windows knowing I could do it. ...hmmm and gave me the OS disc and sent me on my way without checking the "new HD" which had some weird partition - file system incompatible with Windows. Had to delete the partitions then install Windows. Went fine. Using it now. Wonder if they were trying to pull a fast one on me. Was not that comfortable with them... Love the message, Oh was what we thought all along HD failure...um I was the at one saying it was the HD. Last time I go to that place. So at least I have the laptop up and going for under 100 bucks.

Thank you to all for the answers!