Replacing my hard drive/disk in NV109M

[zero5uk]

Well well well. Its been over 4 years since i bought my beauty little laptop, and until now no major problems.

Recently i couldnt boot up due to an unmountable boot volume error message. I took it to my PC tech friend and after running CHKDISC or whatever it was he did, he said the hard drive has had it. Like any machine he said, some just pack in after time, especially in notebooks where a slight bang could cause malfunction. Or maybe iv just pounded my poor HD into the ground over the past 4 years (what is the average life span do you think guys?) I have to say my laptop has been quite labour intensive over the years.

My hard drive was partitioned (15gig on each). I suppose the upside is that i could upgrade and put in a bigger one. How big could i go? Id hope to keep the partition system. My mate has now taken my laptop away to see what he can salvage in terms of my lost data. The D drive is no problem he says, but C is not letting him in. He then said he has some special software that may allow him to salvage certain things on my C drive (like hopefully, the VAT folder for my familys business!)

Anyway, just wanted to know, if i have to choose a certain hard disk to replace with, and what limitations on size i may have. Also what id need to pay? I saw an internal 80gig HD on dabs for £35, but i dont know if that would do.

any comments welcome

[zero5uk]

Just an update on happenings.

Friend backed up my HD onto DVD's and used some special software for the broken C drive, which funnily enough got it to boot up when he then put the HD back. So im back working again......for now.

He said i should still get another HD and suggested a seagate (i know nothing about HD's) He said Samsung is a pile of.....and IBM/Hitachi were problematic, though Toshiba were ok, but Seagate were easily the best.

I picked up an 80gig 5,400rpm seagate momentus laptop drive for £70 off ebay, which seems a great price.

KEE-LO: i found a review of my laptop where someone said they had successfully replaced the HD with 60GB, so i assume 80 will be ok. I hope the seagate drive will partition - or is that a manual procedure?

Labour cost was £50 - seemed high for a mate, but seeing as he saved all my data, im not complaining. I dont have a problem in paying someone good money for such a specialised job.

[kee-lo_]

Your friend will probably sort it out if it did need partitioning.

Good luck

[ant1uk]

i think thats quite cheap its not an easy job and im certain that vaio-link will cost loads more,