New hard drive and ram?

Question

I have a Dell Inspriron 9100. I want to upgrade my hard drive and my ram. Now do I need to use a certain kind of hard drive and ram? Will everything on my hard drive now transfer over to my new hard drive? I use this for work and home and have tons of programs and documents I would hate to start all over agian.

Please let me know if you have any ideas?

Answer 1

Wow, I just typed out the two procedures for cloning a disk image and a manual reinstall.
However, Yahoo! asked my to reenter my password when I submitted my answer, thus ruining 15 minutes of work.

So here is the consolidated version.

So you need 200 pin SODIMM DDR SDRAM PC3200 for the RAM and ATA 2.5 inch drive for the hard drive. Check the specs and see if your machine will handle a 7200 RPM drive. If not then it will handle the 5400 RPM drive.

I'm not gonna retype this whole thing but briefly
A) Using Norton Ghost or R-Drive or the free version of HDClone 3.2 or whatever, put the new drive in an external 2.5" enclosure and clone your old C: drive to the new drive.
Swap drives and reboot. The BIOS will warn you at first boot that there was a hardware change. Just say Yes.

B) Do a reinstall with the CD-ROM from Dell. Reinstall all of you programs and copy "Favorites" and "My Documents" to the new drive. some applications, like canon stuff write to the root of c:. So check there.
Applications like Outlook store there config files NK2, PST OAB, XML in docs and settings\user name\app data\microsoft\outlook and ....\local settings\blah blah

Good luck.

Answer 2

You will need to get the appropriate RAM for the machine, in speed and maximum size. A replacement hard drive shouldn't be too much of a factor although it's a laptop so it won't be as readily available as a desktop HDD.

Transferring the data from one laptop drive to another will require some special hardware or simply copying it to another networked drive, say on another PC. You will still need to install the programs again. There's no option for slave drives in laptops due to space constraints.

I would contact some local computer pros and ask them about a whole package for what you want to do.

To save hassle with the hard drive you might want to just get an external drive to store your data on. 40GB is plenty for an OS with no data. The extra RAM is not a big deal to install, it either needs a compartment unscrewing on the base, or the keyboard lifting out using an electronics screwdriver to release the clips at each corner. A good memory sales site will allow you to punch in the laptop make and model and get the right stuff.

Answer 3

Contact DELL for best advice on what ram etc you need.
MOST 2.5" hard drives should fit, but THINK carefully as installing a new drive will almost certainly mean reinstalling windows, all applications, and using an external drive cradle to get other data from old drive, UNLESS you back it all to DVDs

Alternatively IF you can locate a copy of a DISC CLONING tool that supports USB drive casings, you COULD use that to Image the drive over, BUT windows might see the hardware change as major and insist on a fresh "activation" of windows, a pain if legit, but not a major problem

Answer 4

You can make backups of your data to a USB Flash drive, or make CDs. But programs have to be installed from the installation disk.

You can buy a USB drive enclosure. But be sure to get one from your old 2 inch drive. The idea is that your old drive can still be used.

Try this one from NewEgg
macally PHR-250CC Aluminum 2.5" USB & 1394 External Enclosure - $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817146604

If you spend TOO MUCH MONEY, you might as well buy a new laptop. Maybe you should be using a western digital USB drive, like this one:
Western Digital Passport WDXMS1200TN 120GB 5400 RPM USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - $74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136059

For more RAM, use the free SCAN TOOL from Crucial.com
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2594269-5032657

Good luck and Happy Computing!

Answer 5

As far as ram you will have to use a particular type of ram as the motherboard will only recognize one type….go to this link to find out what type http://www.technibble.com/types-of-ram-how-to-identify-and-their-specifications/

With hard disks you should be fine with any of the new 2.5" hard disks available and the best way to transfer data is set your second one up as a SLAVE drive that way in windows you can just cut and paste all the files and folders over or just use it as a second storage device. Lots of info on this online if you just google “set up slave drive”.Or if they have no room in the unit for a second hard drive you can get a USB cradle for a 2.5" hard drive off ebay and that way you can use it as an external hard drive.

Any more questions feel free to email me

Answer 6

You wont have the data onto the new hard drive unless you transfer it . Call the service mechanic and he will help u in transferring the data. you do need to check the type of hard drive your inspiron has. it depends on different factors had there been more info bout ur inspiron i wud have told u more.