Replacing a HP Pavillion Hard Drive

[kengay21]

My HP Desktop Pavillion hard drive crashed and I need to replace it. HP technical support said the drive must be replaced with an HP SATA 250 GB 7200 RPM which cost $279.
They are trying to convince me that any other drive will likely not work.

My question is: Couldn't I replace the drive with any other vendor SATA 250 GB 7200 RPM drive. These sell at Circuit City and Best Buy for around $100.

Is there any gotchas to avoid during installation and recovery (I do have recovery disks) of the OS. I was running Windows XP professional even though the machine came with Windows XP Media Center.

 

[wahnula]

My question is: Couldn't I replace the drive with any other vendor SATA 250 GB 7200 RPM drive?

Absolutely. HP probably did not manufacture the drive anyway. $279 for a 250GB drive is ridiculous, but that may have included labor. SATA is SATA is SATA period.

There are no gotchas except maybe the power supply uses Molex and the drive has SATA power connectors, adapters are available for a few dollars.

I just did a HD swap on an HP laptop, that HDD was made by Hitachi with an HP part #. I used a WD and recovery disks, no problems. I even had the option NOT to install the "extra" software.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[kengay21]

Thanks Tony.

I'll let the forum knows how it turns out. BTW, the specification of machine state that the drive was a SATA, so I assume the cable should work.

Here is the link for the specification. Let me know if you see anything that raises a red flag

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00679533&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3184140

 

[goombawaho]

Just go out and get yourself any 250 GB SATA hard drive or bigger if you need it. Personally, I'd go with Western Digital. It will cost you $60 - 70 USD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136113

 

[acewarlock]

Dell like all companys want to make more money and tell people in the Doc's that they need to use there brand of part, in "MOST" cases you can use any manufactures parts and it will work fine.

I said "MOST" so to the people that like to jump on things, just to make there point, don't bother.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[wahnula]

kengay21,

I was referring to the power connector, older SATA models only had Molex (not SATA) power ports, some in-between models had both, now almost all are SATA-only. You may face a power supply cable that doesn't fit. Just a glance will determine what type of connector it is...most Molex are white, most SATA are black. SATA power connectors are smaller and "flatter" while Molex have round pins.

goombawaho,

That's an excellent drive for the money, but I would recommend taking this opportunity to upgrade. The Seagate 7200.11 has a huge 32MB buffer and is super-fast:

http://www.directron.com/st3500320as.html

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[goombawaho]

I'm not quibbling - 60/70/80 bucks and whatever flavor (brand) the guy wants will get the job done.

 

[PRPhx]

You can put any SATA drive in it you want. I have a Pavilion a1540. Came with a 250GB Sata. I added a second 400GB Sata drive. The fit was a bit tight. The bays, at least on mine are a pain in the butt to get to, otherwise it fits and works w/o any problems!!!