I'm watching an eBay auction for a Dell Inspiron I8100 with no hard
drive. I have an old 20 GB IBM Travelstar HD (1C25N020ATCS04-0, 4200
RPM, ATA/IDE) just lying around gathering dust. Can anyone tell me if
this HD will work in the Dell?

Ron S wrote:

> drive. I have an old 20 GB IBM Travelstar HD (1C25N020ATCS04-0, 4200
> RPM, ATA/IDE) just lying around gathering dust. Can anyone tell me if
> this HD will work in the Dell?

Yes. However you will probably also need a caddy/carrier since laptops
being sold without hard drives are also frequently missing these parts.
Not all laptops require caddies, but many do.

The real question is whether the computer in question uses IDE hard
drives (aka pata and eide), or SATA. Your 20 gig drive is ide. If the
computer uses IDE drives, it will work. If the computer uses SATA
drives, it won't work.


Ron S wrote:
> I'm watching an eBay auction for a Dell Inspiron I8100 with no hard
> drive. I have an old 20 GB IBM Travelstar HD (1C25N020ATCS04-0, 4200
> RPM, ATA/IDE) just lying around gathering dust. Can anyone tell me if
> this HD will work in the Dell?

Barry Watzman wrote:
> The real question is whether the computer in question uses IDE hard
> drives (aka pata and eide), or SATA. Your 20 gig drive is ide. If the
> computer uses IDE drives, it will work. If the computer uses SATA

That's a Pentium 4 Mobile machine, no way is it SATA.

zwsdotcom******.com wrote:
> Ron S wrote:
>
>> drive. I have an old 20 GB IBM Travelstar HD (1C25N020ATCS04-0, 4200
>> RPM, ATA/IDE) just lying around gathering dust. Can anyone tell me if
>> this HD will work in the Dell?
>
> Yes. However you will probably also need a caddy/carrier since laptops
> being sold without hard drives are also frequently missing these parts.
> Not all laptops require caddies, but many do.
>
The caddy is included.

I'm now also looking at a Compaq Armada. Is there a generic way to know
about HD compatibility? I've seen quite a number of types (IDE EIDE
ATA PATA SATA, any others?) What's compatible with what, and how can you
find out what a given used laptop requires?

In general, ALL that you need to know is if it's any form of IDE (that
includes PATA, IDE, EIDE, ATA) OR it's SATA. For the most part, that's
it. SATA works in laptops requiring SATA, and everything else works in
all other laptops.

Other things to note:

-The drive has to fit, obviously. The only real issue is thickness.
Drives have been made in thicknesses from 8.5mm to 18mm. MOST laptops
will take a 12.5mm thick drive [or thinner], which is the thickest 2.5"
drive that has been made for quite a number of years, but a few will
only take an even thinner drive.

-Mounting holes: If screws are required to mount the drive (in some
laptops they are not required, even if they are used), there have been
two standard sets of mounting hole locations. However, the "old"
standard is very old, and dissappeared back when drives were 4 gigabytes
and less.

-Some laptop BIOS' have a maximum drive capacity that they will support.
Again, in general, this is only a concern with VERY old drives, most
laptops that will go larger than 8 gigs will go to at least 32 gigs, and
most laptops that will take a 40 gig drive will take any drive size (in
fact, most laptops that will take even a 4 gig drive will take pretty
much any size).

-Very rare that it's an issue, but some drives draw more power and
create more heat than others. However the majority of drives of all
sizes draw between 500ma and 700ma, and this is rarely an issue.


Ron S wrote:
> zwsdotcom******.com wrote:
>> Ron S wrote:
>>
>>> drive. I have an old 20 GB IBM Travelstar HD (1C25N020ATCS04-0, 4200
>>> RPM, ATA/IDE) just lying around gathering dust. Can anyone tell me if
>>> this HD will work in the Dell?
>>
>> Yes. However you will probably also need a caddy/carrier since laptops
>> being sold without hard drives are also frequently missing these parts.
>> Not all laptops require caddies, but many do.
>>
> The caddy is included.
>
> I'm now also looking at a Compaq Armada. Is there a generic way to know
> about HD compatibility? I've seen quite a number of types (IDE EIDE ATA
> PATA SATA, any others?) What's compatible with what, and how can you
> find out what a given used laptop requires?