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No info installing new notebook HD

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5 replies

by e30ric

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I can't seem to find any information about installing a larger capacity Hard Drive into my Toshiba 1695CDT notebook. I've installed several into desktop machines, but never a laptop. Toshiba will only recommend authorized service centers and advises against users making the attempt. I can't even get a straight answer about compatiblity. It shouldn't be that difficult but I don't want to just blindly dive in. Is there a something about Toshiba notebooks that makes it risky for me to do this myself? Is there a source on the Web I can consult? Also, am I really limited to 192MB of RAM and, if not, how do I go about exceeding this paltry amount? I'm getting kind of tired of Win98 and would like to upgrade to 2000 or XP. I understand that the minimum requirement for XP is really 256MB.

5 replies

by thechas

As to a hard drive, you have 2 limiting factors:
Physical size,
BIOS limits.

Identify the make and model of the existing drive. When selecting a new drive, make sure to limit your choices to those of the same height.
Take a close look at the drive compartment to determine if you can use a thinner or thicker drive.

As to the BIOS limitations, you can see if Toshiba has a BIOS update that allows for larger drives.
Otherwise, you might be able to use the hard drive manufactures drive overlay software to work around any BIOS hard drive size limitations.

Per Crucial, the 1695 has 64 MB on the motherboard, and you can add a 128MB module.

Looking at Toshiba's specification sheet, you want to find a 9.5mm drive.

600MHz and 192MB of RAM will be functional with either W2K or XP. Just be sure to have at least 800MB of free hard drive space available for the page file.

I'm running W2K on a 300MHz with 384MB of RAM at work.
Just limit the number of running services, and stick with low resolution wall-paper.

Chas

by oz_media

IBM fed me the same line once but a little determination and I was sent a link to the field repair manual for my specific model and buid.

I know that Toshiba uses these as I've seen them. Just whine and compain until they give you the info. They can recommend you don't reaplace you HD or even void your warranty, but ultimately it is YOUR decision.

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