On 20 May 2003, Chris Frederick wrote: > I know that there's a lot in a laptop that's specific to its model and > make, but can't you use a hard drive from a different manufacturer > (say this one > http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/72856378?aucview=0x17), > or is the hardware on a laptop so locked together that you're stuck > with the original manufacturer's parts and high prices? You can generally use a drive from any vendor, as long as it physically fits into the laptop (some laptops can only take slimmer drives, for example.. can't remember the exact heights.) They do use a standardized 44-pin (iirc) connector that provides both power and ide. Computer Geeks has decent prices on laptop drives.. 40gb for $120. I've had good luck with the reliability of Toshiba notebook drives.. other people may disagree. :) Another option is to purchase a firewire enclosure and a drive that'll fit into that.. you'll get pretty decent speeds off it, and pay a lot less if you go with one of the 3.5" enclosures. -- Nate Carlson <natecars at real-time.com> | Phone : (952)943-8700 http://www.real-time.com | Fax : (952)943-8500 _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list