On my 4000 you take out one access screw and drop down an access panel. 
Give it a yank and the drive comes out. There is a little adapter on the 
end that mates the drive pins to the slot on the motherboard. Pull that 
off and slap in on the new drive along with the access panel and pop the 
whole thing back in.

That said, don't be too surprised if it doesn't fix the problem. My 
Inspiron will occasionally complain that it can't find the primary drive 
regardless of what drive I'm using at the time. Usually a quick power 
cycle fixes the problem.

--rick


Sreekumar Kodakara wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Thanks for all the inputs. Just one more thing. Will a standard 2.5 inch
>drive which I can get for $75 at newegg.com like the one listed below
>
>Samsung 30GB 5400RPM Notebook Hard Drive, Model MP0302H, OEM Drive Only
>
>- Specifications -
>
>Capacity: 30GB
>Average Seek Time: 12 ms
>Buffer: 8MB
>Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM
>Interface: ATA-6
>Features: Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motor Technology
>Packaging: OEM Drive Only
>
>Model#: MP0302H
>Item#: N82E16822152504
>
>
>work fine with dell laptop (4100)? I was just wondering if there is
>anything special with hard drives in laptop or in general laptop use the
>same type of hard drives like the one listed above. Mine is a 4100, which
>I guess was bought about 3 years or so ago.
>
>Thanks
>
>Sreekumar
>
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>TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
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>  
>


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