Hard drive replacement, Lifebook AH531

[harveygriswald]

Hi, it appears the hard drive has gone after 5 years of hard work from my AH531 Lifebook. A great innings. I had many unsuspected shutdowns and blue screens of death 10 days ago, then after re-installing Windows from the recovery disk, all seemed to be ok but yesterday the laptop just died with no hard drive light showing now when I reboot. I can't even boot up now.

Three questions. One: is it tricky to put a new hard drive in on these machines? Having opened the back up, there's not much space, so I presume only certain types can be fitted. Two: any recommendations of the type to fit? I fitted a new hard drive on a PC a while back but laptops look trickier.
Three: I have the Fujitsu recovery disks....if I fit the new hard drive successfully, is it just a question of then installing Windows 7 from the recovery disks?

Many thanks.

[Caretaker]

Hello harveygriswald.

1) Replacing the HDD is not very tricky. Disconnect ac adapter and battery first and then remove the two screws of the HDD service door and open it. Now you can push the HDD to the left and then lift it up at right side (side of the HDD connector).

2) According datasheet the device supports 250 GB to 500 GB SATA 2.5-inch (7mm) HDDs.
It might also be possible that a HDD with bigger capacity or an SSD (would be faster) is working but you have to try, as it is not sure.

3) If you are using the Recovery Disc which has been delivered with the devie you can install even on the new HDD. After the installation of Windows use the Driver & Utilities DVD or the DeskUpdate tool from the support website to install the drivers.

[harveygriswald]

Thanks Caretaker.

I've now removed the HDD, simple as you said. It's the Fujitsu Recovery Disks so I'm hoping it'll be straightforward.

I'll buy myself a new SATA hard drive, good idea.

[antikythera]

Go for an SSD. Well worth it, they are faster and consume less power than mechanical drives. the reliability is as good now too. Crucial's MX300 or BX300 series are compatible. The MX is older and slightly slower than the new BX series read speed wise, the difference is 25MB/s. Write speeds are identical. I have an MX300 525GB drive in my Lifebook A512.

They come in a kit with a 9.5mm adaptor

[daroca]

Just to confirm: the AH531 supports more than 500GB HDDs, mine is working perfectly well with a 1TB SSD and a 2TBHDD.