"Earl F. Parrish" wrote in message
news:2ISke.2209$5T2.764@trnddc01...

"Bill Evans" wrote in message
...
Are the third party 2.5 inch hard drives that I've found on the internet
that say they are suitable replacements for the 6.4 GB hard drive that
died in my 1920 laptop telling me the truth?

Looking in old, dead laptops, I've found, gone through, and rejected
three or four spare 2.5 inch hard drives already. Each of them had a
different connector, and I fear that the $79 20-40 GB hard drives I've
found from searching the net will have a different connector on them than
the 6.4 GB IBM Travelstar hard drive that came in my Presario 1920.



Did you take the original drive out of caddy to see what the connector
looked like?


No.

I had noticed the IBM Travelstar drive was ensheathed in a dark plastic
piece of whatever the material Presario 1920 laptops are made out of. Rails
on each side to form a precision join for the connector to the laptop when
slid into place.


Most 2.5 inch hard drives use a 44-pin connector.


I had noticed the common 44 pins arranged in two rows on all the other hard
drives I was looking at, but what confused me was the caddy you're bringing
to my attention. It turned the array of 44 pins into an edge connector.

Or is that another, separate piece of plastic beneath the caddy that I'm
seeing? Whatever it is, it mates with those 44 pins on one side, and has a
female edge connector on the other that looks roughly like one of the
sockets where you would plug in an old ISA card.


Some drives are installed upside down in the caddy and some are installed
right side up. Do not confuse the jumper pins for the drive interface
connector pins.



Not going to happen, I speak master/slave/cable select.

I'd just never owned a laptop before, and had one given to me that promptly
had it's hard drive die. This Compaq Presario 1920 is so old it's almost
not worth saving, but I could use it to test my wifi network installs if I
can get it to boot again with a new Winchester rif^H^Hdrive.



--
bill evans

Hartselle, AL

Freeman Dyson: "It's best not to limit our thinking. We can always
air-condition the Earth."