Usually not difficult.
The danger presents itself primarily from over-confidence or carelessness.
Years ago, I was performing some action on one of my old electronics and I was using a metal flathead screwdriver to pry the casing. The screwdriver popped free and went digging a furrow across the mainboard, severing every tiny embedded path connection as it went. I was being in a hurry and careless.
Being mindful and methodical is the key. Check what you are doing and about to do, then proceed with deliberation and without assumptions.
If you were asking about replacing a notebook keyboard or LCD Screen, I would be nervous.
But the hard drives are usually accessible - many have an opening or panel just for them, making it easy to replace. Similar to batteries.
You will need to look up your specific notebook computer.
It is best to stick to the wellknown suppliers, whether for manufacturing or purchasing.
Off-brands and fly-by-night suppliers often do shady practices, especially with electronics.
For the brief time I had one, I purchased a Crucial M.2. But first, best to check what connections are in the existing hard drive. Dell ones are fairly easy to replace. Just requires removing one screw near the edge of the notebook and then sliding it out. Will see if there are any videos on replacing HP Notebook hard drive for you.
You guys are the best! Never thought to mention that it is a Dell. I did find a couple videos on replacing the hard drive and when I was looking to see what a hard drive would cost, I thought it best to ask what brand would be best. I don't want to go with the off-brands or fly-by-nighters...
Reasonably so.
In my experience, opinions vary, some of those opinions strong - then a news story breaks that the recommended company got caught cutting corners or a security flaw was found... Or a company that had a long standing reputation of high Quality begins cutting corners and using cheaper materials, cutting their own quality to feed their greed, relying on their reputation to carry them through.
If you stick to the name brands from reputable sellers; you will get what you pay for In This Case, even if opinions on how delicious what you get is divided.
Our town's not big enough to have an electronics store - the only place I know of is maybe Walmart but I'm doubtful there. The tech guy either doesn't have extras or just doesn't want to sell me one. He also mentioned "A". Prefer not to give them my money if at all possible...
The adapter... is that the actual connector that you plug the drive into? Mine is longer, so I'm guessing that's the 9.5mm? I saw a couple different videos - one had a short connector and one with a longer one like on mine.
I've been looking around and been getting confused on what I actually need. When I had the drive out, it didn't have any useful information on it to let me know exactly what to get. The link you have above would work then? I tried using the upgrade finder thing on Crucial but it wants to install a Windows app on it and it doesn't even list the model number that I found in the BIOS. It said model number 0x5. That's not listed in the Crucial upgrade finder.
How much storage would I really need? I want plenty but it's not like I do any gaming or anything that would need a lot of storage. I just do the normal computer type things - email, surf the web for info and buy things online.
It's getting very confusing with your two computers. You seem to have problems with booting from the USB drive - how did you install Zorin without booting from the USB drive?
