Internal hard drive

[compo]

The 2.5in HDD in my ancient laptop is reporting failures - somewhere in the region of 200 "bad blocks" at present.,
Unfortunately, I cannot buy a straight replacement at a reasonable price, as ST1000LM024s are no longer manufactured, and more modern drives, from all manufacturers, are 7mm (deep) instead of 9.5mm.

If I invest in a new SSD will I have a problem mating the drive with the bus, or will the difference in depth be accommodated by the horizontal mounting screws (ohh err, missus)?

[Boac]

How long is a piece of string? Too many unknowns. I would suggest a quick gargle, or if you do not use the lappie 'mobile' think about an external drive.

[Pontius Navigator]

Compo, I looked at this option some years ago, PATA and SATA ring a bell. To change the drive I needed a convert to swop one for the other. The problem then was the length of the bay which was too short.

[G-CPTN]

are 7mm (deep) instead of 9.5mm.

Does that present a problem?

[compo]

Thanks chaps
The problem, as I see it, is the alignment of the interface pins with the internal fixed bus. Here's a picture of a similar disk.
The disk sits in a cradle which is designed to give correct alignment for the bus/disk interface. 4 mounting screws go in the "tags" at the side, thereby ensuring the correct position is maintained,
If the cradle has been designed to hold a disk that is 9.5mm deep, will it hold a replacement at 7mm in correct alignment?

External drive and interface cables are not options in this case.

Being a tightwad, I'm reluctant to part with £76 for a refurbished bit of kit, when for a little more, I could acquire a brand new SDD, or the replacement HDD (ST1000LM048) for about 50% of that amount.

My query on the Seagate forum has not generated a response.

[Pontius Navigator]

Compo, if you are in UK remember that the Sale of Goods Act gives you the right to return an item ordered online within 30 days.

[unifoxos]

The drive pictured is SATA. Modern SSDs are SATA. I recently replaced the (3.5") HDD in my PC with one. It came with a link to Acronis software that made the upgrade a piece of cake. I had to buy a USB - SATA adaptor cable to clone the old drive to the new one. The cloning software allowed me the option to expand the old drive image to fit the newer, larger, SSD. Total cost about £30, speed improvement as well as extra capacity. And less noise and heat.

If the mounting holes don't line up I'd use sticky pads or similar.

[compo]

Thanks unifoxos, I'm sufficiently competent to manage the data transfer (dd if= ...), but I was concerned about a hardware mismatch. Read on.

PN - does the 30 day returns law still apply in the UK? Isn't that one of those onerous laws imposed by Brussels?

Well, extensive Googling resulted in NO definitive statement about the feasibility of plugging a 7mm box into a 9.5mm hole, but I did find a statement in laptopmag (or similar) that suggested size does matter! The article suggested I visit crucial.com where I found a range of internal SSDs with 9.5mm adapter kits. A purchase order has been raised.

[Pontius Navigator]

Compo, indeed it does, many EU regulations were passed into Law and would necessarily require repeal. There was actually article in the paper last week citing Which? the said some retailers were not complying with the law. Others, such as big River, have actually extended the returns period.

[OFSO]

I confess, Big Computer (7 drives) has the 240 GB SSD on drive 2 glued inside the case with two double-sided sticky pads and a squirt of silicone sealer because I could not find suitable mounting brackets. Been there since two years before Maplin closed 'cos that is where I bought it. I'd forgotten how many drives BC has (not to mention why) but I did a scan today for hard- and software and they all popped up. I know there's a Linux Mint in there somewhere designed to default to if the WIN rotating drive fails, which itself is a b/u for WIN running on the SSD. REMINDER to self: time to take BC apart and remove sticky dust from the fans and fins. Wood stove in same room.....

[llondel]

I have a hard drive, rotating kind, that has logged 90,000 hours of use. It started flagging up bad sectors so I replaced it, but I'm impressed by its longevity. It survived an international move somewhere in the middle of its service (albeit powered down for the journey).