Replacing HDD in a Gateway MT6705 laptop

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What do I need to consider if I decide to replace the HDD in my old 2005 Gateway laptop, Model MT6705? I just need a bigger drive. The OEM has just a 120GB drive, and it’s full. I do not want to spring for an SSD—a spinning platter drive will do fine and cost less. Are most 2.5″ internal drives the same, or is there something I need to look for?

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Caesar,

The big things are Interface SATA or ATA and height 9mm or 7MM. most newer laptops will only accept 7MM drives but a 2005 will probably take either. Most 7MM drives come with a spacer so they fit in 9MM spaces. A 2005 vintage machine is most likely going to have ATA drives so make sure you check the specs in your documentation or on Gateway’s site if you can still find your machine listed.
Luckily your machine is still listed hereand it is SATA.

You can double you storage space with a 256GB SSD for about a Franklin! For about $65 you can get twice as much space in a spinner. Consider 2 things in favor of the SSD 1. better performance, 2. Longer battery life.

Also make sure you can do the installation. Do you have the proper tools to get into the machine (some need torx drivers). Once inside can you easily get at the HDD w/o taking the thing completely apart! When I put a SSD in my Wife’s Dell XPS14z I had to remove the battery (screwed in) and a bunch of retainers before the drive would come out and then it was still a bit of a puzzle.

Good Luck!

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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@ Caesar3

Your laptop’s HDD is beneath a cover that is held in place with a couple of Phillips-head screws. There might be another screw-or-two inside, and most laptop HDDs have a metal frame to locate them in place, usually with four screws.

44469-GatewayMT6705

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@ Caesar3

Your laptop’s HDD is beneath a cover that is held in place with a couple of Phillips-head screws. There might be another screw-or-two inside, and most laptop HDDs have a metal frame to locate them in place, usually with four screws.

44469-GatewayMT6705

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This is why I come to the Lounge for advice—you guys are great! Thank you!

One more question: Can you point me to a good step-by-step tutorial on how to replace the drive. I suppose I need to clone the old one with something like Acorns True Image. Can I put the new drive into an enclosure to transfer the image? Or perhaps put the new drive into the laptop and put the OLD one into the enclosure and copy … ?

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Caesar,

Just google: Gateway Model MT6705 replace hard drive

You’ll get all the info you need including video on the process.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I recommend Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image for weekly or bi-monthly making at least one if not two full images of your OS and data partitions onto at least one if not two usb connected external hard-drives.
And for now: after you make the full images, swap hard-drives and restore your OS and data partitions. Once you confirm that the new hard-drive has everything that the old hard-drive had, DBAN the old hard-drive, save it for other good stuff

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Great! Thank you both!

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With respect to Roland, I personally would keep the old drive as a backup of your laptop. Put it in the static bag and box that your new drive comes in, and write the date and the words “Gateway laptop backup” on the outside of the box. Then, if you have a system crash or other file loss, you can as a last resort reinstall the old drive and recover files off of it.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Mr. Jim, your idea is much better than mine! As long as that hard-drive does not go into another computer — the OS license is safe

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Check out
How to upgrade your existing hard drive in under an hour
http://www.howtogeek.com/199068/how-to-upgrade-your-existing-hard-drive-in-under-an-hour/

You are going to be upgrading from 120GB to probably a 256GB SSD and it’s a good thing.
I just upgraded mine from 160GB to 250GB and it runs great.
I didn’t really need the space but I wanted to learn how to do that and I do have the benefit of a naturally faster hard drive.
However with more space there is a very good possibility that anything higher than the cloned 120GB volume will end up as an unallocated section.
How do I know? It happened to me.
However I started over and used that article in order to get the full new volume intact by selecting the Maximum Size.

I am not a hardware person but that worked for me.
There are 3rd party programs that would have fixed my unallocated section but I wanted to learn how to get it right the first time.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Good morning, cmptrgy! I have good news and bad. The drive cloning and replacement went exactly according to plan, and my laptop is operating with the new drive as if nothing had changed. And therein lies the not-so-good news. I’ve got that “unallocated section” that you referred to.

Yes, I did read your post (#10), and had your advice in mind as I entered the cloning process. Obviously, I missed the step that you mentioned. I could do as you did and start over, but can you point me to a third-party program to fix this problem. What do you think of Mini Tool Partition Wizard (free)?

Thanks!

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What do you think of Mini Tool Partition Wizard (free)?

That’s my go to tool for working with partitions. You should have no trouble fixing it with PWMT.

FYI: Create the boot media, since you’re working on the Windows drive, and work from there.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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If you’re going to replace the hard drive with an SSD, you might as well go all the way and make sure you have the max amount of RAM in the laptop — 2 GB. After doing both of those things, your 11 year old laptop should be a lot faster.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Additionally, SSDs generate no heat, use less power and are silent. They come with 3 yr warranties; does the HDD? It is essentially shock proof if the laptop is dropped. Compare that with an HDD.

Sure, the HDD may have greater capacity for the dollar, but if you are finally filling that 120GB drive then you don’t need more than a 250GB model to keep you happy for some time to come.

In the meantime, might want to free up some space on that old HDD.

http://lifehacker.com/recover-tons-of-wasted-disk-space-with-the-new-windows-1442937625 – my record was over 16GB being wasted on one drive freed up with this option. The longer the installation and not running Disk Cleanup the bigger is sitting there waiting to be cleaned up once this update is installed.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/GuideToFreeingUpDiskSpaceUnderWindows7.aspx

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We have a thread on the SSD upgrade process.
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//173251-Advice-for-moving-to-SSD-from-SATA

cheers, Paul

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Hi Paul, I used that thread you had posted for me when I requested help to upgrade to an SSD so that was my basis on how I was going to do what I needed to do. Unfortunately I didn’t grasp the fact that I should have included Maximum Size at that time. But between that thread and investigating MR’s manual, I got back to taking care of the unallocated portion in my original setup. And the good news is that thread got me started on understanding what I was looking to do and then working with MR since that’s my 3rd party program with a successful outcome, so thank you for that. Although I’m not a hardware person, the information available in WS is invaluable.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Lemme tell you about a conversation I had today with an employee of the in-house computer repair arm of a major electronics retailer. I walked in this morning to buy a new SSD for the laptop we’ve been discussing in this thread. I found the SSD, but I was still seeking affirmation that the drive would work with my laptop. So I approached this employee, who assured me that the drive would work.

But he wasn’t done yet. He asked me how I was going to do the job. I replied that I planned to image the old drive and move the image to the new drive that I held in my hand. He then explained to me that what I was planning to do is “illegal” and, furthermore, it “won’t work.” It’s illegal, he told me, to copy the OS software. He said he’d tried using Acronis and other products and it had never worked.

I took the new drive home, and I’m still wondering whether this employee and I are living on the same planet. Can any of you help me understand what this techie was trying to tell me. I’m totally confused.

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Lemme tell you about a conversation I had today with an employee of the in-house computer repair arm of a major electronics retailer. I walked in this morning to buy a new SSD for the laptop we’ve been discussing in this thread. I found the SSD, but I was still seeking affirmation that the drive would work with my laptop. So I approached this employee, who assured me that the drive would work.

But he wasn’t done yet. He asked me how I was going to do the job. I replied that I planned to image the old drive and move the image to the new drive that I held in my hand. He then explained to me that what I was planning to do is “illegal” and, furthermore, it “won’t work.” It’s illegal, he told me, to copy the OS software. He said he’d tried using Acronis and other products and it had never worked.

I took the new drive home, and I’m still wondering whether this employee and I are living on the same planet. Can any of you help me understand what this techie was trying to tell me. I’m totally confused.

He was trying to tell you that he doesn’t know anything about computers or software.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Okay, a little more information—It occurred to me to contact the manufacturer of the SSD (Sandisk). Got on chat with “Daniel,” who first had me launch Disk Management. He said I should get a pop-up prompt to initialize the SSD, but the prompt never appeared. (The drive did appear in the DM window, however, and reported that it was not initialized.)

Next we moved the drive to my MacBook Pro. Disk Utility saw the disk, but the “Partition” tab was grayed out. So Daniel suggested that I try “another cable.” That supports my hunch that I need to get that cute little Sabrent connector.

But, if the SSD seems to appear in Disk Management and in Disk Utility (Mac), why would another cable make a difference?

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Caesar,

What he is trying to tell you is that he has absolutely “NO CLUE”! You have to realize that anyone with any real technical ability is most likely NOT working retail! Of course he could also have been just trying to sell you another copy of Windows and their services installing it and transferring your files (which in my experience…from fixing the messes they make) is not worth even paying for.

Of course Y&OMMV! Really, y’all think I’m being too hard on them? :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I, for one, don’t think you’re being too hard on “them.” I’ve never used their services—for one, I think they’re way overpriced! They’re one reason I try to keep learning, and that’s why I keep coming back here for help. Thanks!

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I certainly agree with RetiredGeek. A lot of us clean up after those guys!

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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Okay, team—I’m ready to launch! I downloaded Macrium Reflect (free), installed it, and created rescue media. I bought the new SSD, and I connected to the laptop through an external drive enclosure. I turned on the power to the new drive and clicked “Clone this disk … .”

But no joy. Reflect says “No disk available.”

The enclosure is a Sabrent box that I’ve had for a few years—it was built to house a desktop 3.5″ drive, but it has connectors that fit the SSD exactly. When I turned on the power, my laptop made a pleasant little chiming sound, but the disk does not appear in File Explorer.

What must I check? Is it possible that my enclosure is the problem, despite the properly-fitting connectors? Do I need to order one of those little Sabrent connectors that they show in the tutorial you sent me? Or (shudder) could this new drive be incompatible with my laptop … ?

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Caesar,

The Sabrent box may require drivers to be loaded. If you do get a new box make sure it is driverless! I’ve never encountered a USB device, and believe me I’ve used the gamut, that Macrium would not see as long as it was connected BEFORE Macrium was started. It will sometimes even recognize them after it is started but I’ve encountered some cases where it did not.

Since it was designed for a 3.5″ spinner it may also need external power. Do you have a power brick for the device.

Also you should check that the Boot Media BOOTS! before doing anything else!

I’d also advise against Cloning (Personal Preference). Just do a normal full disk Image (to a device other than the SSD) then restore that Image after you install the new SSD.

As always YMMV!

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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RG: Thanks for the rapid response. Yes, the box has a power brick, and it’s connected. (The little cooling fan is spinning.) I’ve used this box with BOTH the Gateway Win10 laptop and with my MacBook Pro. Used it just yesterday, in fact, so I don’t think it’s a matter of drivers loading.

I’ve never encountered a USB device … that Macrium would not see as long as it was connected BEFORE Macrium was started.

Ah-h, I said. I went back and closed Macrium Reflect, started the new drive, and then relaunched Reflect. Now, in the Reflect home screen, I now see MBR Disk 1, which includes both the main C: drive and the D: recovery partition; below, I see “Disk 2 SanDisk SDSSDA240G .” There’s a little empty check box next to it, but Reflect won’t let me check it. (By the way, I’d followed your advice and checked Image, instead of Clone, on the first screen.) When I click on “Image selected disks on this computer,” the Destination pane does not display Disk 2. My choices are Folder (with an empty spin box) and CD/DVD Burner.

What does that tell us?

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Stop the presses! I rebooted the laptop, relaunched Reflect, and—to make a long story short—cloning is in progress! Whew!

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Excellent. Since you are cloning, please check out post #10 in order to select Maximum Size so you don’t end up with an unallocated section in the partitioning setup as your SSD is 240GB vs. your original 120GB size. Best of luck.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Huzzah! I’ve got a working computer with a shiny new SSD! RetiredGeek and cmptrgy: Thanks to you both for your help and advice. My old 2005 machine now behaves like a new one. Partition Wizard was a breeze to use.

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Excellent Caesar3. Happy SSDing.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Are you guys referring to the System Reserved partition?

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I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about in this instance. I skimmed through the linked Web page you cited, and I believe we’re talking about two different things. Go back to #10 in this thread. I think you’ll see we’re talking about the unallocated space that gets left in place on a new HDD when you clone the old drive to it. Cmptrgy warned me that, unless I click such-n-such while setting up the cloning, my new drive would have a bunch of unallocated space. That is, the contents of the old, smaller drive would use only the space it required on the new drive; the rest of the space on the larger drive would be left unaccessible.

Well, I did read that post, but I failed to check the little whatsy and I ended up with about half the new drive’s space out of reach. So I downloaded the free Partition Wizard and expanded the partition to take in every last byte of space.

I hope I’ve answered your question.

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FN this is what I got the first time I cloned to my SSD.
44530-SSD-Partitions

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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