Upgrade HDD for Panasonic CF-W7

[totomotx]

I would like to upgrade from my 109 GB HDD (Toshiba MK 1252GSX) to a larger capacity. What is a good size and recommendation for brand? Running Windows 10Pro, but I have only 15 GB left on my HDD. Also, how hard will this be?

 

[Mattios]

So it is a 2.5 inch drive which means any other 2.5 inch drive will fit.

I'd suggest a WD Blue 500 Gb. http://www.amazon.co.uk/500GB-inch-SATA-Internal-Drive/dp/B00C9TECFO/

You'd need to either clone your drive, which can be done by purchasing a SATA>USB adapter, or by fresh installing your OS - I heavily recommend the latter. We can guide you through whichever you choose.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, totomotx.

Never used this model so I can't give you any instructions on how to physically change the drive, but the connection itself should be rather easy - it is a standard SATA connection with 2 cables. Judging by the specs of your current drive, any SATA HDD with a form factor of 2.5" and 9.5mm height should do just fine. As for the maximum capacity, I assume that you could get a 2TB one, but I doubt it would be able to support a larger capacity drive. For this and how to physically swap both drives, I'd suggest you take a look at the user's manual or contact customer support for further assistance.
As for drive recommendations, that depends on what you plan on using the laptop for, although judging by its model, you probably won't be able to play very demanding games, so I think a high performance HDD is not a necessity in your case. Having this in mind, I'd suggest that you take a look at the WD Blue Mobile drive. It's a SATA III (the SATA interface is backwards compatible, so you should have no trouble using it with the SATA II port of your laptop) drive, with a 2.5" form factor and 9.5mm height. It's a reliable HDD for general usage, which comes with a 2-year limited warranty. You can take a closer look at its features here: WD Blue Mobile

edit: Oops, looks like I've been beaten with a similar answer while I was typing.

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD

 

[totomotx]

I want to thank you again for your advice. I have now easily installed the new hard drive, but it was an OEM drive without any CDs or or software.. When I selected reset PC, I received a message that a partition is missing. How do I format/partition/set up this harddrive. I can get to a command prompt.
OR:
Before I removed the old drive, I made a recovery CD which is working well, but my complete system backup is the problem. I saved my system to an external hard drive--Simpletech with ARCSoft total media backup software. I have plugged in the drive, but it is not being recognized. The recovery disc is asking for a "driver for a backup device if it does not show up in the list below." There are a lot of files on the Fabrik back up harddrive! What file am I looking for as the driver for the USB hard drive, or alternatively how do I do a clean windows 10 install on the new hard disk?

 

[Mattios]

There should be an option to erase the drive on the screen where you choose which drive to install to. You may have to open advanced options.

Regarding your backup, I don't have experience with that software so wouldn't be able to help unfortunately. Your best bet would have been to simply drag and drop all of your files over there.

 

[totomotx]

Bought a cable and did a clone to the new drive used one of the cloning software programs recommended here, then reinstalled it. Works great now. Thank you so much.