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Bought a WD 120GB Passport external drive to augment my 80GB Internal 2.5" Fujitsu in my Toshiba Satellite Notebook. But I had the brainstorm (i.e, short-circuit?) to maybe swap the two drives, so that the 80GB is in the external Passport case.

Can anyone confirm this is doable and if so, maybe detail how I can get inside the Passport case? I pryed the rubber feet off- no screws under them. This is the smaller, black case version, if that helps any. And any issues regarding getting the WD 120GB into the notebook would be great, too.

Thanks in advance, as always.

Hi jwramc.

It is extremely possible to swap the hard drives out - you will however have to reinstall windows and all the software.

You will also void any warranty you have left on the laptop itself.

DO you still wish to proceed?

Hmm...well, I'll have to check with Toshiba to confirm that a hard drive upgrade automatically voids the notebook's warranty...which seems awfully silly.

But in the meantime, I'd still like to gather up the info. I'm fairly certain the info for getting at the laptop's HD is available online at Toshiba's site. My main concern is getting inside the Passport. Once I've seen how to get it apart, I'll do a HD image transfer between the two before I make the physical swap. I'll also back up to my 3.5" external to protect my personal files before starting anything...so no fear there.

Fire away, oh knowledgable one.

It's not the hard drive upgrade,

It's the change made by an unauthorised Toshiba Technician - I used to work for the biggest Toshiba Repair Centre in Australia..so unless it's different in other countries...


Changing the hard drive itself is extremely simple - there should be a small hatch type thing on the bottom of the laptop that has 1 or 2 screws in it.

Depending on the case they use - it could house the hard drive and the memory, or just the hard drive.

There should be a symbol next to the hatch lid...should be 3 discs ontop of each other. Take a look if you can.

If you can't find it - is it possible for you to take a photo for me and post it here.

Yea, I'm sure the laptop won't be tough. It's getting inside the Passport external case that stumps me.

I guess the Passport isn't quite so well known as far as user tweaks and alteration?

Hi jwramc

Swapping hhd's won't present a problem, but what you have to think about is this;
The 80gb hdd has windows on it, the 120gb doesn't, it's spare.
Do you want to try and duel boot or something?