AboutShot Expertise I can answer most questions concerning Microsoft operating systems from DOS through Windows 2003. Hardware or software questions welcome. This is what I do for a living, and I love it! So instead of giving extra to Uncle Sam, I decided to give a little for free. Fire away!
Experience I have been working with computers for over 20 years, currently hold a full time job as a Network Administrator for large financial institution, and run my own PC/Network consulting company since 1998.
Education/Credentials Microsoft Certified;
Novell Certified;
Comptia A Certified;
IBM Certified Business Partner in Desktops/Laptops/Servers;
HP Certified Technician Desktops/Laptops/Servers;
Toshiba Authorized Service Technician;
Question Hi,
I bought a used laptop hard drive from ebay. It is a Generic ATA 2.5, 30 gig. It is like the one I'm replacing but the old one said ATA and this one says UATA.
I put it in 3 laptops and none of them recognize that there is a hard drive installed. They all can't see it.
Can you tell me if I have any hope or if it is dead what killed it? Thanks
Answer Hi Don, take a look in the BIOS of the laptop and make sure it is set up to automatically detect the hard drive. If it is not, you'll need to tell it what kind the new hard drive is before it can see it.
If it is, it should detect it, unless, and this is kind of a long shot, but if the old drive was an ATA66 or lower, and the new one is ATA100 or higher, then you may need to replace the cable in teh laptop with an ATA100 cable. They look the same, but the ATA100 cables normally have a blue connector on the motherboard end if they're the plug-in type.
Another option would be to hook it to a desktop using an adapter cable and see if the desktop will recognize it.
