I recently found an (8 year old) Dell Inspiron at a garage sale. It looked like it hadn't been used much at all. I turned it on it worked well. For $25 I got it as a backup laptop. I upgraded the OS to Windows 10 and duel boot with Linux Ubuntu 20.04. Works great! Then I cloned the drive to a SSD. The only word I would offer here is to be careful when removing the keyboard data cable. And when reattaching the keyboard, it has to be slid into place correctly or you'll (as I did), put the thing back together and your keyboard will not work. Good Video.
I know people complain about the design, how hard it is to get to the hard drive. But this design actually makes the laptop very sturdy. The hard drive is extremely well secured in place.
Great - very helpful - I have just done mine. My only difficulty was I have misundertood the releasing of the keyboard at the top edge. No harm done - other than about 10 mins of struggling.Many thanks
thanks mate for this great video, which solve two of my issues, the hard disk replacement of course and the support of SSD in Dell inspiron, Hates Off dear.
Hi .. Thanks for support 🙏 .. Could you please tell me which internal harddrive it is ? I have dell n5010 .. i want to replace it with new one .. Can i use 1 TB hard drive here ?
The newest Inspiron 15R no longer requires this lengthy process, for those wondering. The RAM and HDD are easily accessible via one access door on the bottom of the machine after removing 3 Philips screws. Cheers.
AWESOME video tutorial. You really went above & beyond what I've seen before - even showing the 'oops' type moments. Only thing to say is - Thank You Very Much.
Oh and I thought a few screws off the back,. D'oh! It always pays to do your homework, I've got my SSHD so here goes and thanks for these how to do it, you guys really do help! BC
Instead of flipping over constantly to let screws drop out I like to use a magnetized screw driver to draw them out after you loosen. Just a little time saver and keeps them from bouncing onto the desk and possibly onto the floor.
agree... despite that they say there is an ATI RMHD5650, that gpu is still embedded to the Motherboard when i open it up. I was really looking forward for a changable gpu like what they did to Alienware.
Nice I was just tryin' 2 figure out how 2 find the hard drive. Good video, makes it much easier when I'm gonna switch. Much harder than I thought but now I will be able 2 try at least. A tip tho, why not use a magnetic screwdriver, then u will be able 2 have control over all screws without having 2 flip it over, every sec ;)
I have a 5110 which is slightly different. Hopefully not too much. Want to replace the stock 500gb drive with a SSD. No speed issues just critical info I can afford to lose. Great vid btw
yup, what a mission, and the worst thing is you have to 1/2 reassemble it to see if your new HD works ....Be very careful with the little ribbon connectors under the keyboard , it took me 1/2 hr to get on back on, but I haven't seen all this video ... hopefully there is an easy way ...
I have a N5010 and, don't know why, it is EXACTLY the same of yours EXCEPT that I don't have that hole to remove the screw that keeps the keyboard in place. Currently I'm stuck with the keyboard that cannot be removed even if I got rid of all the screws I can see :( Anyone can help me please?
Alienwares are usually specially made for gaming, so it usually has a dedicated GPU, unfortunately you have to look for an inspiron with a dedicated gpu before you buy it, as most of them are in-built into the mobo.
thank u, is very helpful, i dont know how u did it with ur finger it cut to of mine deeply. do u know where i can find assmblying map one of the smaller part fell out i dont know where it goes?
First; thanks. Second; can you only put one 2.5" unit on this laptop? I cant get 1 ssd and 1 hdd of 2.5"? Third; can i install windows 10? Its compatible with this laptop?
Why would DELL design their laptops like that? Like seriously, the most frequent upgrades are related to RAM and harddrives and they should have built back doors to these parts. This is an epic fail in my opinion and I will not buy DELL anymore. Never.
There's this handy door on the back for RAM upgrades, but you have to disassemble practically the whole thing just to get to the hard drive. Just use logic next time, Dell.
That's so no one can easily steal all you information by removing the hard drive. However, I agree that there are probably easier ways you can protect this and still give access. The current bad design reminds me of trying to change the oil on the newer cars. You have to undo about 8 bolts to remove the cover, only to access the oil plug.
This laptop's design is a mess, especially the hinges. When the left hinge broke, I took the laptop apart, and my jaw hit the floor. The hinges are fastened with a pair of tiny screws screwed into thin plastic tubes protruding from the back cover. Those tubes have to resist the massive force you apply when opening your laptop. I was hardly the best student in my day, but my strength of materials teachers would fail you if you tried to design something like that. Tiny plastic things can only be used if you need to hold an element in place to which virtually no force will be applied. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the flaw in this design. They could have made a test model, and it would have been obvious that, when you open your laptop, you are basically trying to pull those small screws out of the holes, which are nothing but tiny tubes with thin walls made of fragile plastic. It's a no-brainer, but not for Dell engineers, apparently. Normal laptop designers install thick rod-like elements and make hinges rotate around them when you open your laptop.
Excuse me sir, I have a question. For example I have a 512gb HDD, can I only upgrade to 128gb SSD? Crucial said it's compatible but the files I have is more than 128gb.
Same here, I thought it was because of my AMD Phenom CPU mine has, but after finding out it used less power and produced less heat that the Core i3, i5 and i7 in the same design, I stopped complaining about the CPU, but the heat is still FUCKING ridiculous!
@Ryan199403 i only have one in there probably because its the i3 but its seated correctly. the motherboard just shorted out completely today and i cant help to think they use a bad coolent paste that melted onto the motherboard causing the short.
my laptop wont boot up its just a black screen and beeps 3 times so i wanted to make sure everything was in place. and there is no screw holding in my cd drive. its still under warranty i only had it for a month but after seeing that i would rather get the money back for system that wont fail so soon im on a 2 year old dv4 that has seen all kinds of hell and works fine to this day
This doesn't work for the N5110, only the N5010. In the N5110 you have to remove the whole mother board -- and the screen --, because the hard drive is attached on the underside. It's really annoying.
i have disasambled the laptop and maybe i have broke the touchpad cable. i bought a new one, but it's still not working. may it be the windows? does it want a new install?
try to reinstall the drivers. also try to check if the FN (orange key near the left control) + F3 works for you (this enables and disables the pad) also check if one of these kets is not permanently pressed
never mind, problem solved. In my notebook there is no screw fixing the keyboard, just some 2-side sailing tape keeping it glued to the silver-coloured base. You just have to pull it, but you risk to break the keyboard :/
it is a very poor design not allowing a easy pull out hd. i would all so take a look at the cpu thermal paste as on my model the stock heat paste was all over the cpu and 252gt(gpu) this allow heat build up which is what you don't want. plus my uk model is IDE hd and is right on the motherboard which means i have to take out the mob which i really hate tbh. model inspiron N5110.
@Ryan199403 it was happened to me as well .. few days ago i opened my laptop and then put it back but it was showing only 2 gb ram , instead of 4 gb ram .. :P
Dude you really saved my life and this video is better than others that I’ve seen around RUclips. Mad props!
I recently found an (8 year old) Dell Inspiron at a garage sale. It looked like it hadn't been used much at all. I turned it on it worked well. For $25 I got it as a backup laptop. I upgraded the OS to Windows 10 and duel boot with Linux Ubuntu 20.04. Works great! Then I cloned the drive to a SSD.
The only word I would offer here is to be careful when removing the keyboard data cable. And when reattaching the keyboard, it has to be slid into place correctly or you'll (as I did), put the thing back together and your keyboard will not work.
Good Video.
I know people complain about the design, how hard it is to get to the hard drive. But this design actually makes the laptop very sturdy. The hard drive is extremely well secured in place.
Straightforward and easy to follow. Keyboard can be difficult, but, I like the info which is spot on, excellent post.
I just upgraded my laptop using this video and it works! Thank you so much for putting this video on RUclips! Modern day hero!!!
Thanks for the video! upgrading my sata 2 to a sata 3 will increase the performance on my two year old I7 by a country mile!
Great - very helpful - I have just done mine. My only difficulty was I have misundertood the releasing of the keyboard at the top edge. No harm done - other than about 10 mins of struggling.Many thanks
thanks mate for this great video, which solve two of my issues, the hard disk replacement of course and the support of SSD in Dell inspiron, Hates Off dear.
Thank you so much, peope like you make this world a better place to live in.
Hi .. Thanks for support 🙏 .. Could you please tell me which internal harddrive it is ? I have dell n5010 ..
i want to replace it with new one ..
Can i use 1 TB hard drive here ?
The newest Inspiron 15R no longer requires this lengthy process, for those wondering. The RAM and HDD are easily accessible via one access door on the bottom of the machine after removing 3 Philips screws. Cheers.
Very good video. Concise and clean.
Hello did it make much difference I know SSD are fast but i was wondering was it really worth your while thanks
Thanks! Worked just like you demonstrated! Upgraded to 1T.
Hi, did it work ok with 1TB
AWESOME video tutorial. You really went above & beyond what I've seen before - even showing the 'oops' type moments. Only thing to say is - Thank You Very Much.
thanks a lot. just removed a bunch of settled dust from the ventilator and there it works, quiet and easy
Oh and I thought a few screws off the back,. D'oh! It always pays to do your homework, I've got my SSHD so here goes and thanks for these how to do it, you guys really do help! BC
Thanks for taking the time to share this video with us.
Instead of flipping over constantly to let screws drop out I like to use a magnetized screw driver to draw them out after you loosen. Just a little time saver and keeps them from bouncing onto the desk and possibly onto the floor.
Bless you for showing how to tear down this laptop. I was needing this EXACT thing and here it is!! Thanks!!!
Thanks SO MUCH, your video was GREAT, it gave me the confidence to do it!
Had a problem with my hard drive, re assembled it and works fine, thanks for the upload really helped I liked and subbed
highly recommended video,
it's helped me to open, check and fix my laptop few times !!
Thank you so much for this video. All details were very important for me to replace the hard drive on this notebook model. Thanks again! Regards
i have same computer and about to replace my hard drive this video was big help ty! :) is it possiblr to install an led keyboard in this model???
agree... despite that they say there is an ATI RMHD5650, that gpu is still embedded to the Motherboard when i open it up. I was really looking forward for a changable gpu like what they did to Alienware.
Thanks for the video dude! It will help me to do my laptop. And now I regret buying this model but it was awesome anyways.
Nice I was just tryin' 2 figure out how 2 find the hard drive. Good video, makes it much easier when I'm gonna switch. Much harder than I thought but now I will be able 2 try at least.
A tip tho, why not use a magnetic screwdriver, then u will be able 2 have control over all screws without having 2 flip it over, every sec ;)
I have a 5110 which is slightly different. Hopefully not too much. Want to replace the stock 500gb drive with a SSD. No speed issues just critical info I can afford to lose. Great vid btw
yup, what a mission, and the worst thing is you have to 1/2 reassemble it to see if your new HD works ....Be very careful with the little ribbon connectors under the keyboard , it took me 1/2 hr to get on back on, but I haven't seen all this video ... hopefully there is an easy way ...
Does Dell still do this kind of thing with their newer laptops, because if they do, I will go with HP.
Great instructions---worked like a charm. Thanks a lot for this
good video! but what is the size of hard drive? is it 2.5" or 3.5"
Amazing just fixed NY computer thanks for the service
can you use the windows code under the laptop? or do i have to buy windows home?
Thanks for uploading this, its very helpful for me. Thank You Very Much.
This one is mine. It overheats like CRAZY; right now it's burning my leg. I have to baby it and take breaks otherwise it goes into meltdown mode.
At N5110 model is not the same!
On that model u must take out the motherboard , the hard drive is on the back of the motherboard!
I have a N5010 and, don't know why, it is EXACTLY the same of yours EXCEPT that I don't have that hole to remove the screw that keeps the keyboard in place. Currently I'm stuck with the keyboard that cannot be removed even if I got rid of all the screws I can see :(
Anyone can help me please?
Thanks for for sharing this video... 😊
Can you use the recovery disc for the installation of Windows on the new SSD?
Alienwares are usually specially made for gaming, so it usually has a dedicated GPU, unfortunately you have to look for an inspiron with a dedicated gpu before you buy it, as most of them are in-built into the mobo.
Thanks for this video. Really helpful.
Thanks man! You make my day!
Mine too!!! The guy really understands how to do it!! Great video. I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!
Thanks for the video, I appreciate your effort :)
thank u, is very helpful, i dont know how u did it with ur finger it cut to of mine deeply. do u know where i can find assmblying map one of the smaller part fell out i dont know where it goes?
Thank you very very much. It is very very helpful. I really appreciate it. God bless you!!
Thanks for the walkthrough :-) You should get your self a magnetic screw driver.
Non of my screw drivers work for the tiny 5 black screws in the battery compartment, Anybody know what screw driver I need?
First; thanks.
Second; can you only put one 2.5" unit on this laptop? I cant get 1 ssd and 1 hdd of 2.5"?
Third; can i install windows 10? Its compatible with this laptop?
Mazatzin Keej yes. You can install win 10 in this laptop. I have the same one & its working.
Thank you for the video. It's helped me alot.
Why would DELL design their laptops like that? Like seriously, the most frequent upgrades are related to RAM and harddrives and they should have built back doors to these parts. This is an epic fail in my opinion and I will not buy DELL anymore. Never.
There's this handy door on the back for RAM upgrades, but you have to disassemble practically the whole thing just to get to the hard drive. Just use logic next time, Dell.
That's so no one can easily steal all you information by removing the hard drive. However, I agree that there are probably easier ways you can protect this and still give access. The current bad design reminds me of trying to change the oil on the newer cars. You have to undo about 8 bolts to remove the cover, only to access the oil plug.
Yeh buddy
This laptop's design is a mess, especially the hinges. When the left hinge broke, I took the laptop apart, and my jaw hit the floor. The hinges are fastened with a pair of tiny screws screwed into thin plastic tubes protruding from the back cover. Those tubes have to resist the massive force you apply when opening your laptop. I was hardly the best student in my day, but my strength of materials teachers would fail you if you tried to design something like that. Tiny plastic things can only be used if you need to hold an element in place to which virtually no force will be applied. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the flaw in this design. They could have made a test model, and it would have been obvious that, when you open your laptop, you are basically trying to pull those small screws out of the holes, which are nothing but tiny tubes with thin walls made of fragile plastic. It's a no-brainer, but not for Dell engineers, apparently. Normal laptop designers install thick rod-like elements and make hinges rotate around them when you open your laptop.
Thank 4 the video , awesome job
Very helpful. Thank you!
Why's he so AGRESSIVE
TNX,
That was faster than I imagine!!!
i have N5110 what ssd or type i can install on my laptop ?
sorry if the question is too stupid
Done! Too easy! Thanks!!
tengo un problema en la bios no lo reconoce, lo probe en otra pc y otra laptop y funciona, cual puede ser el problema?
Thanks great video
Excuse me sir, I have a question. For example I have a 512gb HDD, can I only upgrade to 128gb SSD? Crucial said it's compatible but the files I have is more than 128gb.
Same here, I thought it was because of my AMD Phenom CPU mine has, but after finding out it used less power and produced less heat that the Core i3, i5 and i7 in the same design, I stopped complaining about the CPU, but the heat is still FUCKING ridiculous!
I do not see the screw that releases the keyboard can you help
is that ssd 2.5 or 3.5inch plus sata2.0 or 3.0?Can someone reply please?
@Ryan199403 i only have one in there probably because its the i3 but its seated correctly. the motherboard just shorted out completely today and i cant help to think they use a bad coolent paste that melted onto the motherboard causing the short.
my laptop wont boot up its just a black screen and beeps 3 times so i wanted to make sure everything was in place. and there is no screw holding in my cd drive. its still under warranty i only had it for a month but after seeing that i would rather get the money back for system that wont fail so soon im on a 2 year old dv4 that has seen all kinds of hell and works fine to this day
This doesn't work for the N5110, only the N5010. In the N5110 you have to remove the whole mother board -- and the screen --, because the hard drive is attached on the underside. It's really annoying.
Thanks for this Video :-)
Replacing a hard disk is such a pain - I am not going to buy a Dell laptop again before I make sure whether or not the HDD is easily accessible.
Thanks Bro, its a great video
any 2.5" SSD should work, I'm actually buying a Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB SSD tommorow, i'll let you know as soon as i install it :)
Amjad Ismael update?
my 15R's HD just got corrupted but im scared of buying the wrong HD type, could someone tell which one i need to buy please, thank u
I have same problem with my n5010, but xonsidering he used an ssd it is a 2.5 inch SATA.
i have disasambled the laptop and maybe i have broke the touchpad cable. i bought a new one, but it's still not working. may it be the windows? does it want a new install?
try to reinstall the drivers. also try to check if the FN (orange key near the left control) + F3 works for you (this enables and disables the pad) also check if one of these kets is not permanently pressed
solved it with a new cable. thanks for the help anyway :)
+Paul K you have windows ? you just gotta throw that laptop off your windows
I'd rather not. the old bastard is still workin' like a charm :D
is SATA III?
sata 2 or sata 3
thank u, it was helpful ;)
Thank you.
Thanks a lot
Kinda regret not adding a cd drive caddy that can take another hdd/ssd at 1:01.
u have ATI gpu ?
great
Super THX
this doesn't work for the N5110. You have to remove the whole motherboard as the hard drive is attached directly onto it.
Too bad we couldn't see the hardest part of the disassembly of removing the keyboard teeth from the plastic rim.
RIP my Dell, probably will be my last Dell laptop. I dont get it why they couldnt place hd in a door just like ram.
And coming back again, with my HD changed :)
is it working good ?
@@nova9157 I sold it in 2015. Since then, it took more falls than a notebook can handle and "passed away", sadly :(
@@JonathanLazaro1 woah glad u replied to comment which u made 7 yrs ago
@@nova9157 Well, thanks to YT e-mails! I probably wouldn't see them otherwise 🤣️
Thanks for the video on this ridiculous design.
I have no keyboard screw can someone help me remove the keyboard
umad bro?
Do what I did: buy external HDD. It's super useful.
yeah the inspiron's design fails on the hard drive part :(
never mind, problem solved. In my notebook there is no screw fixing the keyboard, just some 2-side sailing tape keeping it glued to the silver-coloured base. You just have to pull it, but you risk to break the keyboard :/
I have the same issue where can this tape be found
it is a very poor design not allowing a easy pull out hd. i would all so take a look at the cpu thermal paste as on my model the stock heat paste was all over the cpu and 252gt(gpu) this allow heat build up which is what you don't want. plus my uk model is IDE hd and is right on the motherboard which means i have to take out the mob which i really hate tbh. model inspiron N5110.
Watching in my N5110 before change it's hard drive...
Hello did it make much difference I know SSD are fast but i was wondering was it really worth your while
You never want to use magnetic tools on computer components.
gezz why wont my memory cover comes off that easily
@Ryan199403 it was happened to me as well ..
few days ago i opened my laptop and then put it back but it was showing only 2 gb ram , instead of 4 gb ram .. :P
My hard drive failed after taking it out. Didn't even handle it badly :3
No dilly dallying with dell ever again.
the 15r is the hardest thing to take apart. ARGHHH