Home
In the following guide I explain how to remove the hard drive from a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (1010) netbook.
There is no easy access to the hard drive from the bottom of the netbook. The hard drive is mounted inside the case, under the keyboard.
You can use this guide for removing/replacing the keyboard and removing/replacing/upgrading the hard drive.
STEP 1.
Turn off the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.
Remove three screws from the bottom. These screws secure the keyboard.
STEP 2.
Insert a thin object between the top side of the keyboard and laptop case.
Lift up the keyboard and continue removing it with your fingers.
STEP 3.
Lift up the keyboard as it shown on the picture below and flip upside down on the palm rest.
STEP 4.
Under the keyboard you’ll find the hard drive assembly and wireless card.
It’s not necessary to disconnect the keyboard if you are replacing the hard drive or wireless card.
If you would like to replace the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable.
In order to unlock the connector, very carefully move the brown lock about 2 millimeters towards the touch pad.
The lock must stay attached to the connector base.
When the connector unlocked, you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.
Looking for a new keyboard for your Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook? Search here.
STEP 5.
Remove one screw securing the hard drive assembly.
STEP 6.
Slide the hard drive assembly to the left and disconnect it from the motherboard.
STEP 7.
Remove the hard drive assembly.
Now remove four screws securing the hard drive to the caddy and separate the hard drive from the caddy.
In my case I had a regular 160GB 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed. This hard drive can be replaced with a larger 2.5″ SATA hard drive.
November 1st, 2010 at 5:46 pm
charlene,
If I understand correctly, you are trying to boot from an external CD/DVD drive but it’s asking for Drive A?
Can you enter the BIOS setup menu and load default settings. Try again after that.
Can you see the hard drive in the BIOS?
November 1st, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I cannot reinstall WinXp – Mini 10 wants me to “insert disk in Drive A” – which does not exist. What can I do to trick the net book in letting me install Win Xp? Frustrating because it loads on the external CD/DVD rom but wont take further action until this DRIVE A is used. PLease help!!! Thanks.
October 26th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
llerks,
Thank you for the donation. Got it.
October 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
llerks,
I have two different guides for Dell Latitude D620 notebook. Here they are:
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-replace-keyboard-dell-latitude-d620-laptop/
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-replace-lcd-screen-dell-latitude-d620-laptop/
If it’s not enough, check out this official service manual. It has full disassembly instructions.
October 26th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
From one tech to another..my thanks, & gratitude, & donation on the way….worth every penny… saved me a ton of time & headaches….now if I can just figgure out how to split the bottom case on the d620 ???
Bet you have a “how to” on that as well….thanks again Tekkie !!
October 9th, 2010 at 6:08 am
Thank you so much I was totally lost and the Dell website was way confusing. You are the greatest.
October 8th, 2010 at 5:56 am
This is a wonderful step by step guide to installing the hard drive.
Thank you very much it is installed. Only took about 20 minutes.
August 19th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Or take laptop to a local computer shop and pay $$$ to replace the hard drive.
Alternatively, you can use my guide and replace it yourself and pay just for the hard drive.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Dell paying for this advice? Completly counterproductive. If people don’t know how to replace the hard-drive they will buy a new netbook
July 17th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Tamara,
Thanks.