E-System EI 3102 HDD Replacement

O'Prez

Hey lads...someone left this laptop over to me LAST YEAR to repair and never came back for it so I'm keeping it and going to install the Windows 7 RC on it. Anyway, the hard drive is b*llixed in it...the old ticking sound is there and it won't boot so I'm replacing the hard drive. I've seen this crowd on Ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.ie/UNIHDD__W0QQ_armrsZ1 who seem to have great prices. Has anyone bought from them before? Also, I want to upgrade the RAM. Crucial don't do RAM for E-System machines so I'm looking at these guys: http://www.aememory.co.uk/asp/eu/categorylist1.asp?id=23889&type=469 Again, reasonable prices...has anyone any experience with buying from them??

Oh and here's the lowdown on the laptop in question: http://support.thetechguys.com/layout.aspx?CatID={6c97e278-2532-4312-8939-a94f4f9f44d4}&ID={ebfd6f40-253e-4b86-9206-e8340e885be8}

Thanx lads

Alanstrainor

Okay, just for starters, RE: the ebay seller, i wouldn't buy off him, he seems to be selling Hard Drives without giving you basic info like what manufacturer they are etc and he gives a "mixed" speed for the drives meaning it's a lucky dip as to whether you get a fast one or a slow one. I definitely wouldn't touch those HD's with a barge poll.
Also, you don't have to buy memory specifically for an E-system machine, i presume it's So-Dimm DDR2? Although it could be DDR if it's old, but anyway, you should just be able to pick up any So-Dimm DDR2 or DDR, Ram and plonk it in.
Now, there probably is a reason no one came back for that e-systems machine....they are a serious heap of crap, really. I doubt the processor is anything useful, and the motherboards on them are supposed to be horribly prone to failing.

EDIT: Just saw the link to the machine in question, so it's DDR2, buy any So-Dimm DDR2 Ram for it. It really is a poor processor so i doubt anything is going to run well on it.
What kind of Hard Drive is it? sATA? pATA etc?

O'Prez

Thanx for the feedback Yeah they are a notoriously sh*te piece of kit alright and that's why I don't want to spend too much on actually making it work again. I'll be using it as a kind of test machine. The hard drive is a Fujitsu 40gb 2.5" sATA.