Specs say notebook can only read 30gb hard drive, can I use a 40gb hard drive?

AnthonyStargate · 07-24-2008, 06:55 AM

Good Day,

Ah, another challenging puzzle. I'm piecing a Gateway Solo 2500 notebook together. I used two screens to make one good screen. (One had frozen hinges, the other screen was cracked.)

It will boot up and run just fine with the modest 2 gigabyte hard drive running Windows XP. The specifications say this notebook can handle at most a 30 gigabyte hard drive. So I'm wondering, if I install a 40 or 80 gigabyte hard drive, what happens? Will the computer only see 30 gigabytes or will it be overwhelmed with all the space and just not work?

With the memory it can see at most 224 megabytes. Ahh, doesn't that just take you back? I tried installing a 256 megabyte and a 128 megabyte stick in every possible configuration. No matter how I flipped them around, the computer would only recognize 128 megabytes in the left slot, 64 megabytes in the right slot, and 32 megabytes on the motherboard. So even though I put in more memory than the notebook was designed for, it recognized the maximum it could handle and it did work okay. I'm wondering if the same will be true with a hard drive.

Or could I buy an 80 gigabyte hard drive and partition it into 30 gigabytes, 30 gigabytes and 20 gigabytes?

Thank you much for your assistance and ideas. Have a splendid day with a splash of humor, Anthony

Never have more children than you have car windows. -- Erma Bombeck

**TriggerFinger** · 07-24-2008, 10:29 AM

As for the RAM, it happened to me with Corsair (512MB but shows only 256MB), I replaced with Patriot and everything worked as it should.

As for the HDD, i believe it can recognize up to 80GB or more. It really depends on the BIOS level. Check with Gateway on this BIOS information.

07-24-2008, 06:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
AnthonyStargate Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Posts: 35 OS: Windows XP service pack 2	Specs say notebook can only read 30gb hard drive, can I use a 40gb hard drive? Good Day, Ah, another challenging puzzle. I'm piecing a Gateway Solo 2500 notebook together. I used two screens to make one good screen. (One had frozen hinges, the other screen was cracked.) It will boot up and run just fine with the modest 2 gigabyte hard drive running Windows XP. The specifications say this notebook can handle at most a 30 gigabyte hard drive. So I'm wondering, if I install a 40 or 80 gigabyte hard drive, what happens? Will the computer only see 30 gigabytes or will it be overwhelmed with all the space and just not work? With the memory it can see at most 224 megabytes. Ahh, doesn't that just take you back? I tried installing a 256 megabyte and a 128 megabyte stick in every possible configuration. No matter how I flipped them around, the computer would only recognize 128 megabytes in the left slot, 64 megabytes in the right slot, and 32 megabytes on the motherboard. So even though I put in more memory than the notebook was designed for, it recognized the maximum it could handle and it did work okay. I'm wondering if the same will be true with a hard drive. Or could I buy an 80 gigabyte hard drive and partition it into 30 gigabytes, 30 gigabytes and 20 gigabytes? Thank you much for your assistance and ideas. Have a splendid day with a splash of humor, Anthony Never have more children than you have car windows. -- Erma Bombeck

07-24-2008, 10:29 AM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: LV, NV, USA Posts: 4,537 OS: DOS 6.0	Re: Specs say notebook can only read 30gb hard drive, can I use a 40gb hard drive? As for the RAM, it happened to me with Corsair (512MB but shows only 256MB), I replaced with Patriot and everything worked as it should. As for the HDD, i believe it can recognize up to 80GB or more. It really depends on the BIOS level. Check with Gateway on this BIOS information. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD list - ImgBurn - HDD Diagnostic Tools - Everest Mark the THREAD as SOLVED