Acer Aspire Laptop 7740-5691-Type of Replacement Hard Drive Needed

The original 320 GB hard drive is failing in my Acer Laptop 7740-5691. It has a Windows 7 OS, Intel i3 quad core, 4 GB ram, 64 bit and is about 6 years old. I have the 3 recovery disks and applications disc that were made when the laptop was new. The recovery disks seem to work and I plan to use them to install the factory default on a new hard drive. Could someone please let me know what type and size hard drive should be used. Does anyone know if I can I use a Seagate hard drive, whatever brand can be used can it be larger than the 320 Gb. Also does the drive rpm have to be the same as the original. I have read on the Acer Community that If the replacement hard drive is blank it has to be formatted for XP and Vista operating systems. Does a new hard drive for Windows7 have to be formatted before use in the laptop. I would very much appreciate any information and comments you all have. Thank you.

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JackE

You should be able to use just about any replacement notebook HD. And your recovery disks should be able to recognize and apply the appropriate formatting if needed. But first, how did you determine that "The recovery disks seem to work"?

Jack E/NJ

oscar1

Actually I used the recovery disk to reinstall the factory default on the original 320 GB drive in the Acer Aspire 7740 laptop. But I do not have any confidence that the laptop will continue to work using the original hard drive. I was having multiple issues before using the recovery disks and felt since the 320 GB hard drive is almost 6 years old I needed replace it. I tried to use a 1 TB Hybrid drive but it would not work with the recovery disks. I would appreciate any help you could provide. Thank you very much.

JackE

>>>I tried to use a 1 TB Hybrid drive but it would not work with the recovery disks.>>>

How did it NOT work?

Jack E/NJ

oscar1

After running the recovery disks on the laptop with 1TB hybrid drive installed got error message, “Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware”. Ask the forum about this message but do not remember the reply from the forum at this time but I should be able to find it if that would help. Thank you for your reply.

JackE

I found Sharanji's suggested solution to your earlier post on the replacement hybrid drive. While you indicated at the time that it solved your problem, I assume the suggested solution didn't work. So I suggest you try Sharangi's solution again but first tap the F2 key repeatedly at the logo screen cold boot to enter the bios menu. You do this so the bios can detect, identify and remember the new type of HDD you now have installed. Make sure the bios identifies the HDD correctly. Then exit and save the bios settings. Then proceed with Sharangi's solution which I've copied below. Good luck and report back with results.

Jack E/NJ

Sharangi's solution---

The Recovery CDs and the System CD will help you to restore the hard drive with the original software content that was installed when you purchased your notebook.

It will install the Operating System, all the pre-installed Software and the drivers of your system.

Power on your computer. When the first logo screen shows, press repeatedly the F12 key to enter the Boot menu. Use the arrow keys to select your optical drive.

Insert the disc labelled System CD in the optical drive and press ENTER. The system will load from the Acer Recovery Media.

After the system recovery program has loaded follow the prompts to reinstall the operating system.

oscar1

Thank you for your reply telling me about the F2 key. Just for your information I did F12 on cold boot and the new 1TB shows up with serial number as IDE 0. To be sure it is saved as the drive I did a cold boot again using F2 and saved changes before exiting BIOS. Will let you know how things proceed. I do really appreciate your input. Oscar1

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