How do I replace the hard drive in an Acer TravelMate 512T?

December 9, 2012 11:03 AM

How do I replace the hard drive in an Acer TravelMate 512T?

I have an old laptop. Still works fine, except for the hard drive. It's an Acer TravelMate 512T - It has access doors for the RAM and to replace the modem card... I've tried removing pretty much all the screws from the bottom of it and the top and bottom seem to kind of start separating but they don't come apart easy and I don't want to force it. I've been looking for a service manual or take apart guide, but can't find one. Help me replace the hard drive!

posted by signsofrain to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: According to FixYa the HDD is located under the keyboard. So you'll need to remove the keyboard to get at it.

I'm not familiar with the Acer TravelMate 512T, but hiding hard drive access under keyboards used to be fairly common in laptop design. So it's worth trying.
posted by zinon at 11:19 AM on December 9, 2012

Best answer: The hard drive is under the keyboard.
From Fixya (not the best source, but looks right in this case. )

From
- open your screen to max. fold (angle of 180 degrees)

- look for removable plastic part near to left holder of screen
- carefully remove it
- also remove plastic panel right to it in the section between display holders
metal should be visible now
- carefully! remove keyboard, starting at the left side, continuing topside
as you won't be able to fully remove it, simply turn it over
- unscrew any screws holding the metal plate, remove it
- now you see: left the CPU plus cooler, top right middle the hd still in an adapter attached
to the motherboard, at it's lower right the C-MOS battery (g
- turn loos these screws
- carefully remove the frame/adapter holding the hd
- unscrew again the adapter
- separate hd from adapter

posted by mhp at 11:21 AM on December 9, 2012