I've taken apart more Dell laptops that I can count, and all I can say (this is true for all laptop dismantling) is that you need to keep careful track of all the screws by the order which they were taken out, and their size, otherwise you're going to likely be left with some leftover, which is not a good thing.

Fortunately, we won't need to put it back together after I take the drive out, so this part, at least, I'm not worried about.

there is usually a slot-out hard drive. You just need to find where it is, and it's usually one screw that allows the drive to just slide out.

Oh, good to know.

I'd grab the documentation online, Jessica (PDF). Removal of hard drives is a fairly standard procedure, and may be possible without tools at all.

And, really, if you do need tools, at least you don't have to worry about counting screws, since it's not going back together.

No, I think with all of the Dell laptop lines the hard drive slot was screwed in. That said, I don't think you'll need *special* tools. But I'd still be careful for not stripping the small screw with a bigger screwdriver.

I have several screwdrivers of varying sizes, and looking at the "Removing The Hard Drive" PDF, it should take about three minutes to pop it out and into an external enclosure. Cool beans.

2.5" is the correct size for a laptop hard drive enclosure, yes?

Is there anything specific I should know about laptops in general, or Dell laptops in particular?

It's pretty easy. With the Dell Inspiron, it looks like you'll need to unscrew the hard drive cover, then the hard drive screws, and after that you should be able to yank it out by the pull tab.

This woman is so cool:

There is a story behind every electronic gadget sold on the QVC shopping channel. This one leads to a ramshackle farmhouse in rural Oregon, which is the home and circuit design lab of Jeri Ellsworth, a 30-year-old high school dropout and self-taught computer chip designer.

Ms. Ellsworth has squeezed the entire circuitry of a two-decade-old Commodore 64 home computer onto a single chip, which she has tucked neatly into a joystick that connects by a cable to a TV set. Called the Commodore 64 - the same as the computer system - her device can run 30 video games, mostly sports, racing and puzzles games from the early 1980's, all without the hassle of changing game cartridges.

She has also included five hidden games and other features - not found on the original Commodore computer - that only a fellow hobbyist would be likely to appreciate. For instance, someone who wanted to turn the device into an improved version of the original machine could modify it to add a keyboard, monitor and disk drive.

...

Two years ago she showed it off at the Hackers' Conference, an annual meeting of some of the nation's best computer designers. To her surprise, she received a rousing ovation - and a series of job offers.

One person who took notice was Andrew Singer, a computer scientist who is chief executive of Rapport Inc., a start-up based in Mountain View, Calif.

Mr. Singer contracted with Ms. Ellsworth as a consultant and has since found that she has abilities that engineers with advanced degrees often do not.

"It's possible to get a credential and not have passion," he said. He compared Ms. Ellsworth to Mr. Wozniak and to Burrell Smith, the hardware designer of the original Macintosh. Neither had formal training when they made their most significant contributions at Apple.

[link]

cost analysis of vista

[link]

the excutive summary was telling

the excutive summary was telling

Oh yeah. That phrase found its way all over the tech blogs last week...

Anyway, is this the future of HD video DRM? I so hope not.

Also, I'm pretty sure that XP (perhaps running as a virtual machine on a Mac) will fulfill my home Windows needs for the next ten years or so, so hopefully I can avoid all this Vista HD DRM crap until the their whole approach crashes and burns....

Someone's comment in Natter reminded me that I wanted to ask: has anyone here used those disposable digital cameras? How is the picture quality? Complete crap, or okay for a disposable camera?

has anyone here used those disposable digital cameras? How is the picture quality? Complete crap, or okay for a disposable camera?

The one I used was pretty crappy, the pictures took forever to be delivered. And they try to make you think you have to buy their editing software to be able to edit the photos. I'll see if I can find the brand so at least you know what not to try.