# How to upgrade the hard drive in a HP Mini 210



## eseb1

Ok, this is a guide for all of you who also have a HP Mini 210, and want to upgrade the hard drive. The stock 160GB was way too small for me, so I purchased a 320GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue (5400RPM) and here is my guide.









*Please Note!* Neither Overclock.net nor I are responsible for any damage you may cause to your HP Mini 210. Use common sense.

So first, you need a 2.5 laptop hard drive. I would Suggest getting a 5400RPM drive if you want to maintain long battery life, or a 7200RPM drive of you want better performance.

Next you need to open it. You can watch a YouTube video not created by me(linked at the end of this post) or you can follow my pictures and instructions below.

1. Flip the netbook over, and notice the battery. Slide the two sliders holding the battery to the netbook inwards, and pull the battery off. (Chances you already know how to do this.)









2. Notice 2 orange little things. Push one of the orange buttons inwards, then pull the backplate of the netbook off around that orange button. Do the same for the next button. Then gently pull the whole cover off.
Don't be afraid when pulling, the plastic is very durable, I've taken the cover off about 15 times now with no damage to the plastic.
(Orange buttons circled in red)

















3. See the big black sticker with all the information on it? Under this is the hard drive, you will need to peel the sticker off CAREFULLY from the bottom side up. Don't pull it completely off, just enough to remove the sticker from the case.
Don't attempt to pull the 2 tabs on either side of the hard drive, as they will tear the black sticker, and most likely will void your warranty.
Once you pull the bottom of the sticker off of the netbook, you will be able to simply pull the left side of the hard drive up, and out. Disconnect the SATA and power connector first, then remove the hard drive.

















4. Be careful not to touch the sticky part of the sticker too much, and make sure it does not fold onto itself. The sticker is literally what holds the hard drive inside the netbook.
There are 4 screws on either side of the hard drive enclosure, remove them, and the hard drive will come right out.

















5.
Now you can either A) Install the new hard drive into the mounting bracket, and do a fresh install of your preferred OS. or B) Clone your hard drive. (More info about this later.)

















6. Place the hard drive+hard drive bracket back into the netbook. Note the way the hard drive bracket is put into the netbook. There's two rubber thingies at the end that go into little "pockets" in the netbook. Align the sticker to match the hole for the keyboard screws, then flatten the sticker.

























7. Now it's time to close the netbook up. First, take the panel and align the side opposite from the the battery with the netbook opposite from the battery compartment. (hard to explain, will try with the picture.) Now lower the panel onto the netbook and snap it on, press firmly (but not too hard!) all around the bottom, to snap all of it in place. Don't forget to press in the middle too!









And now you're done! Have fun with the added space of a new hard drive, and/or a faster hard drive.

Notes: I do not know if there is a limit on the amount of gigabytes the hard drive can be, I used a 320GB and it works perfectly.
Cloning your hard drive will work best with Acronis. The trial works perfectly. Sadly I used a different program to clone my hard drives, because the trial period ended, and the clone did not work properly, so I had to reinstall an OS.

YouTube video on how to open the HP Mini 210 (not created by me):











Do not do follow his instructions on how to remove the hard drive! it is wrong and you may void your warranty!

Good luck, any questions, or more in depth instructions, just reply in this thread, send me a message, or email me.


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## AutoItKing

How much did you buy the Scorpio Blue for? I've been looking for one and think you might know where to find one for cheap?
</trolling>

Looks good buddy, keep up the good work! And get some pics up!

Note the way the hard drive bracket is put into the netbook. There's two rubber thingies at the end that go into little "pockets" in the netbook.


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## eseb1

If you want a hard drive that will work 100% with the HP Mini 210, you can get this one, which is the one I used.

And yes, I know I still owe you money Ben, lol.

Pics will be up by this weekend.


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## eseb1

Update:
Hey, I'm sorry guys but I've been feeling really tired lately. I may have the pics up by tonight, but if not, they will be up on Monday.


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## eseb1

Ok, I finally got the pictures posted, lol.

If you need more pictures/info on one of the steps, just ask.


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## eseb1

Updated; added a bit more content/explained more/grammar.


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## chinchila83

Hey saw your post on google and I was wondering if you know what is the "biggest" hard drive you can slap on for the mini 210 series. I have the 1142cl model and I have upgraded pretty much all I can with a 2gb ddr3 stick, HD decoder card, 500gb hd, win 7 ultimate. But I want to put a 1TB hd in it but I honestly don't know if it will fit. Any feedback on this? Thanks for any help or feedback


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## eseb1

As long as it's a 2.5 inch laptop hard drive, it will work.


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## dragon91

hello, is it compatible 4gb or 8gb ram with windows 7 ultimate


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