HDD or SSD Drive Removing from Dell Laptop - terse instructions for typical models
We display here four different designs designs used for Dell laptops chassis, categorized by hard drive locations. These factors may help you to estimate the technical difficulty (or opposite - easiness) of drive extraction task.
1. HDD is under top frame as in Dell Amado Laptops
Dell Amado XPS L502X has a WD Blue hard drive (750Gb or else) located at the top in front left corner as shown on the picture below. Upper panel (framing the keyboard) must be removed to access the hard drive, but keyboard removing is not required to remove the drive.
2. HDD is under keyboard as in Dell Inspiron N5010
The top cover together with keyboard has to be removed before you can see the hard drive.
This keyboard is glued on to the frame with 3 double sided tapes and there is one screw at the bottom holding it. After the screw is taken take out, you must literally part the keyboard from the case with quite some force to rip it from the glue. Be careful not to damage the keyboard and the keys. Use tools and use care.
3. HDD is under bottom cover as in Dell Inspiron 11 3000 Series (i.e. 3162)
The bottom cover has to be removed to get access to the hard drive. Remove all screws from the bottom of laptop and carefully spry the plastic cover with any sharp-blade tool as shown on the picture below.
4. HDD is located in specially designed drive dock as in Dell Precision 15 7000 series (7510)
In given example (for Inspiron 15R) the hard drive is located in the dock for easy access to hard drive. All you need is to slide the release latch to unlock the battery cover (Pic.1), then slide and lift the cover to remove it. One more time slide the same latch to next-further position to unlock the battery and lift the battery from the computer. Now you can remove the screws that secure the hard drive, lift the HDD-latch to the unlock position, then slide and lift the hard drive as shown on Pic.2 below.
Similar access to the drive implemented in many other Dell laptops, for example in Dell Inspiron 15R (5520 – 7520 models).
