IBM ThinkPad Hard Drive Replacement with 3 Steps

Why Replace Hard Drive for IBM ThinkPad?

ThinkPad series laptops were originally IBM products until Lenovo acquired the brand and division in early 2005. As we all known, hard drive as the main storage device plays an important role in computer and laptops. With the usage of the laptop, maybe you would like to upgrade IBM ThinkPad hard drive for some personal demands.

Here are the reasons you can upgrade hard drive for IBM ThinkPad:

• Your hard drive is almost full, which contains a lot of important files and documents.

• OS migration to a larger hard drive or SSD drive. You may get more free space, rapid speed of reading and writing and shorter boot time.

• The hard drive on IBM ThinkPad is going to break.

Backup Data Before Removal

Before IBM ThinkPad hard drive replacement, the first emergent thing is backup IBM ThinkPad hard drive in case of data loss, after your replacement, you can restore data to new larger hard drive or SSD. Besides, you have to create bootable media in advance.

How to backup hard drive? Windows built-in backup program will help you. But today we are going to describe how to upgrade IBM ThinkPad to external hard drive with AOMEI Backupper Professional. You can backup easily without any technical skills. Here it is:

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Step 1: Connect the external hard drive with your IBM ThinkPad. Download AOMEI Backupper Professional 30 day free trial, install and run this installer. To do IBM Thinkpad hard drive replacement, select “Backup”>“Disk Backup” in turn on the main window.

Step 2: Type a proper name to “Task Name” box, and select the original hard drive (HDD) in IBM ThinkPad as source disk.

Step 3: Choose the external hard drive like a larger HDD or SSD to save the image file from IBM Thinkpad.

Step 4: Press “Start Backup” to image IBM Thinkpad hard drive.

★Tips:
✍Options: It enables you to comment, encrypt, split, compress the backup image, enable email or SMS notification, etc.
✍To automatically backup data to another, please click Schedule > General, choose Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event Triggers, USB plug in to automatic backup.
✍Scheme: It allows you to delete old backup images automatically while the backups exceeds the number you specified to retain.

Once the backup is done, you could upgrade IBM ThinkPad hard drive at once. Or you could try to clone IBM ThinkPad hard drive to larger one to upgrade.

IBM ThinkPad Hard Drive Replacement

For your IBM ThinkPad hard drive replacement, you have to remove hard drive from IBM ThinkPad first. Here is how:

1. Shut down ThinkPad and unplug the battery.

2. Locate the hard drive bay on your IBM ThinkPad, remove the screw on the cover with a screwdriver.

3. Use your fingers to push the hard drive cover to detach it from the device. Use a Phillips screwdriver to unscrew the screw on the mounting bracket.

4. Take out the hard drive.

After IBM ThinkPad hard drive removal, to reassemble your IBM ThinkPad, insert the new larger hard drive or SSD drive to the IBM Thinkpad hard drive slot, then follow these instructions in reverse order.

Restore to Larger HDD or SSD Drive

1. Connect external hard drive that has the image file with your computer. Turn on your computer, and boot from the bootable media created by AOMEI Backupper Pro. In WinPE environment, run AOMEI Backupper Professional.

2. On the main window, find the disk backup task and press “Restore”.

3. Follow the prompts to restore.

Final Words

Although IBM ThinkPad hard drive upgrade is quite simple, you have to be careful to do these operations and do enough preparation works before replacement. In addition, AOMEI Backupper Professional provides command line utility that takes up less resources for those who want to use it, system clone, disk clone, merge backup images and file sync, etc. Or you can try the free edition to enjoy the basic functions for you.