How to replace a hard drive on Vaio G?
 

I have a Sony Vaio G. When it came out, I bought it with one of the first SSD's on the market - 32GB. It was well worth the money. However, now that larger drives are on the market, I'm thinking of getting a new drive.

However, I have to figure out how to access the hard drive. There's no hatch on the bottom other than for memory. So I suspect that the drive is underneath the keyboard, and I'll have to remove many screws.

Does anybody have any tips for me? Thanks in advance!

With the exact model number, ie, VGN-G118GN, you could search for "replace hard drive <model number>" or "<model number> service manual".

-David

Special feature of many Vaios to deter user-servicable changes. You have to take the laptop apart, almost completely, to get to the drive. This means undoing about 20 screws, many of which are hidden so not easy to find, removing the keyboard and screen as well as the top cover and bezel. Takes 15 min if you are skilled and know how to do it, hence the rather high labour cost of replacing hard drives in these laptops. Next time buy Lenovo or Dell, etc which allow easy hard drive replacement, in a few seconds. I've done it once for a friend, and will never do it again, it is a hellish job on the Sony.

seriously, it depends on the model. Isn't it ridiculous to pan the entire company because of that?

Every Sony laptop I've owned has been easily serviceable including both I have now.

-David

I won't disparage the entire Sony lineup, but it was certainly extremely painful to replace the hard drive in my Sony laptop (and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that it was to deter self-servicing).

To the OP, I had to look for instructions online. Sony offered no documentation how to do this; probably because 50% of people would break something while doing it.

Again, it depends on the model. I've seen IBM Thinkpads that required keyboard removal to swap out the hard drive. I worked on a standards committee with an IBM guy that showed me how he would swap out his drive so his group could share a single laptop.

I'm about to swap the drive in a Sony FW. It has a panel on the bottom to expose the hard drive, just three screws, then 2 screws for the drive header once its removed. Pictorial instructions (pdf) are on Sony's web site for the FW. But that is not the "G".

-David

Maybe my search-fu is weak, but the only thing I could find was a link to getmanual.com, a pay site. My model is a VGN-G1ABNS. Thanks for all your help!

I'm not seeing much either.

-David

Sony doesn't release the service manuals -- unlike HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, etc. -- because they want this to be a paid-for service item, it is part of their revenue model. Something to consider when buying a laptop. It is possible to do without a manual, but not for the faint of heart, some of the tabs require pressure enough to break them if you do it wrong. I managed to get it done with no damage, but wouldn't want to try it again.

Yes, they do, we just can't find it or it's not there for the "G" models, which do not have user replaceable drives.

For example ...

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/mod...?mdl=VGNFW130N

-David

I'm rather fond of my notebook still, so I'm going to hold off on taking it apart and possibly breaking it. I've still got adequate room on the hard drive (thanks to a SDHC flash card). Thanks for your help though!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're simply searching for the wrong terms.

According to the searches I just did, VGN-G1ABNS is the model number of the BATTERY, not the notebook.

Did you get this laptop from Japan? Just downloaded the manual (in Japanese) http://dlv.update.sony.net/pub/vaio/...3095915011.pdf
pretty much the only thing you can remove without taking the thing apart is replacing the memory module. On their accessory page, they pretty much say they don't support user replacement of the internal hard disk and only recommend USB/NAS drive.

But being an engineer, I will take this thing apart just to figure out what in the world those Sony engineers were thinking :D

May I ask where you got this information? When I have called Sony in the past to ask about paying for a hard drive upgrade, I was told they do not offer this service.

Yes, I purchased it through Dynamism, who imported the laptop from Japan and installed an English Keyboard and OS. It came with a hardcopy of the manual in Japanese, and I reached the same conclusion you did - replacing the memory module is about the only thing you can do (easily, that is).

I'm pretty sure I can take it apart. Putting it back together is another thing :D And considering I'm traveling weekly at this point, any downtime will hurt.

This is one thing I learn over the year on tearing down stuff. Take tons of pictures during the disassembling process. So I can go back and see how to put the thing back together.

Most of the Sony's I've dealt with take a fair amount of effort to get to the drive. A lot of times it seems like what you have to do is get the palmrest area off, which typically takes removing the keyboard (generally pretty easy), and figuring out from there what screws you need to remove to get the palmrest off. Sony also likes to use stickers and labels to seal cables together, which can make pulling a hard drive a little more entertaining.

Could be worse, if it was a Z series, I don't know that I'd recommend trying to replace the drive :). It's a fair amount of dissembly to get to the drive on one of those, and they're a pain to get back together. (I watched an onsite tech fail to put one back together once, and quite frankly, after watching it be taken apart, I wasn't convinced it was going back together anyways.) The Z series makes replacing a drive in an imac look easy.

Well, if it helps anyone who wants to try, these are the useful, step-by-step instructions I used when replacing the hard drive on my own Sony laptop:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/D...d-Drive/2254/1

There are lots of screws that you need to uncover through 2 or 3 stages of disassembly, and you have to detach the keyboard which is attached via a very short and flimsy cable. It sounds like some of these other Sony models involve similar headaches, but may have the same disassembly process.

Replacing the hard drive in my Dell and HP laptops involved removing 1 screw.

I think this will help too. Not sure if it's the right one, but give it a shot.

http://laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=43

Alternatively, a USB stick/drive will be your best "I don't want to open it" alternative. 128GB USB sticks are out there.

HTSC