Notebook Hard Drives

I am not very experienced with the hardware aspect of notebooks and I was wondering if notebook hard drives are universal. For example could I take the hard drive from my Alienware notebook and put it into another company's notebook? Thanx in advance for your answer.

 

I believe most all hard drives will interchange, the caddy [holder for the hard drive] is specific to each model, dont buy a used notebook without the caddy unless you know yours will work or you can find one, kinda useless without the caddy. ed

 

ok thanx

 

Although the HD themselves are generic, there are special requirements in respect of the HD connectors which are specific to manufacturers.

2.5" HD have 44 pins (extra 4 pins for power requirements). Most laptop manufacturers will have a connector that fits over the 44 pins and these are proprietary. I guess its probably because the HD pins are so small and delicate that they can bend/break.

Cheers