I decided to write this post because I wanted to save someone the grief and time when trying to change the hard drive and memory on the Lenovo Z410. I read the instructions provided by Lenovo on how to do it but there was one big obstacle that I had to overcome which wasn’t mentioned in the instructions.
For those thinking about buying the Z410, note that it is not simple to change the hard drive and memory. Unlike most laptops, the Z410 does not have compartments that you can unscrew and replace individuals parts like the hard drive and memory. If you look underneath the Z410, there are no compartments. It is just one plastic cover. What you have to do is remove several screws (16 screws to be exact) before removing the bottom cover so that you can gain access to the hard drive and memory.
But I think once you done it once, it would be easy to it again.
So here we go…
If you don’t have one, get the instructions at http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/lenovo_z410z510z510touch_hmm.pdf.
Keep track of the screws. There are 16 screws and they are not the same size. Make sure you can screw in the right screws when you put the laptop back together.
When removing the keyboard, you actually don’t need to remove the keyboard ribbon. You could if you want to. If you want to, for those not familiar with the ribbon fastener, you have to unlock the fastener which is depicted in number 4 on page 35. The fastener rotates. It is like a lever. It does not come off. The page should have shown that you rotate number 4 counter-clockwise in order to unlock the fastener. Then you can pull number 5.
When removing the optical drive, don’t stick a screwdriver completely through the screw hole and try to move the optical tray out. You just need to move the top part out.
When removing the screws underneath the keyboard, the screw next to the CPU fan might be covered by a sticky label. I had to remove the label in order to get to the screw.
When removing the rubber feet, get a mini flat head screw driver and stick it between the rubber and plastic cover and lift the rubber out.
Now for the base cover. (The base cover is actually the bottom cover.) This was the frustrating part for me. Based on the instructions, you might think that the cover just lifts up with little effort after removing all the screws. Well, not so. The cover and the laptop are fastened together by I think plastic fasteners. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S III, it is similar to the fasteners holding the back cover to the phone. It is screwless and you have to pry the cover off from the phone in order to get to the battery and SIM card. The laptop is like that. After you remove all screws, you have to pry the base cover off the laptop. Don’t rip it out. Carefully pry the cover off.
Now you gained access to the hard drive and memory. The instructions suggest you remove the battery. Actually, you don’t have to remove the battery. You just need to remove the battery plug.
Now for the hard drive. Now my version of the Z410 does not match the picture on the instructions. According to the instructions, you should be able to push the hard drive away from the hard drive connector and lift the hard drive up. On my Z410, there is a black piece of plastic behind the hard drive blocking the hard drive from being pushed back. What I did was to lift the back end of the hard drive just high enough so that the hard drive can clear. Once the back end of the hard drive is barely above the piece of plastic, then I pushed the hard drive away from the connector. Be careful not to break the connecter off.
Once you gain access to the memory, replacing memory is not so complicated. It just like replacing any ordinary laptop memory.
That’s it. Now you should be able to replace the hard drive and memory on the Lenovo Z410.