I need a spare part for my RM CY25 14.1 laptop. I need the small piece of plastic (interface, caddy or whatever it is called) that connects the hard drive to the laptop. can you help?

External hard drives contain a power supply to operate a standard hard drive in a case. It usually connects to a USB port. Usb drives get their power from the wire that connects it to the USB port A regular internal hard drive gets it's power from the computer's power supply wiring. The data cable is either a flat ribbon cable or a 6 pin cable that connects directly to the mother board.

Simple fix. Just remove the power cord, remove the battery, then remove the screws from the cover that houses the hard drive on the bottom of the laptop. Most times the cover will have the icon of 3 or 4 circular discs on it to represent the hard drive. Once you have the cover removed, there might be screws that hold the caddy inside the bay, if so remove them then you can lift the drive and caddy out of the bay. The drive might be inside of a caddy with screws holding it to the caddy. Remove the screws from the caddy and then you can remove the drive.

Notice what type of interface (IDE or SATA) your drive is and replace it with the same type of interface drive. IDE Drives have about 20 or so metal pins or prongs that stick out. SATA drives have two small plastic looking pieces that connect it to the interface inside the bay.

Simple fix. Just remove the power cord, remove the battery, then remove the screws from the cover that houses the hard drive on the bottom of the laptop. Most times the cover will have the icon of 3 or 4 circular discs on it to represent the hard drive. Once you have the cover removed, there might be screws that hold the caddy inside the bay, if so remove them then you can lift the drive and caddy out of the bay. The drive might be inside of a caddy with screws holding it to the caddy. Remove the screws from the caddy and then you can remove the drive.

Notice what type of interface (IDE or SATA) your drive is and replace it with the same type of interface drive. IDE Drives have about 20 or so metal pins or prongs that stick out. SATA drives have two small plastic looking pieces that connect it to the interface inside the bay.

First you have to make sure you bought the right kind of hard drive (IDE or SATA) to make the installation and connection easier. IDE drives have a set of prongs or pins that stick out. SATA is the later type and does not have prongs or pins sticking out. You just turn the laptop over and remove the cover where the hard drive will be housed. Usually it will have an icon of 3 circular discs on it. Most laptops will also require a Caddy that the drive sits in before it goes into the laptop. And some might require a interface.

I suggest you look on ebay and see if your computer's make and model requires a hard drive caddy or interface.

http://www.ebay.com

In the search box just type your computer's make and model followed by hard drive caddy. Example: Dell Latitude D610 Hard Drive Caddy

In the search box type this is see if it requires an interface: Example: Dell Latitude D610 Hard Drive Interface

I found this online, so hopefully it helps. It's to a page selling a second hard drive caddy for the 3623WXCi, but at the bottom is has directions on replacing the hard drive for that model as well.

http://www.batterystyle.com/acer-aspire-3623wxci-caddy-p-413622.html

Flip the laptop over and slide the 2 tabs that are near the carry handle to the unlocked position. This will allow the metal cover on the underside of the laptop to hinge up and be removed.

With the laptop upside down and the carry handle facing you, you should see the battery on the left of the laptop. On the right, there is a silver case about 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. This is the hard drive caddy.

To remove /this/ part, carefully push the connecting cable towards the battery until it smoothly disconnects from the hard drive caddy. Remove the caddy from the laptop. Using a small phillips screwdriver, remove the 3 small screws which hold the top of the caddy on. Remove the top, and you will see the hard drive.

As a note - be sure you do not remove the gel lining. This is 99.9% of the hard drive's shock protection. When you remove the hard drive, the cable should come out of the caddy as well. Put the new cable on a new hard drive (HDD must be smaller than 65,536MB), put the new hard drive into the caddy with cable attached, make sure the cable assembly is fitted into the caddy slot, replace the caddy cover, replace the screws, replace the caddy into the laptop. Then, make sure you connect the cable from the laptop PC board to the caddy cable assembly. Replace cover, turn on computer, and set up your Operating System (if needed).

Detach the machine from the power supply.
Turn the Acer Aspire 1360 over. Remove the battery.
The hard disk caddy can be seen centrally located from the battery bay (it is shiny metal). There is a piece of clear plastic attached to the back end of the caddy.
This is usually pushed back on itself under the plastic casing.
There are two screws located in the casing around where the HDD is located.
One is deepset and one is much nearer the surface.
Remove the deepset screw and put aside for later.
Get hold of the clear plastic strip attached to the HDD caddy (you may need a small screw driver to 'fish' it out). Gently pull the HDD caddy into the battery bay. It should come out quite easily, but you do need to apply consistent and mild force.

Once you have the caddy out, you will notice that there are two screws holding the HDD in it. Remove them carefully.
Remove the HDD from the caddy.

Putting back together is the reverse of the above.

Figured this out...
1)  Flip laptop over, keep front of laptop closest to you and hinges away from you 2)  Remove cover with cylinder/harddrive icon (2 screws) 3)  Remove small single silver screw near the front (close to you) of the laptop in the center of the metal harddrive caddy (the caddy may hold one or two hard drives) 4)  Pull the plastic tab on the left toward the outside of the laptop... the whole caddy with harddrive(s) inside will shift to the left, disconnecting it from the motherboard and lining up the caddy for removal. 5)  Lift the entire bracket straight up
To remove the primary harddrive (the only one present in my model) you must remove the blue L-shaped circuit board from the caddy. 1)  Flip the caddy over 2)  Remove the three screws with slightly larger head diameters around the perimiter of the caddy 3)  Push/slide/jiggle the circuit board so the sata connectors release from the hard drive(s). 4)  Unscrew the hard drive from the caddy

Those cables are custom made for each manufacturer and model. The only place to get a replacement (other than buy a junker on ebay) is from the manufacturer. The plastic pieces are another matter. They are standard connectors and you can buy them from Digikey or Mouser. Soldering them in place is not for a novice. You need a proper soldering iron, desoldering tool, very fine solder and a lot of patience and skill.

you dont need a caddy if the hard drive can be connected without it.
just put a piece of doubled tape on the front edge as a handle to allow you to remove it easy. if the drive is loose place a small wedge of foam beside or atop it