Solved HDD in laptop CD drive bay

[bobafetthotmail]

Secondly, is the drive I've got in at the moment a good one?

If you see the review I linked above (and also here) the one you have is benchmarked in there as well and is top dog as far as performance goes.

It is a performance HDD (good to have your OS on it, a bit of a waste for bulk data), faster but requires more power and it's only 320 GB (when you can find 1 TB storage-oriented ones).

As for SSDs, I cannot speak for brands, but at around 150£ you can easily find a Crucial m4 or Samsung 830 with 256 GB, not just 128. Then you swap out the current one and place it as storage in the CD bay.

The optimal solution imho would be a SSD (128 GB will be more than enough as vaidas3 says) in the SATA II slot AND a 1 TB hdd in the CD bay.

This one any good?

It is the right kind of device (about quality it's always the toss of a coin), but i'm a bit wary when they say "shipped from USA" like that. EU customs could or could not have issues with it, and may require you to pay them something (at least it's like this for Italy).

 

[Tomtom111]

Yeah I noticed that but the only other one that came with screws was this one:

http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B008V8KN1E

And I thought it may be too cheap.


That layout of drives was my plan as it would be stupid to connect a ssd via IDE.
I will probably go with 128gb, as I may also get a ram upgrade, and 128gb would leave me with plenty of space for other programs, etc.

I ask about brands because I've heard that crucial drives have firmware problems, but they are the cheapest around. Whereas Samsung are a bit more but less problems have been reported.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

hmmm, on second thought... the first you linked says "Compatible with all universal laptops models except DELL HP IBM APPLE MS." Yours is hp right?

The second you linked (the cheaper one) is unclear. The description sucks. See if you can talk to the seller to know more, as "Innoo Tech**" is a seller using amazon as selling platform.

This is on ebay, but says it should fit in HP.

 

[Tomtom111]

The second one does say HP, which is what mine is, under the product description.

"NEW IDE 2nd HDD caddy for 9.5mm ACER BENQ HP DELL ASUS"

I'll look around about more for some, might be a good one somewhere else, but if not I'll come back to either the eBay one or the one I linked.

 

[Tomtom111]

I've just been reading another thread which said that OEM product keys only work on the hardware specified by the OEM when the product key is used. Basically- if I get an ssd, will the w7 install remain genuine, or will it expire because of the hardware change(s)?

 

[Slartybart]

The key is "attached" to the machine hardware. Your license is not. This means that if you change hardware, the key might work, or it might not, it depends the hardware change. I don't know the rules that govern this (monitor ok?, memory-ok?, disk drive-not ok?)

To activate windows in this situation, you just have to click on other activation means and there should be a regional phone number you can call. Tell them what you did (put in a SSD) and give them your existing key. They'll give you a new key if your old one isn't on the violation list.

It's easy.

 

[FuturDreamz]

Traditionally it looks at your motherboard for identity. When you upgrade your SSD you should have no problems, and if you (highly unlikely) do then they will be fixed by a quick phone call to Microsoft.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

All OEM-licenced OSs I reinstalled on a new HDD after a HDD failure didn't make any fuss (both XP and Win 7). The key should be theoretically linked to motherboard, but I had some that didn't made a fuss even when I swapped mobo for a different one.

Besides, if they make it linked to HDD you'd see angry mobs with forks and torches assaulting MS's HQ every few weeks. Hard drive failure is much much much more common than motherboard failure.

 

[Tomtom111]

Just been looking at cd bay caddys, and noticed that the port on the back doesn't look the same as mine. One is the port on the inside of my laptop and the other is the port on the current disc drive.

Is mine actually IDE? It have I miss identify it. It looks like SATA, but is it SATA 1 or 2?

 

[Slartybart]

Hi Tom,

I tried to find inforamtion by searching on the Optical Drive (OP) but it wasn't conclusive. Could update your system specs to include model information? all it says now is HP.

If you look in your favorites, there might be a link directly to your machine's page - please post that in a post here (can't in specs).

Thanks. There should be infor on the drive sticker that can also identify the interface type. Take a scan or camera shot of the sticker and post that as well

Bill
.

 

[Tomtom111]

I've been looking at sata caddys and they all look identical to what mine is, so i think i must have missidentified it.

I'll get a photo later, I've updated the specs an genres a link to the specs page from HP.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...c=en&product=4034132&tmp_track_link=ot_search

 

[Slartybart]

Ya canno tell Sata from Pata just by looking and the connections. You have to identify the interface.

You might damage components if you connect the wrong type, so be certain - read the specs

Thanks for the updates.

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

You're getting very good guidance form everyone else that's posting here. I'm sure they are better to answer your inquiries based on what I've read.

I was reading about your machine and noticed that it has an external eSata port. I'm guessing that you want to maintain portability with the added capacity.

Anyway, I'll let the other folks guide you, but if you think you might want to keep your OD and add external capacity
here's google shopping for sSata 2.5 drives.

and I'm out

Bill
.

 

[Tomtom111]

I can't see where it says SATA or IDE, but in almost 100% sure that it is SATA because IDE connectors look nothing like mine.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

That's definetly a SATA. I mean really, how can one not distinguish SATA from IDE (that changed name in PATA after they made SATA) at first glance?

(I know, these are hdds but it doesn't matter, just look at the connector)

Pat on your own shoulder, you can install good HDDs on that.

To seee if it is SATA II or III (I think it's unlikely it's a SATA I, the laptop is far too new for that) I think you have to use softwares like PC wizard or maybe speccy. The connectors are exactly the same (I, II, III), the difference is in the electronics controlling data movement.


Btw, your CD drive seems to have a non-standard cover. You may have to remove it and place it on the HDD caddy for it to disguise itself the right way. It should be easy as it's just a cover.

 

[Tomtom111]

Ok thanks, the SATA 2/3 thing doesn't matter hugely, as it'll be for my files only not the OS.
The metal casing on is the only cover, just one layer. Obviously there's the front cover which can be removed but other than that it's just bare metal.
I may have misunderstood you if so do tell.

 

[Slartybart]

I knew I was going to catch flak after posting "Ya no can tell..."

Tried to duck with "I'm sure they are better to answer your inquiries based on what I've read."
pulling foot out of mouth now

Bill
.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

A quick googling can be a lifesaver in those situations. Usually you find some page that teaches how to tell A from B.

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks Bob,

My original post was based on researching an enclosure for a 2.5 HD from one of my machines that had died. I wanted to test the drive and save the data if possible. Google advised me to identify the drive interface (Sata / Pata) and match the enclosure to drive, additional warnings included dire consequences if types were mismatched.

Having become more familiar with the two, I should have known those warnings made little sense. I originally posted in haste and then attempted to rectract gracefully from the conversation.

Anyway, I think I get it - Googled returned this when I searched
English | Italian - curtesy of Google translate

Bill
.