Adding a second HD to the G50VT

I'm sure there's a thread about this somewhere, but I can't manage to locate it.

Anyway, I would like to take advantage of the 2nd hard drive bay in my G50VT-X1 (Bestbuy). Has anyone done this? If so, do I need to get some sort of mounting bracket, and will I need to adjust the BIOS in any way? I don't want RAID, just 320 or 500Gb more storage space.

Thanks in advance!

 

Just stick it in there, not sure of the X1 has foam in the bay like the X5 (and one strip on the panel) but if it does there is all the support you need. I know the A1 A2 and all dont have the foam.

Only issue you may eventually run into is there is a bios glitch where the system posts twice and then doesnt see the drive, fix is very simple i will find it when u have the problem okay lol

HDD Bracket isnt avaliable right now but i am going to be trying one here soon from a different model and I will let you all know if it fits or can be made to fit.

 

ClutchX2 - I am anxious, too, to see if you can locate an HDD bracket. Mine has the foam but I just don't feel comfortable trying a drive in it without a bracket... Thanks.

 

This is the last successful report of an order for the bracket from the ASUS eStore. As far as I know it hasn't been in stock online for a very long time, so try calling ASUS.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. Yes, the X1 does have the foam strip, Clutch, but I'm a little concerned about putting a drive in there without something more solid. Seems like it wouldn't be too hard to just cut a piece of aluminum and drill holes...if I can find the right screws.
I will, however, try to contact Asus first--I'm not a big fan of amateur modifications (even if they can't be seen from the outside ;-).

 

What more solid do you want, the drive isnt going to move and the micronic movements it will experience will be less harsh as instead of being forcibly bolted down it is actually padded.

If you remove your primary drive you will notice there is a huge void below it, the second hard drive actually has a circuit board below it, on which the foam is attached. The primary drive actually needs the bracket, the second drive is a different story, seriously take out the first drive and look at the difference of the space they sit in.

Only time the second drive isnt 100% secure is when the bottom panel is off.

Btw have you done anything special with your ram, your bus overclock is insane though i have seen several others, I pulled the ram out of my laptop today and tried it on stick at a time, it says samsung on it btw lol.

 

You could just do like clutch is saying but I would probably call Asus anyway.

 

If he can get on the list that would be cool. I am ordering the bracket for a similar ASUS and trying it out as i said i will let you all know if it fits or if it tweaks easily enough to fit. ASUS put the padding in the best buy models for this purpose and it works very well in my opinion. The bracket is an absolute necessity in Bay 1 however.

 

I presume there's a second HDD bay. If not, can do it with an optical bay caddy (see sig). Would be interesting to have 3x500GB drives in it.. 1.5TB.

 

What you say about the 2nd bay looks right, Clutch. Next time I have it open I think I'll try slipping a 2.5in drive in there and see how it sits.
I did find this bracket in the Asus store http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4410&catid=606 Is it the one you're getting?

My RAM is stock actually. The brand is Hynix--formerly Hundai I believe. It's got 6-6-6-18 timings, and I am somewhat impressed myself by its performance. I've gotten above 3Ghz with a P8400, though it only runs the OS stably at 2.91, and to stay safe I usually keep it around 2.76.
I've looked around for some 1066mhz RAM to allow me to really push the cpu, but PC2 8500 is pretty darn rare. Kingston supposedly makes some.

 

That bracket is the one for the G50 but its out of stock. I am ordering the M50 bracket.

I hope you noticed the bottom panel has a peice of foam on it as well and its not just resting against the door. With the bracket the foam pretty much needs to be ripped out.

Officially there is no 1066 for Laptop DDR2 but that didnt stop anyone. With your machine i could push my world record from 3.30 to 3.64 Ghz securing my title for a little while. Im gonna grab some Kingston HyperX ram in CL5. I found that SPDTool doesnt work on the G50 otherwise id raise my voltage.

That site says its DDR3 even though they list it as PC2.

 

Is your CPU speed a record for the G50? Very nice! I would be very interested to know if the HyperX RAM allows for higher overclocking.

After pulling the bottom cover off again this evening, I'm reassured about the safety of a drive in that bay. It looks like Asus had an eye out for the consumer there.

 

Yep, I noticed that too...what a shame. Well, maybe nobody makes PC2-8500 after all.

 

Its just a record for the T9600 in general, ive seen a P7450 up to 2.7Ghz in the G50 which is the world record for that cpu btw your bus overclock is the highest i have seen for a G50.

 

Good stuff. I might have to update my sig.

 

I took two of those foam ear protector things that the use at construction sites and cut them in half, folded them, and shoved them in between the back of the hard drive and the wall of the bay.

 

Nice, lol, good idea. I would think it'd be OK since the SATA connectors have quite a grip on the drive, as long as there isn't too much space for it to move if it got jolted.

 

Clutch did you ever got the bracket for the hdd ???

 

I didn't get the bracket, but I did add a 500gb drive. With a little foam it seems to be quite secure.

 

The G51 also uses foam, and it seems perfectly secure. Been using a second hard drive for... three weeks already.

 

yeah i have a 500 gb that i took from my old laptop ill just put it there i dont take it out of the house anyways soo the hhd will be pretty secure

 

might be a dumb question...
but did you guys just slip it in there? with the foam making direct contact with the hdd board? i'm worried that if the hdd gets hot, the foam will melt to the board

 

I ran it like that for awhile with no problems, however, I did eventually buy the mounting bracket. With that foam in there it was a very tight fit with no air moving around the drive. I'm now more worried about heat build up on the second drive.

Cheers,

 

i just put some fume they use for cover the copper in air conditioners work quit well 820 GB of storage not too bad (especially that 2nd hhd shutdown when not using it )

 

got it
hopefully they get off backorder soon

 

Well, I just added the second drive to my G50vt-x2 but i dont know how to make windows to see it, i read its a bios problem, does anyone had the same problem???

 

Does the BIOS recognize it?

 

You have to format it with Disk Manager.

If it still doesn't recognize it, it's a BIOS glitch.

 

hi,
if the BIOS recognizes it and the when u reboot it double posts it is a BIOS glitch, no need for special soft just go to BIOS and load User defaults(not manufacturer) and ur settled, i had this same issue on my 320GB WD drive, and apparently using manufacturer's defaults messes up the bios or somethin like that.

back to the topic:
i've never used a bracket or caddy or anything on my G50VT-X5 thnx to the foam, i move around from home to work, and from home to collegue everyday and haven't got any issues with my drive lucky me

cheers