DIY: Adding SSD or HDD storage using an optical bay caddy

just orderd one of theese, waited 30 days to recive the wrong one, damit
but just so u know, the acer aspire 5920 uses the
12,7 mm standard IDE DVD drive caddy

 

Just got done putting a standard 12.7mm caddy on my Vaio CA laptop. I got this caddy since it was the cheapest 12.7mm Sata caddy that I could find:
NEW! IBM 12.7mm SATA 2nd HDD Caddy Bay R400 R500 DV16 - eBay (item 300537962559 end time Apr-17-11 01:17:54 PDT)

 

I believe I had this one before.
Works fine, built quality was a little disappointing though.
Replaced it later with a 'fenvi' model - with the exchangable frontplate as a bonus.

 

Many thanks for your answer.
In fact, the P7230 uses a 1.8" drive, with a Toshiba connector PATA, so almost impossible to find a good SSD to replace the ancillary 80 GB Toshiba HDD. Therefore I was using this trick to put a 2.5" SSD in the caddy, and boot from there.

Well, I finally did it !! it works now. The only thing I changed was disabling manually the TRIM command in win 7. For some reason it was sending the command on a regular basis and it was flooding the queue and caused the stuttering. That is quite weird, as if the Intel X25M was unable to process the request, while I have put the latest firmware on it and it's supposed to support it without any problem. Anyway, just wanted to let the community know, and potential Fujitsu P7230 owners. It can be done. and quite easily !

Many thanks again to you guys.

 

Just got the fenvi, everything works as it should

nando how do I setup the hdparm thing? Please simplify it for me.

 

Which caddy are you using? I found the ebay sata-to-pata caddy (Marvell) could transmit TRIM commands correctly. The newmodeus sata-to-pata caddy (JMicron) would stutter requiring TRIM to be disabled. More details here.

There's also http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-1-8-zif-pata-ssds-available.html#post6861746 if wanted to claim back your optical drive OR use a 2.5" HDD in there.

 

So I put my music on my fenvi hard drive and I can play like 5 songs on wmp. After I try choosing another song, it has that circle on the icon beside the mouse. But it doesn't load up. And I Get a server execution fail....what does that mean?

 

I have an SSD in my 2nd bay, and a HDD in the fenvi bay and 1st bay running in raid 0 (software through windows) as my data drive.

 

Hi
I am new here and I am interested to make use of my dvd slot for 2nd hdd.

Info ...
1. I have OCZ Vertex 60gb 2.5" SSD - I have installed Win 7 Pro 32 bit
2. I have 4 gb ram but can utilise 3gb only.
3. DVD model: Mata UJ-845-C SLOT type
4. Laptop: Acer Aspire 5560 Core 2 Duo
5. I have another Samsung hdd 640gb

I have got this caddy from ebay 12.7mm SATA 2nd HDD caddy for ACER BENQ HP DELL ASUS | eBay

But when I put in the HDD and slot into my laptop - my laptop automatically shut down.

Any advice? Or I am better off getting this OBHHD Caddy to replace Slot-Loading Optical,12.7,SATA-PATA [OBHD-SATA12-NF] - $44.75 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

Appreciate any assistance.

Cheers
Chris

 

I hope I am reading this wrong, but you are not really trying to insert it while the system is running?!

It also might be useful to read the first post in this thread - it lists some quirks and solutions.

 

I did shut down the laptop and swapped over ... but the laptop won't power up.
Then I removed the caddy ... and I am able to boot up.

 

Well, yes the build quality wasn't perfect but it held together and I'm not ever going to see it again anyways
I don't know what you mean by exchangable frontplate though. I removed my DVD-RW's faceplate and put it on this cheap caddy with no issues.

 

could this be something to do with slave/master thingy?

What can I do to resolve this ... without the need to solder wire?

Cheers

 

i have the same problem, well mine did short out the gfx, it is like its shorting something inside the laptop, when i plugged in mine, ofcourse without any power source connected. I could not turn on my laptop, no respond, no lights no nothing, then i took out the caddy and my laptop was broken, it had a white screen with a black bar down the middle. so apperently it broke my laptop, but i got it to work again, i threw the gfx in the oven 180 degrees 10 minutes and now it works again, but, the caddy short something out, tried in another laptop and again no power no lights no respond...

 

"1x universal IDE Optical Bay Hard Drive Adapter/caddy"

you got an sata-ide caddy. what you probably need is sata-sata. read the descriptions of ebay caddies v carefully as they can be misleading at times.

edit you dont need the modeous caddy per se, but be sure to get the right caddy for your dvd slot. mine takes sata

 

Mine does take ide interface as I compared my dvd which I took out and compare the interface - they matched.

not sure what to do next

Cheers

 

Anyone knows if ASUS N53SV-XV uses 9.5 or 12.7mm caddy? I haven't bought the computer yet, but I want to be sure I can put a SSD in the optical bay.

 

I got the OBHD-SATA-SATA-B from NewmodeUS, and have a Kingston SSDnow 100v. I successfully got the SSD installed and reimaged and that works great, but I can't seem to get the caddy to fit in the laptop. From inspection, it appears to have the exact same dimensions as the optical bay I pulled out, and yet, it won't slide in the last two inches or so. Any ideas on what might be the problem and how I could fix it? This is in an HP Pavillion dm4t laptop.

 

Guide moved HERE

 

Great investigative work. +rep.

2510P owner's have experienced a ~30s bios boot delay with the Sunplus equipped newmodeus caddy if set to master. I just reverted to using an ebay caddy with the Marvell bridge chip. It boots up as master by default but there's info here on how to pinmod it to slave.

 

I have a year old sony s11 and i'm considering removing the dvd and adding a ssd (i have no use for the dvd anyway and i'm getting quite annoyed by the slow hd).

anyway, i've seen that it works (one user said it works) but i'm not sure if there is anything i should consider.

some issues i heard that might happen, laptop disables hdd because its not a odd.

front faceplate not there.

so basically what do i have to get and what do i have to consider. Also, can i use the eject button for something else? (it's on the laptop not the drive).

lastly, should i put the ssd in the main bay drive and put the large slow hdd in the caddy or doesn't it matter?

 

Hello,

I am hesitating between 2 laptops to buy, and am planning to add a storage hdd instead of the optical drive.

My choices are :
- Sony VAIO Z13,
- Toshiba Portege R830-118 (same chassis as the R700).

Both have an expresscard port, which is required to use the DIY VIDOCK that I have set up thanks to you guys

I found a replacement caddy for the Z13 on the NewmodeUS website ; however, I didn't find any information about the R830/R700...

So I was wondering if you guys knew whether or not it was possible to do this on a R830.

As a side question : I contacted Sony, the replacement of the Z13 laptops should be released this summer with Sandy Bridge cpu's ; however, expresscard slot is not certain to still be there. So what would you guys pick, the R830, the Z13, or would you wait for its replacement ?

Thanks in advance

 

Well if you're going to wait that long, might as well wait for Ivy Bridge, eh?

Then you can get Thunderbolt tech if that's what you like.

Of the choices you gave, I'd say go for the R830. It's a proven and tested design that was and still is very popular.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Thanks for your quick answer

I haven't followed recent news about Ivy Bridge and Thunderbolt, I thought that we wouldn't see them till late 2012 or even 2013 ?

The R830 has everything I want, except for its HDD that I intend to replace by a SSD should I pick it up... Hence the need to ditch the DVD drive and replace it by a storage HDD

 

Last time I checked the R700 had an unique USB connected optical drive, so could not use an optical bay caddy.

Have you considered a Lenovo X220 instead? It can do a mSATA SSD + 7mm 2.5" HDD setup. 7mm HDDs run up to 320GB in size atm. It also has an expresscard slot.

 

According to most estimates, Ivy Bridge is coming out in early 2012, so expect it by next summer.

Mr. Mysterious

 

@ Nando4 : Thanks for all these info, I will then stop considering the R830 if the optical drive cannot be removed. A single SSD won't have enough space for a comfortable use, and a USB3 HDD would be a bother to plug in all the time... A shame, the chassis is nice :/

I had heard about the X220 but are you sure that it has an expresscard slot ? It's not obvious from the first online shops that sell them here in France, there's no mention of it. For instance, see a core i5-2, 6-cell battery example here and a core i7-2, 9-cell battery example there.

If, indeed, the X220 is guaranteed to have expresscard, then it might be THE perfect ultramobile-for-work-and-powerful-with-diy-vidock laptop

@ Mr. Mysterious : I meant summer 2011 for the successor of the Vaio Z (forgive my English if I was unclear, I am not a native speaker), so this is a year earlier than Ivy Bridge. Indeed, if the DiY Vidock can work with the Thunderbolt technology, then who will care about expresscard xD

 

noonehas any answers to this?

 

@ Justice Strike : After reading this thread I checked NewmodeUS's page and found a caddy for the Sony Z13 here. It seems to work with the Z11 as well. I have contacted them (about the Portege R830) and they were very helpful so I suggest that you send them an e-mail

@ Nando4 : The new Dell Vostro 3350 also has an expresscard slot Do you know if it can have a HDD caddy to replace the optical drive ? It might be an alternative to the X220 if so. Also, if you have the info, can you please confirm / infirm the certainty to have an expresscard slot on all X220 models ?

 

hi all,
can you pls point me towards hdd caddy for vaio fz140?
thanks in advance.

 

Hard to say.
I advise to take the drive out.
Then simply measure the height and determine what the connector is (IDE or SATA).

With that information, the first post should guide you to the right choice.
Worked well for me that way!

 

hallo there!

googling I found that my (broken) TS-T633 dvd-drive is 12.7 mm height.
Could someone here confirm that please?
So i could buy the thicker caddy and mount 1 TB of gorgeousness!

here are pictures of my laptop if it can help in determining the thickness of the drive!

thank you!

 

not sure, but I think your DVD-Drive has a SATA interface..

1) check the interface on the back of the DVD-Drive.
2) check what chipset you have (ICHx)
3) follow the instructions on the 1st page and select the appropriate caddy from ebay or newmodeus

 

yup.
I followed your method,its 12.7mm drive and pata/ide drive.
so now searching ebay for reliable dealer.
thanks for idea.

 

Hey nando!

Might want to add my guide to your list in the first page for the Alienware M14x

The guide is in my sig

Thank You btw for all the info needed to get it done!

 

my drive has a Sata connector, I checked already times ago; my chipset is an ICH9. But I don't think that these data can help in determining whether my laptop could use a 12.7mm

 

you should measure the thickness of your DVD-Rom.

if you have a thin laptop - most likely it's 9.5mm

 

I just wanna open it once and I can't leave it open for days, since I'm currently writing my thesis and I need an usable pc.

So i ordered the small one to be on the safe side and a 750gb!

 

I think 750gb and 1Tb are 12.7mm

 

Ahum, how much time is it going to take out of your day?

Power down, unscrew the drive - 2 screws maybe - slide it out and measure it?
It could take about 10 minutes, probably 5 including shutdown and reboot.

Just betting it's 9.5... I just don't get some people, sry.

 

so, maybe before saying you don't get people, you should know better the situation!

my dvd drive is not unscrewable from the outside, I should get my laptop down to pieces! Otherwise, ofc I could do it easily and faster!

anyway, my dvd drive should be 12.7mm, and the disk IS 9.5, since it is a 2 platters (and i got it already, so i could check! )

now, just waiting for the caddy itself and the CPU (since yeah, I have to open completely my laptop, I'm gonna upgrade the CPU too) and then I can mount everything!

 

Anybody know a good caddy for the Portege r835 (I'm assuming it's a 9.5mm drive).

I was looking at these: NEW SATA 2nd HDD Hard Drive Caddy 9.5mm Universal DV22 | eBay

It's supposedly compatible with a Superdrive which is the cd/dvd drive in the Portege. Looking at the front faceplate, it looks like there may be some modification required to trim the front plate so it can sit flush against the side of the laptop.

 

I recently purchased a Lenovo Ideapad Y470 with a BluRay drive. I want to replace the drive with a HDD caddy (12.7 mm sata I believe - something like this, put the 750gb internal hdd in there and put in a 128gb ssd as the primary drive.

I would like to however still have occasional access to the optical drive. How easy is hot swapping? Do I have to switch the bracket (as shown in these instructions) every time I want to put in the optical drive? How fragile/portable is the optical drive once removed from the laptop? Would I be better off putting the optical drive in an external sata-to-usb case?

thanks in advance

 

Hotswapping might not work at all, although IBM/Lenovo did provide caddies for that. A restart is probably required.
Mechanically it is pretty safe I think. The bracket usually provides mounting point for the screws, little more.

I have put mine in an external enclosure which works fine.
It does require external power though when burning a dvd. Reading cd/dvd/br works fine. The naked optical drive does look pretty fragile, would recommend an enclosure for it if you plan to carry it around for sure.

 

Hello,
I`ve bought Fenvi 12.7 sata-sata caddy, installed in my Acer 5553g.

When I put my main hdd into caddy, leaving primary slot empty - laptop works good, hdd speed is good.

Then I`ve borrowed second hdd. If I install only friend`s hdd everything is fine, doesn`t matter in primary slot or in obhd caddy.

If I install 2hdds, e.g. my hdd in obhd caddy and friend`s in primary slot or viceversa laptop DOESN`T boot up...

Laptop just doesn`t boot up with 2 hdds! When I turn it on, it goes through bios checks (silent boot is disabled)
, shows 2 hdds are connected, shows some more text, all text lines same like with 1 hdd, no one is missing, no errors, but then it freezes, nothing changes, waited for an hour.

Like always in the bottom it shows Press F2 to enter setup. If I press F2, it react, shows Entering setup... and freezes here. Can`t even enter bios setup...

I Even tried to connect my caddy to working laptop, in device manager(windows 7 32bit) scaned for new hardware, hdd didn`t showed up.

Updated bios to newest version, it didn`t solved this problem.

How to fix this ? Now hdd speed is too slow for me, I thought with obhd caddy I will be able to use raid 0...

Sorry for bad english. Thanks for help.

My hdd: WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT SATA 3 Gb/s 2.5 Inch 5400 500 GB 8 MB
Friend`s hdd: Seagate Momentus ST9160310AS SATA 3Gb/s 2.5 Inch 5400.5 160 GB 8MB
Laptop: Acer Aspire 5553g AMD Phenom™ II triple-core mobile processor N830 (1.5 MB L2 cache, 2.10 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 35 W)
Chipset AMD™ M880G Phoenix BIOS

 

Please answer

 

@dovydass,
update your bios to latest version and then modify your bios accordingly.

@ all,
Today i received my 12.7mm sata to pata caddy and its fantastic buy.
i got it for 15 with free shipping !
I installed my old toshiba 200 gb 4200 rpm disk in dvd slot.but only thing i face problem is slow speed of 25-28 MBps as per win7 file copy to my hitachi 7200 rpm 500 gb disk and its in udma 2 mode active and as you all know sony bios is heavily locked and zero updates in last 3-4 yrs.
any options for me to increase speed of transfer.?

And thanks to all for guiding me here in this mod.

it has no mounting screws for fixing hdd to laptop and its flush fitting but leaves small rent on side.i guess i should pack it with something.
any suggestion for same?

 

My bios is latest, how should I modify it ?

 

select your boot disk in it.that can help but i am no expert in your acer laptops.

@all,
I have one doubt,what udma mode your HDD caddy runs?
mine is saying udma 5 supported but running in udma 2 mode.
I know it can be sony bios but just curious to know about your caddy's perf.

 

You`ve missunderstood me. If I plug on both hdds I can`t even enter bios setup, so I can`t enter select boot disk menu.