Which hard drive caddy to get for ASUS K53SV-DH51

Looking to get an SSD as my boot drive in the future and still want to keep the 640gb hard drive the laptop came with for additional storage, there is only one HDD slot so I'll need to remove the ODD and get a caddy but not sure which to get? I know there are two different sized ones and I don't want to open up the laptop to check as it's a hassle but I will if it needs to be done.


Asus K53sv hdd in optical drivebay caddy problem

^While googling I found this, seems to be fixable which is good and funnily the solution brings us back to notebookreview but if I could get a recommendation for one that has the switch already and save the trouble, it would be appreciated!

New SATA 2nd HDD SSD Hard Drive Disk Caddy Optical CD Bay Adapter for Asus K53SV | eBay

I found this seller, but I can't find the switch, should this be good for my laptop?
edit: upon reading the other thread I see that people got the problem with the caddy linked above :/ I guess if the fix will work for sure I'm fine with it.

 

This is where I got the ODD hard drive caddy for my Alienware.

2nd HDD Caddy adapter for ASUS K42, K43, K52, K53, K55, K70, K73 [OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU] - $37.75 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

That is the link for their hard drive caddy for your K53SV. The caddy itself is supposed to be a hardware bridge. No special BIOS or drivers necessary. Anything different is not a true ODD HDD caddy.

In reading the ROG thread you posted, those users seem to have an issue when they performed a BIOS update. That is more likely the cause than the ODD HDD caddy.


*Remember: When you install your new SSD, you need to remove your old HDD, backup all the data on the HDD, and reformat it to remove the Windows boot code so it does not confuse the BIOS on which drive to boot from. Deleting the windows folder from the old HDD does not remove the boot code. Only a reformat does.

 

Didn't do a BIOS update so hope I'm good there, your link with shipping to Canada is $43.09 which is close to half the worth of the SSD I'm thinking about getting. No cheaper options? Is it worth fussing up the money?

Just to clarify your last part there I'm planning to clean install, should I just copy the files I need or should I still backup the whole thing using what program? A bit worried getting all the drivers back as I never did it before.

 

...do yourself a favor and save for a month or two, and then get the next size point up SSD than what you are considering.

Drivers aren't too difficult - find your manufacturer's download page and download them to a usb drive (before the clean install) so you have what you need in advance.

Nothing is more annoying that trying to get to the internet to download your Ethernet controller driver, and getting caught in a Catch-22.

 

01philip01, determine your ODD height (12.7mm or 9.5mm) and buy the cheapest matching one on eBay.

 

Eh, Can't justify getting the next size up. Saving up for a PC build so I don't want to spend more then I have to, I want an SSD before school starts in september and the next size up is 500gb for $270 ( currently on sale from $350 ) and I'll still have to pay 13% tax ontop of that. + even then I'd still want the HDD in there so I have a place to dump movies and junk.

If the ebay listing is anything to go by, its 12.7mm. Think I'll just give it a shot with the cheap ebay one, now debating if to disessemble it to cut the pin or just tape it.

 

Your K53SV should use a tray loading ODD. Those are only held in by a single screw accessible from the bottom of the laptop. You should be able to remove the screw then pull the ODD out. Then you can measure the height and check the interface on the back.

Height can only be 12.7 or 9.5. Interface will either be slimline SATA or IDE.

 

It is a tray loading ODD but there is actually no way to remove it from the bottom on this laptop, I have to remove the keyboard and go through there which is what I'm trying to avoid. I used speccy to find out my optical drive which is a MATA(other word for poop)A DVD-RAM UJ8B0 to which I googled and found it that it is indeed a 12.7mm using SATA.
Both yours and the ebay link show that It's 12.7mm, honestly I'd take the risk with the cheap ebay one just not sure how to dissemble it to cut the pin.

 

The only risk is poor quality, but you can fix it with soldering iron. Before this piece of equipment became mainstream, people DIY'ed it, it's very easy, but waste of time nowadays due to low pricing for finished devices.

 

I'm not a soldiering man so let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Thanks for the help! I'll report back if anything comes up in the process.

 

Yeah, I look up the service manual and found the screw for the ODD is under the keyboard (thanks AllurGroceries).

K53 Series Guide Chapter 02-v1.0

Not sure what an MATA interface is. Your ODD is a slimline SATA interface, which is the current standard. So finding a ODD hard drive tray that's 12.7mm and slimline SATA should be real easy.