HP compaq nc2400 - general questions, overclocking, optical drive > HDD caddy interface

hi, i just got an nc2400, seems to be a pretty great machine maybe greater with some optimizations

-overclocking. it seems very quiet and cool, has anyone overclocked with success?

-hdd in optical bay caddy, i want to know more about this. mainly, is the optical drive SATA, or would it basically be the same PATA interface as the old HDD?

im thinking the best thing for this laptop is either a PCMCIA SSD or PCMCIA to SATA for an at least normal hard drive speed.

unless mini pcie is the way to go?
if anyone else has tried and succeeded at addressing the problem of slow hdd interface, id like to know your experience.
PS speaking of minipcie, i tried the intel 5100 mini card in the slot, said incompatible wifi device remove and restart at the bios. i guess this could be a general thing, with chipsets or something anyway any help appreciated with the nc2400

 

What type of HDD it has now? If you take it out, put the brand/type codes on paper for later use.

If it happens to use PATA drive, about half the size of normal 2.5" drive, IBM X41 uses similar. There is a lot of X41 replacement SSD drives in eBay today. That would be plug-and-play upgrade.

...5mins later:

I did some google search, landed in... notebookreview There was a picture of HD Tune showing the HDD model. http://www.buy.com/prod/hitachi-tra...d-drive-40gb-4200rpm/q/loc/101/202293207.html

1.8" with ZIF connector. Ouch. Interface isn't that slow, just the drive's performance isn't stellar. Same drives were used in the first generations of iPods...

Just do search in eBay for 1.8" zif ssd and you'll see some alternatives. Personally I'd put that as OS drive and then secondary large hdd in the optical caddy.

Depending how much space you need, would only SSD be enough? Those 32GB drives aren't that expensive anymore, they used to be several hundreds.

Now I want an optical drive slot for my tc4400 too

 

ive got a normal 2.5" PATA drive right here... dont know what you mean. seems to be the same size as SATA.

im looking for a faster drive AND interface at a good price, although, i suppose the PATA interface would not necessarily be the limiting factor here with a lower end SSD. mainly its the 1.8" form factor.

a 2.5" SSD would be ideal with the price factor. problem is the optical drive adapter, they seem to be about 50$. does anyone know a good alternative adapter?

also, ive seen many ZIF to CF adapters.
does anyone know a ZIF to SD card or CF that has TWO slots for simultaneous use? i have seen one with 6 for 2.5".
if a ZIF SD card reader could use 3 SD cards at once, i think it could be more price effective than an ssd

in other news im waiting for a pcmcia to sata card, could probably work with that really if i just stick the drive somewhere, add power with usb or something.

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3580

I read that and I got an impression that it would not fit 2.5" drives. If it does, then PATA SSD is also an option, such as these: http://www.transcendusa.com/Products/ModDetail.asp?ModNo=164

For that wlan, probably your laptop has also a whitelist and computer will only boot if cards in that list are connected. Same thing applies to many different HP models.

 

yeah, i know the normal hdd is 1.8".

i bought an adapter for the optical drive connector > sata. doesnt have the caddy.

at this point im more concerned in overclocking. setfsb has been giving a lot of freezes and graphical errors...