HDD/SSD in optical bay (M860TU)

I've heard it can be done. Does anyone have further information on this and what's involved?

- How much time/work/money will this require?
- How much does it affect power consumption? heat?

Looking to do this for my m860tu.

• Replace optical drive with hard disk m860tu
• kaltmond's setup

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I've done this with my M860ETU.

The HDD caddy costs no more than $30.
Once you remove the screw that screws the ODD into the laptop, you can swap freely between the ODD and the HDD caddy.
The drive stays relatively cool (usually around 30°C for me).
And ODD's use more power than HDD's so the power consumption is lower.

 

Any specific place I should look to get the HDD caddy? i.e. newmodeUS or can I get them anywhere like NCIX or newegg?

wow, that's welcome news!

 

Please, let us know how it turns out.

 

ODD's may use more power than HDD's when in use, but I shouldn't think that you use the ODD all the time, so it will probbly increase power usage slightly, but probably not noticeably.

 

So I finally finished this. I used the Optical Hard Drive Bay (OHDB) from newmodeus, they have ones specifically modelled for Clevo/Sager M860TU/NP8662.

Removing the optical bay was a tireless test of patience. The service manual shows what seems to be an easy process and warns to do it carefully. From my experience the optical disk drive did not come out until ample (read: nearly-breaking-off-your-face) force with a screwdriver. One slip and I would have stripped off some heatsinks, and irreversibly damaged some electronics. What I did end up doing though, through the course of much trial and error was both warping and scratching the internal frame around the ODD and (in a failed pulling effort) breaking off the ODD's faceplate. The latter proved particularly frustrating when later needing to reattach said faceplate to the OHDB.

With the ODD removed, I began assembly of the OHDB. Yet another seemingly simple process fraught with frayed nerves. The HD did not snap into SATA connector convincingly and required much force. The securing screw holes aren't well placed and the fitting of the cover isn't immediately obvious. I ended up having to re-secure the screws quite a few times, and in the process stripping them as they are quite cheap in construction and very small (so tiny you could inhale one and not even notice). In fact they were so badly stripped, I had to drill two out and the third required hammer. To say the least pounding the stripped screw through the other side of the bracket literally obliterated the screw hole and the bracket and pretty much one of the corners of the OHDB. Not to mention my sweating bullets since the HD was inside the bay the entire time (didn't want to risk stripping the screws attaching the HD, and hope to never have to remove it). And so much were my hopes for a snug-fit frame.

Next, I began to transfer the (slightly broken) faceplate. I managed to crazy-glue one of the broken clips back onto it, but (unsurprisingly) it simply snapped off again when pushing the faceplate onto the OHDB. In light of the string of earlier failures I considered this least slighting. Yet again, the wonderfully tiny screws with microscopic threads were needed to secure it fully. After a while of pocking and prodding, I managed to thread the screws in and proceeded to attach the faceplate and its bracket back onto the OHDB. In the case of the M860TU this means one screw less to hold it due to it's wedged shape.
* I note here, using the original faceplate wasn't just for aesthetics. Indeed the OHDB faceplate looks nicer, but trial and error quickly finds it's rectangular shape will not fit where the M860TU's wedge-shape faceplate fit snugly.

Finally, I slid the assembled (though slightly battered) OHDB back into the optical drive slot. I made the mistake of doing this earlier during a test run before properly securing the OHDB frame; it ended up loosening slightly and getting stuck in the optical bay, more fun times ensued fishing it out).
Thankfully for installation the OHDB goes in much easier than it comes out.

Beyond the trying hardware installation is an oasis of software configuration: namely none. You can start reaping the benefits immediately as SATA is pretty much hot-swappable and your BIOS and OS will detect the new drive automatically on next boot. If it's not set to your liking by default, you'll want to configure which of your drives is master or slave; I've set the OHDB on Sata 1 as slave, and tge Sata 0 HD as master.
Several reports claim the drive in the OHDB runs cooler, and I confirm this is the case, with temps dropping by almost 15 deg: from regular 54C idle to 38C idle.

The TL;DR summary:

Hardware installation of the OHDB is - at least for the M860TU - trying on patience and dexterity to say the least, requiring you to deal with many small, easily-breakable, droppable, strippable, etc parts that hate you in the strongest way possible for an inanimate object to hate anyone handling it.

However, once the hardware installation is complete (and assuming you've still got a laptop and haven't smashed it to bits either by accident or in frustration) you will have been rewarded by a stylish, convenient, and cool second hard drive bay, perfect for any your auxiliary storage needs!