I might pick up an SSD for the Sager now.

The pre-install prices for SSDs from Sager weren't exactly bargins, so I opted to get an SSD down the road during a sale. WHich is still the case, but I think I'll keep an eye out for some last minute christmas sales on SSD drives now. Only want one for the OS, the Adobe Suite, a few other production tools, a few other programs like Steam and maybe some space for swapping out a frequently played game (+space reservation).

Thing is, I'm not sure if that spot will be SATA 3 or 2. I would imagine it to be 3 since the laptop only has two SATA drives anyways (right?) but it could be 2 since that slot is default to an Optical Drive.

If that's so, and the ODD slot has to be the slave, I can probably just take the HDD that comes with, put that in that spot and load the SSD into the spot the HDD was in originally (under the front and center, according to this service manual - I don't have the actual Sager yet). I assume the chassis has strong enough flex resistance that that spot of the computer isn't a risk for the drive?

 

The optical drive bay is only SATA II while the primary bay is SATA III. Most people put the mechanical drive in a caddy in the optical bay and install the SSD into the primary bay. However, if you don't get a SATA III SSD it won't matter anyway

And no, there shouldn't be any reason why this setup would cause flexing problems or anything.

 

Yeah, so it's meant to be the slave drive. Figured. Does it have to be? Most computers dedicate which port should be the master, and I imagine it's going to be the middle spot here. Otherwise you get weird problems after bootup.

And I wasn't so much concerned that the setup would cause flexing so much as flexing there would increase risk to the spinning drive or it's PCB. Plus how the change in location changes it's impact cushioning and whatnot.

Ah whatever I'll swap em both out regardless.

 

Um.... master/slave is more a of PATA issue right guys? Haven't heard of any master/slave talk since SATA....(but i could b wrong).

 

I'm just going by memory. It's probably not universal, and hell it's probably just specific to a few motherboard chipsets. My desktop has one (it's X58) and you have to plug the master drive into a specific SATA 3 port. The immediate slave is in the port next to it, also SATA 3. Optical Drive goes there if you got one and no additional drive.

You configure it a specific way from there to do various RAID setups (rest of the SATAs being 2). Generally speaking the computer doesn't like you using any ol' SATA for any ol' purpose, but again some chipsets ((including whatever Sager is) probably account for that. Plus the Sager only has 2 so the extra jumbo past which one takes priority isn't present here.

 

Why don't you just put it in the HDD bay and put the HDD in the optical bay like you mentioned in the first post (and Malibal mentioned as well)?

 

I would unless someone pitches an objection, I said this myself

I'm just thinking the centralized location would logically be safer for the more fragile HDD. It doesn't matter much unless I happen to trip over, say, a couple of people testifying that the secondary drive spot is prone to little protection from key strokes above it.

I figure out a lot of stuff about computers I have yet to buy by asking overly specific and paranoid questions. This is just the latest of many

 

There is no such master/slave terminology used with the drives on here. I haven't seen it used much at all since IDE/PATA drives myself.

 

I guess I'm just antiquated. I basically just mean Drive 0 and 1, or failing that basically just chipsets being picky about which SATA port the OS is on.

That said, I'm getting the impression that the case isn't so here, and putting the SSD w/ OS in the other slot is doable, if unnecessary.

Anyways, I found this sweet deal:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=65531&vpn=SV200S37A/128G&manufacture=Kingston&promoid=1314

With two problems, one being by unfamiliarity with Kingston's reliability or lack thereof.

The other being that this thing is 7mm high apparently , not 9.5. A review says that it has an adapter for that, but even so, does the Sager need correct form factor to retrain the drive in place? The computer with the Service Manual on it overheated earlier, so I can't check that atm.


EDIT: SOMEHOW I missed a gigantic topic on the SSD forum about this exact model when I went looking there earlier, and going a bit into that gives me a "no" to my inquiry.

 

You can boot from the drive in either location just by changing the bios setting. In fact you can put an OS on both drives and switch between them by just restarting and changing the bios if you want. I did this at first when I added the SSD. I was worried about problems with the SSD so I left the OS on the HDD and just did a clean install on the SSD. If I had a problem with the SSD I just switch the boot to the HDD. If you buy a SATA III SSD you should put it in the HDD bay, but other than that doesn't matter.

 

I bought the Samsung 830 ssd and replaced the HDD, still waiting for the Optical bay hard drive caddy.