Np8130 optical drive swap

Hey guys I was wondering if someone could help me. I'm planning on swapping my cd/DVD dive for and internal hard drive. Could someone please tell me what size caddy I would need and what size hard dive would fit that caddy? Maybe if you give me some links that would be very helpful. Thanks!
Stephan

 

u need 12.7 mm caddy.i ordered today this caddy for me.it also has removable faceplate...

New SATA 2nd HDD caddy 12.7mm Universal CD/DVD-ROM DV25 | eBay

 

The safe answer is... just order the accessory caddy available from most of the resellers. They seem to run about $45 plus shipping.

You'll want 2.5" SATA HDD with a 9.5mm height.

If you want to be adventurous (read, cheap!) you can buy a caddy on eBay for about $15. I will be receiving one of these shortly, and I'll be happy to report back later in the week if/how it works. There are a number of variations of such caddies on eBay, but I believe I found one that should work.

AM.

Edit: I hope Johnny above is right, as that's the exact same caddy I ordered.

 

I bought a random 12.7mm one from ebay. The sager has a screw to secure the cd drive, and the bracket for that screw was misaligned with the ebay one I bought. So I gaffer taped the bracket cleanly to the ebay one and then screwd it in.

A bit more work, but it's lovely.

Mine looks exactly like the one above.

I then got a usb dvd enclosure and put my laptop's dvd drive in that. It's perfect.

 

I just got my caddy in the mail. Don't have my laptop yet, so I can't test it. I AM disappointed that the caddy does not match the detailed photos in the eBay listing. The item received doesn't include the plastic bracket allowing the drive to be secured to the bottom of the caddy. Instead, it secures the drive by little spring tabs on the side. I specifically ordered the item pictured for the better mounting, but I'll have to wait until I receive my laptop to decide ultimately whether or not this will work.

A poster in another thread wasn't satisfied with his "fenvi" brand caddy that uses this spring tab mounting method. I am cautiously optimistic I'll be able to make this work, however. Oh, and the removeable faceplate is so flimsy and loose, it will need to be glued in place - not the end of the world.

AM.

 

the height must be 12.7mm no 9.5mm..

 

There were a couple users talking about what eBay caddies worked for them. nllptr's post is for the NP8150/P150HM, but the optical drive location is the same for both P150HM and P151HM.

EDIT: Some more posts from the owner's lounge here. Mr. Mysterious said the second link that the user posted worked for somebody, and trvelbug said the caddy in the user's first link worked for him (it is a Fenvi one though).

 

The caddy is 12.7mm, but the hdd's are 9.5mm. You could put a non-standard 12.7mm drive in the caddy, but then you'd not have the option to install it in the main hdd bay.

AM.

 

Just a question,

The SATA port in the motherbord for the optical drive, isn't a SATA I (1.5Gb/s)?

 

It's SATA II from what I've read.

AM.

 

I actually bought that exact caddy... but I can't seem to get it plugged in...

 

Thanks alot for the help. I know a while back I saw a guide specifically for the np8130 on how to open the laptop, does anyone still know where this guide is at? And does anyone have a guide on installations for the caddy and/or the hd on to the caddy? Thanks
Stephan

 

You don't need a guide. Open the HDD bay. On the side of the drive closest to the optical bay, there is a metal tab with one screw in it. Take out the screw and the optical drive slides right out.

I bought the $45 caddy from Sager so I would know for sure it worked and that I could swap my current optical drive bezel onto it. Some of the random ebay ones do work. Some you cannot attach the original faceplate to (unless you use glue), and some don't even fit in the bay or reach the screw.

 

alright thanks for all the help. ill try it and see what happens lol. doesnt sound to hard

 

Can anyone confirm what speed that SATA port is? I'm interested in ditching the Optical Drive too.

 

could someone tell me if this would work?

Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy (OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU) Univ, 12.7mm [OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU] - $44.75 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

 

The optical bay is SATA II, 3Gbps. The primary bay is SATA III 6Gbps

Looks like it should work fine. You'll just have to transfer the bezel and mounting bracket from the old optical drive to the caddy if you want it to match/fit correctly. Pretty quick and easy.

 

Awesome thanks for the quick response!

 

Just a follow-up. The eBay caddy that Johnny listed in the second post of this thread was the exact one I ordered. Though the caddy I received was significantly different from the pictures in the listing, it worked like a champ on my new machine. I was able to remove the faceplate from my ODD and install it on the caddy, so it looks original. There's also a small mounting bracket that you remove from the ODD and screw onto the caddy - the holes were even pre-drilled on the caddy.

AM.