odd caddy benchmarks and questions

i just received and installed a hdd caddy in the optical bay. it's a fenvi caddy, a tad more expensive than some, but the build quality looks fine and it fits OK (here's the amazon link: Amazon.com: 12.7mm SATA Optical Bay Hard Drive Adapter Caddy: Electronics). one question that i had and couldn't find a definitive answer before i got it was whether there would be a speed hit in using the hdd in the sata 2 optical bay. so i ran a crystal mark on an empty partition of a stock 7200 rpm 500GB hdd, once when it was installed in the optical bay, then in the hdd bay, and got the two (thumbnail) results on the left. so the hdd performance does not seem to be at all affected by the bay in which it is installed. for those interested in a usb3.0 flash drive, the third result on the right is the crystal mark result for the TEAM X101 32GB usb3 flash drive that i also recently got (it's marketed as being up to 120 MB/s read, 70MB/s, so it doesn't quite test to spec at least in my rig). the flash drive was on a usb3 port.

a couple of questions:
i) i've read that it may be somewhat tricky to take the faceplate off the stock CD/DVD drive, and to put it on the caddy. any tips for doing so painlessly?
ii) i also decided to get an external caddy in which i could put my stock CD/DVD drive, so i got this Amazon.com: USB2.0 Slim DVD / CD RW Burner External Enclosure Caddy Case with SATA Connetor For all Laptop Notebook dvd cd burner[ Case only!! Drive is not included !!]: Electronics, but it doesn't seem to fit easily. did i get the wrong caddy, or is there a secret to getting it to fit? anyone tried using something similar?

 

i) I recommend using a small jewelers/eyeglass type flat-head screwdriver as you should see a couple of small sort of hooked tabs that retain the ODD face plate. Use the screwdriver to gently press down on those hooks/tabs and it should just pop right off there with a little work. It does take a bit of patience.

ii) Could you maybe post a few pictures of demonstrating the issues you are hitting?
Your optical drive should just slide right in there, the back interface plate is a bit difficult to work with but we are also using a different case than what you have linked.

 

The faceplate should be fairly easy to get off with a screwdriver. The only issue I had was that the plastic tabs that hold it in didn't all match the holes in the caddy. Solved it by snapping off the ones that didn't fit and securing those bits with tape, or glue would also work.
As for the speed, it makes no difference for an HDD which bay it's in.

 

Your benchmarks are to be expected. HDD's just can't fill the capacity of a SATA II interface, let alone SATA II. So the fact that your benchmarks were the same on both just bears that out.

i)As others mentioned, I believe you'll need a small electronics phillips head screwdriver, as there is (I think) a screw or two holding that faceplace on.

ii) That looks like it should just work, so try to push it in a little more firmly (without forcing it).

 

This is from my P151HM, please excuse the hack job I have not installed Photoshop yet.

(Click for full size)
Step 1: Open optical disk drive and position as shown in the lower image. You will need to use a small flat head screw driver to put in the small hole near the eject button and manually open the drive.
Step 2: Use your small flat head screw driver to push down on tab 4 while gently pulling the cover away from the ODD until the tab is just released. Note :Tab 2 and 3 should be ignored for now.
Step 3: Same as step 2 but with tab 1 while doing this wiggle the cover until tab 1 and 4 are free
Step 4: With the optical drive positioned as shown in the lower image push the cover to the right while pulling away from the ODD this will release tabs 2 and 3, notice they are facing in the same direction.
Your cover should now be off and in one piece. =]

 

thanks for all the tips. happy to report that i did successfully get all of the tabs out of the faceplate without incident (though one of them was pretty stubborn). funnily, when i tried to take the faceplate off from the fenvi caddy, i broke one of the tabs there.

also successfully installed the cd/dvd drive in the external caddy. needed a bit more force to snap it in place that i was initially comfortable with, but it works fine. so all is well with the world, or at least a very small piece of it.