Anyone here installed a ssd drive in their sony vaio tz?

I just want to know if anyone installed an ssd drive in the sony vaio tz. I'm actually thinking about selling my macbook pro and just buying an ssd drive to install on my tz for the os and leave the hitachi travelstar 7k2 as my secondary drive. Also how fast is the ssd drive? is it like instant programs that load???

 

Just a tip: Your question is a bit vague "how fast is the ssd drive". I would be more specific in what you mean.

Outrigger ran some benchmarks in the review section, so they might be a good start to compare.

If boottime is important to you: measure the boot time from your OS, and ask someone to measure it with TZ and SSD. ( i believe outrigger got 40 sec)

Or cold launching Firefox, measure the time. Or what ever apps are important to you.

PS. I won't be able to help you cause my TZ is back in the box, i'm going to sell it.

 

I just want to know if the ssd drive is worth it for 500 dollars. Also might I ask why you are selling your tz?

 

I understand, so maybe you want to share what it is you specifically do with your laptop.

2 reasons:
-hard time getting used to 11 inch screen
-I originally ordered the TZ because i was travelling a lot for my work, now i dont need to travel anymore so I'd rather get a bigger laptop.

 

oh ok makes sense, just fyi for me I loved my 15" santa rosa led based macbook pro laptop but in the end I wanted just one and chose the tz because of its portability and the screen is even better the color production is amazing and the resolution is just one step lower from the 1440x900 the macbook pro had and it looks great on a 11" =D Also if I want osx for my needs I have my desktop mac pro very powerful with a 23" apple cinema display.

 

Oh for the ssd I guess I want every little program to instantly boot without any of that waiting period and originally the boottime I said doesnt matter to me well after restarting the tz a few times and waiting yea, I do want faster boot time!!

 

so Outrigger wrote:

"Boot-up time from pushing the power button to being able to start applications is 40 seconds flat. i am not sure if he is running vista or XP."

How fast is yours? and what disk do you have now?

 

i just have a 5400 rpm but never tested the boot time i'm guessing 1 min and something almost 2 minutes!!

 

stop guessing and start measuring

 

ahh i already ordered it from newegg the 32gb ssd, but then they said it was void so it didnt ship.. anyone else have this problem? I guess I have to wait until tomarrow...

 

jjashik32, have fun installing 32SSD, I assume u got 1.8inch one, let us know how things go. For me, since I already ordered 32+160 one, I might buy 2.5inch SSD to replace 160GB.

 

ok newegg shipped my 32gb ssd!! I'll let you know here how it goes! I'm going to be putting in the 32gb ssd and replacing the 160 gb to a hitachi travelstar 7k200 with 200gb =) and receiving my sony vgp ddr4w on thursday =) Now I have the complete set!!
Oh does anyone know how to install windows vista via ssd drive though or refer to me a link?? Do I have to enable the ssd drive or something on bios, i'm pretty sure I have to do that under bios with the external dvd drive but does that mean I have to enable firewire because the vgp ddrw2 is a firewire cable...man its gonna take me a while to figure this all out tomarrow.

 

i believe ur ssd will be recgonized as normal 1.8inch hdd,

i guess u need to enable booting option for ur firewall, and set it as 1st priority, just to make sure it will check ur external dvd

 

from the time I pressed the power button on my tz I timed it to where my password comes up for vista and it took 29 seconds and this is with a 5400 rpm drive. Does boot up time count with passing through the password?

 

Disable needing a password and test how long it takes until you can launch a program.

 

It this from absolute cold start? (not from standbye or hybernate)

The password screen should be disabled.

Although the SSD feels fast I want to see some exact real life numbers in differences between 160GB HDD and the 32 GB SSD. Maybe the speed difference is smaller than everyone thinks.

I am not talking about benchmarks that just measure tranfsterrated and seektimes. I mean real life performance like booting, or copying a gig.

 

Hi ,

Once you have done the installation of your ssd, may be you can post some pics and procedure , how to do it ? It might be useful for others and to me as I am also planning to do a upgrade soon in the future.

 

I will try to put up a guide, but I have a crappy camera so if I cant put up pictures I will try to explain it as detailed as possible

 

But i'm still waiting for the ssd to arrive, for some reason for a next day air delivery fedex update tracking is not updated. Does it not update until it has been delivered sometimes?

 

yes...this would be great information! Thank you for the effort!

 

yesterday i saw this thread with detailed pictures of TZ inside and how to open it up. i think it will give you all information you need.

 

can you give us a link??

Also i'm waiting for the my ssd to arrive... fedex still just saids, "Package data transmitted to FedEx." and I called newegg and they told me that they shipped it with the last shipment via fedex overnight delivery and should arrive to me later today but then it saids for standard overnight delivery, delivered before 3pm and somtimes 4pm. Does fedex still deliver even if it arrives as their last arrival for today. Also the sales rep called fedex and told them that it might still be on the plane that's why no tracking information yet. Damn them I ordered from them 1pm their time and it should arrive today and if it doesnt i'm going to be *uckin pissed~~~!!!

 

no i forgot where it is. maybe someone else remembers?

about 8 high resolution pics

 

there you go http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=136542

 

damn I didnt receive my ssd drive today, will be getting it tomarrow, well later today as its 2:20am right now here. But I will post on how my installation goes.

 

i just got it and opened my tz up... it is a bit difficult to install the ssd.. I think the one I ordered comes in a casing that needs to be opened up to be installed

 

I hve a 32Gb SSD and my review is below.

If you like it Rep me!!!

 

Its official the ssd drive does not connect, you will have to order the mcboe32gqapq-mwa version with the zif connector. I just returned mine, does anyone know where I can buy the mcboe32gqapq-mwa 32gb samsung ssd, I mean how else are we suppose to put in ssd drives ourselves? I only see the mcboe32gqapq-mwa sold in japan websites that I cant read. I wonder if I can translate one of those sites and if they deliver to the united states...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130144620348&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=003

 

does this work with the tz??

 

That looks like it should fit, Bsresponsive1. If the auction price doesn't go up too far, it will be a pretty good deal.

The drive is 1.8" format with a ATA Zif (Zero Insertion Force) interface.

The best price in Japan, from my limited Googling, is listed on http://www.oliospec.com/miniitx/miniitx_flash.html at 64,800 Yen. I'd guess that it would end up closer to the 70,000 Yen mark, after you take shipping into account. So, basically, at the moment, you're paying the same price as you would have if you ordered it with your TZ.

 

does that site have english version??

 

That SSD would work for sure, you might have to take it out of the case.

 

Not that I am aware of.

 

are you sure? I dont think there is a zif connection inside the case or are u sure? because I dont want to break open it

 

I just won the sandisk from ebay and going to install that in there, that one should work for sure because its the zif connection. I checked the specs on this drive and its actually faster than the samsung ssd drives. sandisk has .12ms seek time while the samsung has .2ms and sandisk reads at 62mb/sec while the samsung reads at 51mb/sec.

 

I dont see any auctions Sandisk selling SSD ?

 

This guy was selling a sandisk that the dells were selling as an option and he saids he bought a new laptop that doesnt use the zif interface so he's selling this Sandisk UATA 5000 1.8" 32GB Solid State Hard Drive. I'm praying to god that this is the correct disk that will fit into the tz. I already took apart the tz today and just swapped out the 160gb to a 200 7200rpm drive from hitachi and I took a look at the metal casing on where the ssd drive should be and I'm guessing that the ssd goes on top of that metal case because on some of the pics that I see on these threads of the guy who took apart his tz, I can cleary see that same metal casing under the ssd drive.

 

jjashik32, great to see that you got Sandisk one. I could not find any Sandisk SSD on ebay !!!

How much did you pay for your 1.8inch ? and also, anyone know where I can get Sandisk 2.5 SSD ????

Cheers.

 

I paid a grip for it $555 that's with 3 day shipping and I just returned my newegg ssd that's not zif connection for 500 so I paid about 60 usd more from my original purchase =/ Man I"m just soooo eager to see this drive in action! I want that incredible access time and no defragmenting is well worth it!

 

For all of those who are or may be interested in upgrading to an SSD or upgrading their existing SSD drives, and live in The States, this looks like a useful link (even if it is just for part numbers): http://www.dvnation.com/nand-flash-ssd.html