Boot from Expresscard-SSD in Vaio Z13?

Hey Guys,

I bought a Vaio Z13 a month ago. I took the one without a DVD-Drive because I dont need it.
Now I wanted to put somethin inside the Expresscard/34 Slot and saw, that there are SSDs avaiable in this format.
Now my question is.. could I put that SSD inside the slot and install Windows 7 on it? And would it be faster than my built-in 5400 rpm-hdd? I'm asking this because I read, that the expresscard slot is connected via USB internal.

If thats not possible..is there any space inside my vaio I could use to add a SSD while leaving the other hdd inside? I dont wanna open it unessecarily.

Thanks in advance,

mideel

 

I know there where issues to boot from a drive other than the internal one, for those who replaced the optical drive with a 2.5 SATA drive.
This was somehow BIOS related I think, so, though I'm not sure, I don't think you will be able to boot from your express slot.

The express slot itself is not connected via USB afaik, but limited because its "only" PCIe 1x not PCIe 16x if I understood right.

 

Well there are 2 different SSD type for express card
You can find transcend SSD (8, 16 32 Gb) they use USB type of connection. The problem is that speed will be about 20-30 Mbpsec and awful speed of writing small files. But I don't know you will be able to boot from it (THE QUESTION IS WHY DO YOU NEED THIS) - 50/50
The other type of SSD is that which use PCI port in Express Card slot. It is MUCH faster and comes closely to an ussual SSD from the same period of time when Express Card SSD was created. However people who made a review said that this type of SSD doesn't let BIOS (tested on couple latest laptops) to choose boot from it. Because of PCI connection

So Buy an HDD optical bay caddy and that's all
NEW SATA 2nd HDD caddy for 12.7mm Universal CD/DVD-ROM (eBay item 300449917017 end time 22-Jan-11 20:56:45 AEDST) : Computers
Just switch internal hard drive to optical bay and SSD where internal was situated

real PCI connected SSD was Verbatim SSD ExpressCard 64 GB 120 MB read and 30 Mb write per second and it did not boot

 

thanks a lot for your replies.

I guess I wont buy a expresscard-ssd then when it doesnt boot.
So James D, could you tell me more about this bay?
If I read right in another thread, in my model of the vaio Z, the internal hdd is placed where the optical drive is usually.
How can I arrange my two harddrives (hdd + new ssd then) when I place the bay where the hdd is now? Where should the SSD go then?

 

OK. I advised you about optical bay and forgot to check your model. My mistake. Sorry.

Edit: As I see here it can be put while you say that it can't. Could you give me more information? How did you know that HDD (or SSD) is situated on DVD Drive's place? 2nd hard drive / SSD caddy - Sony VAIO Z, Z11, Z12, Z13, VPC [SONY-2BAY-Z11] - $43.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

Edit again: I saw somewhen a video where 1 guy put 2 HDD's in VAIO Z. And I saw both HHD there inside. I am trying to find it.

 

YouTube - Cenkaetaya Tips: Hard drive in DVD drive of Sony Vaio Z series - Howto

 

I know that because of this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6917712-post206.html

Thats why I dont get it how to arrange the both drives.

So in summary:

- Bought a VPC-Z13V5E. With 320GB SATA-HDD and without internal DVD-Drive. Now want to put in an additonal SSD for installing Windows 7 on it and keep the 320GB HDD as storage.
- My HDD is situated in the place where the optical drive is usually.
- Where to put the SSD that I want to build in?


//Edit: Just saw your video. Hm, the other drive is placed on the left side of the laptop. Wondering if that could also be the case at my model. Guess I have to open that thing..

 

You definately need to know how z 13 model is inside. I think it got to be a place for SSD BUT... Perhaps it is for 1.8" SSD not 2.5. The best way is to see it yourself

//Edit: It is even worse. Look here http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/511578-how-replace-ssd-vaio-vpcz11-vpcz12-non-sony-ssd.html

 

Oh, this thread is very useful.
But it seems hard to add that second drive to my model :/
Thanks a lot for your help, I will read the thread clearly and decide what I want to do next then.

 

That's for the VGN-Z... which prob wont work with the VPC-Z...

You have the HDD model of the VPC-Z... it'll be hard to even fit a regular 2.5" drive because you already have one there... You can however, try to add a 2.5" SSD to your VPC-Z... but u'll need to remove the drive from its enclosure(thus voiding the warranty) and buy the correct cables... and then place it into where the SSDs of the SSD versions of the VPC-Z's go...

 

wouldnt it be better to buy a 1,8" ssd then because of its size?
And where do I get the right cable?

 

read that thread carefully. There must be a link for cable if you don't have or try to find on best buy. there is everything

 

Yes, just read the thread that James D referred you to

 

Hello. Don't know what you managed with 2nd hard drive you wanted but in case you are still interested this expresscard SSD is what you need: Newegg.com - FileMate 3FMS4D048JM-R ExpressCard 34 48GB ExpressCard 34 & Mini USB 2.0 MLC Internal / External Solid State Drive (SSD)