Can I replace the SSD drive on a new Sony Z with a LARGER SSD?

Hello,

I used to buy the sony Z's a couple of years ago and at the time they only offered slower small drives. I could replace those with faster 7200RPM drives in larger sizes. Then when they started offering larger drives, it was still cheaper to buy it with a stock 5400RPM drive and buy a larger 7200RPM drive seperately.

I would like 512GB of space with the potential of going to 1TB down the road. If I buy it now I'd have to get 2x256GB. I was wondering if there were faster SSD drives in larger storage capacities that would fit in the Sony Z series.

 

I highly doubt YOU will get a 1 TB SSD anytime soon
They exist but you'd have to be rich and insane to buy one.

 

Thanks - I believe the Sony supports 2 SSD drives so I could add a second 512GB if I could even get one 512GB in it. So to be clear I'd like to get a larger drive than sony sells and potentially a faster drive.

 

The Z's SSD drives are smaller than 1.8", I don't think anyone has been able to put any non-Sony drive in that space. Also, the connector for those SSDs seems to be proprietary. The other option is to go for the HDD option, which loses both the Sony SSDs and the optical drive, or mod away the optical drive (replace it with an SSD). For the latter, it works but there's no official Sony caddy for the HDD/SSD.

 

the new Z employs custom-made Samsung ssds which are smaller than the std laptop 1.8" size, and are 'double-sided' when you get the quad array config at 512gb. so this is currently a Sony-unique drive and no standard 3rd party drives will physically fit. Unless Sony itself increases their offering to larger capacity, i'm pretty sure you are stuck at 512gb max. of course, this could change over time.

You can put a normal-sized 3rd party ssd into the optical-drive location, but only one drive will fit.

 

THanks for the info. That sucks but I guess I'll have to wait before getting one. I do need the DVD burner on a regular basis.

 

get a external dvd writer

 

If I got an external DVD writer I might as well get a big clunky laptop since I need the writer on a regular basis. I'll just wait for the next improvement.

 

How about using 8GB or larger USB sticks in place of DVDs?

 

I create a lot of boot DVDs for various operating systems and not everything lets you boot from USB and carrying around a ton of usb thumbs isn't fun and setting them up to be bootable is a pain.

 

How about Memory Stick XC or SDXC cards? Are they compatible with the Vaio Z? I don't own either yet, but sure as hell that I will be thinking about it. Those stamps go up to 2TB in the future...

 

No offense. Unfortunately, for your case, I think if you need both the optical drive (DVD or Blu-ray) & the SSD drive together, you'll just have to "s**k it up" & pay for it. I don't know your budget & it may seem like a lot of money when you buy the VAIO Z notebook but I personally think it will still be better to fork out the money when you get your notebook than later because if you want to upgrade that SSD yourself later on, it is gonna cost a lot more buying that part separately from Sony.

However, the "good news" is that you may also want to consider going for just a 128GB SSD & use an external HDD to store the rest of your "unnecessary stuff" so as to cut the costs down & so on.... IMHO, it is actually a very good price to get a base Sony VAIO Z with just the 128GB SSD, especially when you can get that "$1,699" base model from retailers like Best Buy.

 

I'm at a dilemma too and just thinking whether to go for the 128gb version or the 256gb. The real capacity left after installing W7 and other necessary software would be under 100gb if going with the cheaper 128gb option. Still, it concerns me that I won't be able to upgrade this thing later down the track.

 

When Sony says 128 GB, it's marketing talk. It's the sum of the internal capacity of the drives, including space used for internal functions like bad block mapping, wear levelling and temporary write areas. I.e. space that can't be used. That leaves you with around 122 GB.

Then, once you partition the drives and add a file system, it goes down further, of course. Then subtract the restore partition. So the real capacity left before installing W7 and other necessary software would likely be under 100 GB.

 

You can always back up the restore partition and then clear the space out. Total capacity should be around 120GB once you clear things up.

 

I am soon getting a Z with HDD ( dont know 1.8 or 2.5) , can I add in a SSD drive for OS Boot ?

 

No. The only drives that will fit are the Samsung special sandwiched drives for the Z, and you can't buy them over the counter.

You could, presumably, order them as repair parts from Sony, along with the cables, connectors and brackets, but that would cost you an arm and a leg, if not a kidney too.

(The 128 GB SSD for the old Z costs $730, without cables, brackets or anything else. Don't expect parts to be much cheaper for the new Z.)

 

what about the HDD bay

 

Yes, you can take out your HDD and replace it with a 2.5" SATA SSD.
You'll likely break the warranty, though.

 

I dont care about warranty much, 2 1.8" drives in 2.5" bay ??

 

The problem is that for the HDD version, there is a normal SATA port for 1 HDD, and there is an unused slimline SATA port. The latter port cannot be used directly (various reasons). I don't think there's enough space for two hard drives, but for two bare SSDs, yes. I have this thread which details the progress for adding two SSDs in RAID0: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/478785-vaio-vpc-z1-hdd-option-custom-raid-thoughts.html

I've got some minor updates coming up before I get the (first gen) PCB fabricated. I really want to enjoy my Memorial Day long weekend

 

No, two 1.8" drives will not fit in a single 2.5" bay.

 

Weird, because my last laptop Envy was able to fit 1.8" SSD and HDD together . However I'm thinking about replace the ATA HDD on Z with Momentus XT ( SATA ), would it work

 

Wild05kid05, I answered this for you in the other thread.