Has anyone actually replaced a Standard HDD in a Vaio VGN-Z with SSD?

Heya

So Im getting ready to buy an intel X25-M SSD drive,
but I was on the phone with sony support about my VGN-Z26GN (last year model Z not current one)

Which has a normal HDD drive, and I asked him if I can install a 2.5" SSD drive. He said it wouldnt fit.. I was thinkin ? Ain't it the same size? He said nah it wouldnt fit and even if you did put it in, you'd have to recode the motherboard or something...

Can someone please advise me what this guy was talking about and if its legit.
I'm almost certain I have read people on this forum replacing their HDD's in the Vaio Z with SSD's.....

 

Maybe the guy you were talking to was confused and was thinking about the Z11 which, as you know, does not have enough room to allow for that.

 

Ah I see, if I remember right there was a guide on replacing the HDD on the Core2Duo Z series. Any idea where I can find it?

 

It's a simple replacement. just remove the keyboard/top plae, then your old hdd and put the new ssd in it's place. I've done it a few times on VGN-Z.

 

Trying the sticky at the top, it leads to this post, with a link to the website:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...assembly-guides-instructions.html#post4127417

 

Not too sure what country you live in, but I have the exact same machine as you and am planning a nice wee list of mods for mine. One them is the HDD -> SSD.

Considering that the stock HDD is a 2.5' as standard, it is possible to replace that HDD with a 2.5' Intel X25 SSD. Just swap out the drives, screw her back in, and voila~. No extra parts or the like required; the flex cable, screws, etc etc can all be reused from the original Z26 setup.

Now, if you are more adventureous like myself, I'm planning a RAID0 setup with 2x 1.8' uSATA drives.
Since we are talking about 2x drives (aiming for 2x 256GB Samsung MLC-chipped drives; SLC chips don't seem to be available yet for 1.8'), I need to source a RAID cable which also seems to allow for a JBOD setup as well, and a brand new SSD holder / bracket.

...And if I were you, I'd phone back that sales rep and give him the verbal one-finger salute (provided it wasn't a genuine misunderstanding between the new and old Z).
Both HDD and SSD are 2.5' and both are interchangeable. And no so-called re-encoding required if you just plan on a single SSD swap-out (RAIDing might require a new BIOS firmware and some extra managment software). All you need to do is reinstall Windows and all the official drivers MINUS the HDD-G-Sensor driver, and you're sweet to go.

If you haven't tried opening your Z up yet, then I wouldn't suggest modding yourself until you get enough experience. It is quite a task opening her up the first time, and the chances of you messing up can be extremely high if you do not know what you are doing.

 

just be very gentle, opening the 1st gen Z isn't as easy as the new Z11. Various gentle bits in there that could break if you're not being careful. once open, swapping out the drive is easy.