Pictures of my new Z with 640GB HD in place of DVD drive

I really wanted the Z but I was afraid that the 256 SSD wouldn't be enough storage. I couldn't find confirmation of anyone swapping the (to me useless) DVD drive for a HDD. So, I bought it anyways with hopes that it would work - and it did. I don't have much time today but I wanted to get the pictures up and let those of you who are interested in doing this know that it can be done, and it is pretty easy. I used hot glue to hold it in place because it is light, sturdy, and can be removed fairly easily when necessary. I will post links later where you can get the optical HDD caddies which I took apart to get the circuit boards from. The first few pictures show the optical HDD caddy that I later discarded (keeping the circuit-board with the microSATA to SATA connectors).

 

It is giving me problems uploading photos. I'll try a couple/few at a time.

 

A few more. (9 total)

 

This should do it.

 

Anyone who stumbles upon this thread should also check out the following.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=469244

If a moderator is able to move this to the main Sony thread it would be greatly appreciated. Don't know how I accidentally put it here. (duh)

 

Thank you very much for doing that John.

This is something I definitely want to try as well. I also looked at the one you pointed to in Zoinks thread.

The two of you are my new heroes.

 

Awesome Mod! Where does the SSD sit in relation to the cd/dvd drive caddie? The SSD does not have two caddies for 2 drives? What size are they?
Thanks so much!

 

I was so excited that the HDD was fitting and being recognized by the computer that I didn't pay much attention to the SSDs that were already in there. ZoinksS2k has some previous posts with excellent pictures and I'm pretty sure he illustrates where the SSDs are in those.

 

Thanks. Please let us know how it goes. Make sure you keep track of where the screws go. I used ZoinksS2k idea of printing out a picture of the bottom of the computer and then sticking the screws through the paper where they go. If I hadn't done this I would have had problems.

Everyone should remember to up ZoinksS2k's "Rep Power".

 

I have since replaced the HDD with an Intel X-25 160GB SSD because the HDD developed a rhythmic (every 7 seconds) ticking. The X-25 is my boot drive now and seems to boot a little faster than in Sony SSD Raid.

 

Any idea if a 12mm drive would fit in the caddy?

 

What kind of HDD caddy did you use to get the sata to microsata adapter? How did you get inside? why did you use hot glue instead of the adapter?

 

I doubt a 12mm drive would fit, but if the headroom allows it, maybe if it bulges out of the caddy it would fit.

 

Would this mod make it possible to do a triple raid configuration by adding a 64gb ssd drive?

 

Was the rhythmic tick related to a manufacturing defect in the drive or something related to the installation. Why did you go for another SSD?

 

Didn't someone already post in the main thread that he put in 1TB hdd in place of optical? I don't think he used caddy though.

 

john556 you are one brave guy! thanks for the pics. my z115 has 500gb with no built-in optical drive.

 

I will be answering the preceding questions and posting more pics when I get time in the next few days. Thanks.

 

In my experience that ticking sound is due to insufficient voltage.

 

Thanks for the notes here!

 

John, any chance you could post links to the adapter you bought? Cheers!