Replacing Optical with HD/SSD in SA/SB/SC/SD series

Could someone do me a favor and summarize the benefits of putting the SSD or the stock HDD in the optical port?

I have read through the thread and it seems that one could do it either way but I am a little unclear of what the actual benefits of either approach might be.

I currently have my SSD with a clean install in the main HD slot and will be installing the stock HDD with the computer in place of the OD.

I should have all my parts tomorrow so any advice would really be appreciated.

 

The main HD slot is the best place to attach a SSD because that port is SATA 3 and the optical drive ( to the best of my knowledge ) is rated at SATA 2.

This would only matter if you have a newer SSD that would benefit from the added bandwidth made available by SATA 3.

Your plan is sound and is what most everyone here has done.

 

Could someone please explain to me how to install the SSD? I have it plugged into the main hd bay, and the hdd in the od. Can't I just make a recovery disc and then use it to install windows? Or do i need to make the recovery image? I looked at duides and it just made it sound like it just works without having to do anything, which makes me think I did something wrong, or I'm just not getting it, because when I have both drives in, it boots from the OD where the HDD is, and when i unplug the HDD, it just says, "NO operating system" That all makes sense to me, but I just don't get what to do now.

If someone could just spell out what I need to do or point me to a guide that does...I would be very happy. Meanwhile, I'll try to figure it out myself.

 

Log4n, I'll try and spell it out and make it easy to understand!

Ok, so it was not directly stated anywhere but yes, you will need to make a recovery disc. It will take 3 DVDs or so, make sure to use quality dvds if you can. Anyhow, you will then need to use either an external optical drive or temporarily re-install the optical drive the computer came with. Use the disks to restore the computer, follow the instructions when you boot from the disks.

When the process finishes, and windows is up and running format the hard drive in the optical bay so it will not try and boot off of it.

I hope this is of some help, if you have any more questions please ask them. I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment so I may have not explained everything well.

Best of luck!

 

Ok, here's what I did: 1st I created a system repair disc which only used one CD, and that got me to the restoring menu. I also made the recovery system image, and that took 8 DVDs. To restore the image, it prompted me to put the final disc of the image DVDs in, but then it wouldn't recognize it, so I went through the other 7 discs to see if they would be recognized, and they weren't. I just don't get it.

Thanks for your help Lazybee

 

My best guess to what is happening would be that the last disc( or the last two) were created with some errors. It is known to happen.

If at all possible try and recreate the disks...it is not a fun task but it should make the recovery process work.

Worst case, order a set of recovery discs direct from Sony.

 

I am remaking the discs now. Every disc I put in have to be formatted. That doesn't make sense since they are new blank DVDs, and sometimes its not successfully formatted. Could the DVDs be the problem?

 

It is possible the DVDs are the problem but considering all but the last disc were successful I find it likely that something went wrong when you were burning the last disc (computer error not yours)

 

New message: No disk that can be used for recovering the system can be found

That makes sense, I just just need to resize the HDD to 120gb, then recreate the recovery discs?

 

That does seem to make sense, I'm sorry I'm not of more help! Best of luck with that, a resized partition should correct the latest error.

 

Three questions.
1. Will any old 2.5" hard drive fit in one of these? I'd love to get 1 TB in my HDD bay.
2. I assume there is a battery life impact - are any drives more power efficient than others?
3. Any recommended or available enclosure for the ODD if I'd like to have it available for use still?

 

1. Any SATA 2.5" hard drive that is 9.5mm in height will fit. Some older 1TB hard drives are made 12.5mm and will not fit correctly. Both WD and Samsung have compatible drives on the market. The WD Blue is known for being energy conservative. At this point I would doubt there is a noticeable difference in power drain between the existing 1TB drives.

2. Battery life is likely not going to be greatly impacted. Yes, the computer will be drawing more but if it is used as a storage drive the idle power consumption will be low.

3. As for an enclosure, there are a few choices. Most of the ones sold are the same exact piece of hardware with different logos printed on. ( I have ordered 3 from different distributors )

Check ebay or amazon for a 'slim dvd enclosure sata'

Or take a look at the one I linked below, it works great although the drive is not a perfect fit. The majority of these enclosures are made for 12.5mm drives so they WILL WORK with the one you pull from your sony, but they likely will not be a perfect fit. If you can handle a small imperfection in the look of the drive then you are set.

Amazon.com: USB 2.0 External Slim CD/DVD Drive Enclosure Case For Laptop Notebook CD-RW DVD Drive with IDE Connector (Only Case!!): Electronics

Hope that can be of some help. Please ask away if you have other questions.

 

That was of incredible help. Thank you so much. Will hunt down a "blue" drive. I probably don't need a TB, but it would be nice

The link you shared with me says that it has an IDE connector... Won't that not work with the Sony? I thought that used a SATA for the ODD.

If anyone has used one with success from newegg or amazon, would love to source from one of those two.

Thx!

 

Yikes! You are correct -- I had done a very quick search to find it and hadn't checked the description.

This one below is a better match.

Amazon.com: USB2.0 Slim DVD / CD RW Burner External Enclosure Caddy Case with SATA Connetor For all Laptop Notebook dvd cd burner[ Case only!! Drive is not included !!]: Electronics

 

Thanks, glad I'm not too nuts Will place an order and see how it goes.

 

anyone have a good source for hdd caddy
and black bezel for SA
thanks in advance!!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...tical-drive-hard-drive-guide-sa-sb-sc-sd.html

Please refer here. All your questions should be answered. It is a little easier to look through than this long thread.

 

Finally got my caddy, which was the linked Fendi, but there doesn't seem to be any screw points to mount the HDD. Is it secure when just held in via the SATA connection? Am I missing the obvious?

 

That is normal, the hard drive does not attach via screws. The few that I have had mount with a small plastic filler piece -- this removes any chance of movement. (If you don't have one than I would suggest find a piece of foam or other plastic and fit it into the open space behind the drive. (opposite the sata port end )

When inserted into the computer the fit is very close and will prevent any movement.

 

Thanks lazybee, good thing the janitor hadn't thrown out the box from my office... There was a small plastic filler buried in there

I think the screws included with the caddy just confused me. And now to get that faceplate on...

 

Hi

Does anyone (perhaps leland) have any feedback on the USB enclosures for the pulled Sony DVD drive? Which one is best fit, etc? Looking at doing this with my Sony SA when it arrives.

Thanks

 

http://www.amazon.com/External-Enclosure-Connetor-Notebook-included/dp/B00274HQY0/ref=pd_cp_e_4

This one of perhaps.. 3 or 4 models sold online -- commonly anyhow -- 90% of the ones sold on amazon/ebay are the exact same device but stamped with a different logo.

I've searched, and so far have not found, a 9.5mm enclosure. The one linked above is for a 12.5mm drive, however it works fine with the Sony drives.

 

Looks like NewmodeUS now carries a direct kit. Slightly more money, but there is no modding involved...

2nd HDD / SSD caddy for Sony VAIO SA, SB Series

Adding a 2nd HDD / SSD to Sony Vaio SA, SB series laptop - YouTube

 

Wow that looks really good. A bit more expensive, but no stuffing around and no risk to your optical drive.

Might consider it, sometime in the future.

 

The few who started this thread knew Newmodeus was going to be putting out a product like this, but at the time their timeline was somewhat unknown and was delayed for a time as well. They do make good products but if you wish to save and tinker around a little than the options provided in this thread might suit you!

 

Why white and black and no silver? I'd get one if they had a silver one since my SA is silver...I was expecting silver and black but white?

 

To be honest, its hard to even tell from their pictures or video if the white is actually white or silver....Hum...

 

-- doublepost

 

From the youtube video

The Bay is actually White. The lighting might be making it look silver.

newmodeUS 1 hour ago

 

I emailed them and here's what I got as a reply:

I'm baffled...I don't understand why they prefer to make a white version before a silver one. Here the SA is Black or Silver.

 

The little mod that was worked out and in this thread works like a charm. Slightly more hassle for a superior or equal product.

 

I might have to go that route.

 

Can you tell me your 510 SSD is working under SATA3 or 2?
Cuz i have the same system as u have, but my 510 is only running in SATA2..
should I install anything drivers or ?
I will be highly apperciated for youor help..

 

You will have SATA 3 Speeds if you install the SSD where the original hard drive came installed.

The Optical Bay is rated at SATA 2 and would be best suited for a hard drive.

 

I have been running on my 120GB 510 series SSD since i got my SB. I just got my caddy from newmodus this morning and installed the 500gb hitachi OEM which came with the laptop. BIOS dont detect the hdd but it looks fine within windows 7. i was wondering if this is the case for everyone else. Can I possibly install linux in the HDD and boot from it by changing in BIOS?

thanks for ur replies in advance.

 

I'm not entirely sure about this setup, however I believe you can set the bios to boot from either 'external device' or 'cd drive' first before the 'hard drive'

A really quick test would be installing something along the lines of damn small linux and testing if it boots. As long as you have not loaded it up with data yet it is a quick way to rule out, or rule in this possibility.

I would test it myself but I've filled my secondary drive already!
Please report back as I'm very curious about how this works out. Can't wait to hear the results!

 

hwinfo says SATA 1.5 Gb/s for hitachi and 6 Gb/s for SSD. just found out there is a new BIOS update. downloading it. now. gonna install ubuntu or so for the sake of finding out if i can boot by selecting optical bay

 

The new BIOS update reported limits the main SATA port to 3gbps speed, though no one has confirmed with benchmarks, so...?

 

googled with the BIOS version and found a thread which said so. so avoided updated BIOS. now gonna try fedora on second hdd.

 

just installed Ubuntu. installation went smooth. i selected the Hitachi drive to install grub and it wont boot from the obhd. i think i shud try installing GRUB to SSD MBR and it might redirect from there.

 

^ I would agree. Try GRUB on the SSD and it should redirect to a different drive with ease.

 

I waited till ubuntu 11.10 was released. found out 11.10 dont show enuf installation option so had to install 10.04 first to get the MBR options and installed MBR to another usb stick. it worked fine on 10.04 but when i updated to 11.10, i couldnt find any option to select where to install mbr. So it went into my ssd and it does work fine. Grub shows all the lousy list which i always hate. now i am curious if i can transfer GRUB to a USB and restore my SSD MBR so windows will boot naturally and only when i need linux, i need to plug in the usb and boot from it.

 

That might work, but GRUB can be a bit fussy. Try BURG. With Burg-manager you can make a wonderful looking option screen, with minimal hassle. All from the GUI in Ubuntu!
I can point you towards more info if you want.

 

i tried to install the burg this morning but it simply wont start. Guess gotta wait a while to let them build the ocelot repo. am already getting a feeling that 11.10 is lousy like 11.04 and lost its linux charm in the struggle to make it look like osx. i might just remove the whole thing and restore my original mbr if it continue to irritate me and wait for fedora16 nd see how it feels like.

thanks for the recommendations anyway.

 

how much power will the laptop use when with the extra hard disk? any appreciable decrease in battery life?

 

Agh..it does tend to happen. Last I tried it was with 11.04. Either way, it should be possible soon.

 

I've failed to notice any difference in power consumption thus far. If you intend on running dual HDD and no SSD then the consumption may impact battery life. Otherwise, with an SSD and HDD you should be very close to stock battery life. If using the drive as storage and only accessing it once in a while you will find that it is idling most often and draws negligible amounts of power.

 

is there some place i can set the power option for the second hdd without affecting the ssd?

am gonna wait till burg for 11.10 is released. since I stay inside windows for weeks without a reboot, its easier.

 

To the best of my knowledge, and I have tried diligently, I cannot find any option or setting that would allow separate control over the second HDD.

As another option to your current dual boot setup, have you considered WUBI? I've been using it for the last few hours with Win 7 and 11.10 and have found it to run very smoothly.

 

i jus noticed that my batterlife on balanced mode came down to 3hrs since the hdd on 100% charge. used to go abt 4-5 hrs. mostly when i playbak movies from the hdd or download torrents on to the hdd.

hvnt tried WUBI yet. will sure give it a shot. had it on vmware but i somehow dont enjoy the feel of it.