Sony S15 2012 Disassembly + ODD Caddy Video Tutorial

Hey Sony Forum,
So I went ahead and made a video tutorial showing how to replace the optical disk drive with another hard drive using a caddy. The video also briefly covers replacing the original hard drive and RAM. This video is only for the new 2012 S15 model. I do not know if the 2012 S13 is laid out in a similar way, as I do not own one.

It should be available in up to 720p.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRmk6jLL30&feature=youtu.be

For those of you who don't want to watch the video/hear my voice, I will also post some high-res pictures showing the screws you need to undo (spoiler: basically all of them) and some of the basic steps in the near future...

[placeholder for future images]

edit: hurp what is a display drive.

 

great guide. +rep for you.

 

thanks a lot. +rep too.

 

Awesome! +rep.

 

Super helpful!
+rep. Awesome work man.

 

so u can put the hard drive in 2 places, or can i just open the keyboard and replace the cd drive? thanks, nice vid. also where can i get a caddy for newer versions like ours?

 

Yes, you have 2 places you can put the hard drive. The primary slot is right underneath the back panel, while the second place is underneath the keyboard by replacing the cd drive with a caddy. As for buying the caddies, any one will do off of ebay etc. The color of the caddy does not matter because the entire caddy is completely internal; you will never see it unless you open the laptop up.

 

ahh thanks can u find me a good hard drive? not that i'm lazy im just a super noob at these things, looking for a 640gb

 

Sorry bro, going to leave that up to you . Are you not getting a solid state drive? Generally, the intention is to get a solid state drive as a boot drive for the speed, then use the hard drive that came with the laptop as a storage/data drive for your movies and games.

 

i got the 128gb solid state drive with my laptop so it works faster because i heard if i bought an ssd and added it to the cd drive it wouldn't be as fast, so instead i got the ssd with the laptop and im going to add a hard drive. and i just ordered this caddy is it good?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G4RZNU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

 

I think that is the same caddy I have, so it should work great.

 

thanks so when i get my laptop i just have to open the keyboard right? bec. in the video u opened the keyboard and something in the bottom of the laptop

and do u know if this hhd is reliabe/quiet/fast? thanks! http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...=skim525X832X11385670a189ee2dac835e7e667ede7f

 

That hard drive looks fine. It is 7200rpm, which means its faster, but it will take a little more battery/be a touch noisier.
And you will have to follow all the steps I did unfortunately. All 21 screws need to be removed in order to take the keyboard off. Some of those screws are underneath the back plate.

 

aww man lol im scared to open the whole laptop so anyways would u choose that hdd or this 1? Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint M8 HN-M750MBB 750GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive

thanks

 

Would a 12.7mm caddy work? If not I'll have to buy the 9.5.... haha

 

sadly i dont think so, im about 95% sure don't take it for sure tho, ask this forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...ial-2012-sony-s-series-owners-thread-149.html

 

Quick question, were there any of those annoying clips holding the laptop together or was it mostly just screws?

 

No, no "clips". Not sure what you are talking about though.

 

A lot of laptops have what I would consider clips holding them down. Most often they are found on the bezel but quite a few laptops that I have worked on had clips holding down the bottom half of the laptop. I only asked because they are a pain to get off without breaking any at all.

 

About replacing the main HDD, I would like to reoace with Crucial M4 512GB.
Is it ok and streatforward process or the is somthing that I should know about.

 

i don't think ssd's work as fast as they should if you put them in the cd drive.

 

That's not true, both places will work at the same speed. However, the ssd should go into the space underneath the back plate, because the computer sees that drive as being the primary drive. I take out the hard drive within the first 4 minutes of the video. It ins't hard.

 

so if i only want to replace the cd drive i have to open the back but do not have to replace anything in it correct?

 

what's the battery life without and with the hard drive in the OD slot

 

You will have to take out the primary hard drive anyways in order to undo the two ribbon cables underneath it

Negligibly different.

 

thanks great vid/info - Im trying to decide between this laptop and the U2442N - one thing putting me off this was that Sony wants €570 for a 256GB SSD when they go for less than €200 in the shops. But if I can easily change it myself, which it looks like I can, then I am willing to consider this machine. I went through their manuals but there was no info about changing the hdd so glad to find it here.

Also a shame they didnt include thunderbolt - its the last thing making me hesitate as I think in the next couple of years that I plan on running this machine it might come in handy
cheers!

 

Yeah, lack of thunderbolt was a bummer. Still, I figured usb 3.0 was going to be enough for me.
The only thing I would caution against with the u2242n is that it might (we dont know yet) but it might get very hot very quickly, as it is such a small form factor for a full 640m.

 

What's the brand of the original SSD that comes with S15? And how many inch?

 

does anyone know if the caddy size is the same for the S13?

 

It should be

 

Got a 9.5mm caddy off Amazon, it fits fine in my S13. I had to unscrew a piece of plastic on my caddy to fit the DVD drive "brushes" piece back into place, but that was no trouble.

Is there a way to power down the hard drive when not using it? I think I might just disable it in the bios and enable it when I need it.

 

yo awesome video... thanks for posting, my question is how did you get your OS on your SSD? I should get my s15 (and I believe it doesn't come with recover discs so you cant do clean install) and was thinking to use Norton ghost but wonder if thats the best way to do it? E.g. trim settings and so on?

 

this is a step-by-step guide i used (and later wrote) to clone my HDD to my new Crucial M4 SSD using Norton Ghost (the 32-bit version). when i booted off the SSD, TRIM was already set by Windows. i had to do some other tweaks manually though (just see the guide i linked to at the bottom of my own guide).

 

is there anyway to get the windows out from the harddrive and then just plug in ssd and re-install it? I know that doing recovery dvd wont work unless the ssd matches with exact size of orginal hdd?

Any Ideas?

 

You can just download a Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft and install that. Just use the product key at the bottom of the laptop.

 

yeah i got the new copy of windows installed but my samsung 830 ssd has lost half of its performance ... its just horrible and i have no idea what is going on. any ideas here?

 

Someone Knows?

 

It's two sony specific ssds in raid 0. they are very fast

 

Hello there, I liked your video tutorial!

I've found this caddy, it's for a 9,5 mm drive: Designer's 2.5" SATA to SATA HDD / SSD Caddy for 9.5mm Optical Drive - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

That should work right? Dimensions: 5.04 in x 5.00 in x 0.47 in (12.8 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.2 cm)

 

Actually it has nothing to do with Sony's raid or their drives, it's the fact that when you put in your own SSD they drop it down to sata 2 speeds. The only way around it is to go in to the bios, disable your optical drive (or second hard drive if you have one), boot the laptop, then sleep it, and wake it from sleep. I found this solution and posted it in another thread.

Sony NEUTERS their laptops to sata 2 unless you are using their SSDs. Who knows if it's so they can market theirs as faster or not, but it could be other reasons like bugs etc.

I honestly don't think you'll notice a difference between sata 2 and 3 unless you really pound your ssd with large amounts of data...large file transfers etc.

 

I was wondering the exact same thing.
Is that is the dolly to chose or is Designer's 2.5" SATA to SATA HDD Caddy for Apple MacBook Pro better?
The one you linked seems to be thicker according to the speccs. It says that 12.8 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.2 cm
While the apple marked one is 13.0 cm x 12.7 cm x 0.9 cm

So im not sure what one to chose :S

 

@wizzardxexe

"Sorry" for dropping off and calling directly in a post, but as you've opened the S15 up and probably checked it all out and probably fiddled with it, I got an important question (for me ) :

How do you feel about its build quality? I've seen plenty of Vaios that look like they'll last a couple years maximum (bad plastics, hinges start to fall apart, heating problems consume the interior, you name it) and as Sony doesn't have the nicest warranty service around I'm concerned about it.

This laptop is like an all-in-one for me and covers all my needs (could've had more battery life, but it's a non-issue), but I fear for the build quality. It doesn't look bad at first glance, but the cooling system is a bit weird (no intakes nearby, the outtake is a bit limited, not sure about the quality of the thermal contacts, etc) and people are saying that the material feels plasticky (it's supposed to be magnesium alloy, but is it all magnesium alloy or is it mostly plastic?). No stores nearby me have it for display so I can't go and judge it (and much less open it up), so it'd be nice to have someone experienced comment on its build quality, cooling system efficiency and lasting durability.

I take VERY good care of my laptops, they don't even fall or bump into stuff, I recently sold an Acer Timeline 4810TG (2 years old) basically like new, only the Windows licence sticker on the bottom was a bit faded, even the palmrest stickers were pristine. But still I'm concerned seeing the Vaio laptop history I've seen, and I want a laptop I can still sell after like 1-2 years or so.

In a nutshell, I'd be so very much appreciated if you could do a somewhat thorough review on build quality, cooling system and durability in general (guesstimate of how many years could it last).

Thanks a lot, and excuse me for the long post but I felt the need to carefully explain my request.

Edit: I'm not too concerned about the lid flex when you open \ close because it seems to be a feature (so it bends instead of breaking in case of a bump), but it'd be nice as well to have a comment on it. Thanks again =)

 

great guide. +rep for you.

 

I just choose the cheap one being 1,2 cm in height.. I figured I could always try and "cut" it down or something if it wouldn't fit.. We'll see in a few weeks if I'm able to use it

 

Yeah i orderd it also.
Its so cheap so its not a huge deal if its wrong. Its more annoying to have to dissasemble the computer twice then to pay an extra 15bucks for a new bay.

 

True.. But, I think we can "hack" the caddy if it doesn't fit in height I think it should be possible to cut some of it off

EDIT:
Is yours the 13 inch or 15 inch model? Mine's the 13 inch model.

 

I have the 15s

 

Here's my opinion on the build quality.

1: It's pretty plasticEE...the chassis seems to be magnesium and where they save a lot of weight, they also save weight in the screen etc. (not backed heavily like a lenovo)

2: The outsides/screen back/palmrest/underside are all very lightweight plastic (but so are most laptops). They don't feel breakable or fragile, but they are super light.

3: The cooling is somewhere in between the good cooling you see on larger/heavier asus laptops, and a crappy Macbook pro cooling. If you've ever used a MBP and actually taxed the processor for any length of time, they fans hit about 5000rpm constantly, the sony doesn't do that. I run virtual machines and some visual studio on it, and it occasionally "ramps up" the fans, but it's about half the loudness of the equivalent MBP i7. I think cooling is very acceptable for a less than 1" thick 4.4lb laptop. I was pleasantly surprised for the form factor. They have grills cut on one side by the ports, and I do think that helps get cool air over the components.

The lid is flimsy, but not an issue if you open it from the center which I usually do anyway.

I was going to ask you how you take care of things...I think the Sony S15 is a laptop for people that are anal and take care of their equipment, if you are hard on things, or just toss the laptop around, I think it will take a toll on it maybe more so than another laptop. It'll last 5yrs if you want it to...it really just depends on you.

Despite what most people say about the orangy screen, it's phenomenal and much better than any other 15 I've used (blows macs out of the water aside from the retina). I love the fact that it's matte and IPS, i have IPS on my x220/Sony S15 and I'm not sure I'll ever use a TN panel again....so easy on the eyes.

Hope this helps...

 

Sorry, I'm out of the country and have been for a while, just got internet access. I pretty much agree with jlrosine about the build quality (light magnesium feels a bit like plastic), but I think the laptop should hold up pretty well if you take care of it. I personally don't hold onto laptops for more than two years (my last was a 4820tg) but compared to the ones I've previously owned (a range that includes practically every laptop manufacturer) the s15 feels like the most solid laptop I've owned, aside from an asus g50 which felt solid simply because it was made with 7 pounds of thick plastic.

 

I see. I'm also out of the country (in sweden atm), but i'll be buying a new laptop by around the end of the momth when i get back.

If it feels as solid as my last thinkpad x121e i'll be happy. Just worried about it because i don't think i can just return the laptop like people in the US do, and Sony support sucks.

Thanks for the feedback, guys