VAIO TZ -- swapping DVD drive for 2.5" hard drive?

I would really love to do this as I just about never use my DVD drive and could really use the faster speeds and MUCH more storage space a 2.5" HDD provides.

Scotty, how did you go about doing this? Are there specific step-by-step instructions posted in this thread because I haven't fully read it. Or did you just know what to do and just needed to get the parts?

Even with specific, step-by-step instructions, I'd probably break something, I can take things apart but not put them together. I just don't have technical expertise......yet.

Maybe I will pay someone to do this for me, I want to dump my useless DVD drive for a 500gb HDD!

 

I've served my time as a PC, notebook and printer repair technician many years ago, so I feel highly confident in my own abilities. If you aren't confident in your abilities, don't do it. If you are confident, it's actually a rather easy project.

It's scary opening up a $2000 laptop (that nobody here really paid that much for, I hope.) You just have to be careful.

I didn't follow any particular instructions, I just knew what screws to remove and what parts to order (thank you jmuffat!) from previous posts here. I had to figure out how to put the parts together, like a puzzle.

 

Once you take the bottom off the screws to remove inside are pretty self-explanitory. Including taking the notebook apart and putting everything in to put the notebook back together it took about 30 minutes. Its not hard to do you just have to take your time and be careful.

 

EDIT: SOLD. If anybody wants my 2.5" HDD swap kit, PM me, I'll sell the parts for exactly what I paid, and you won't have to wait for the backorder to be filled from Sony (and the cable is already folded properly.)

My TZ sizzled on me yesterday. It's either the motherboard or the lcd inverter (built into the lcd). The cable between them smoldered and shorted for some reason.

So I'm giving up on Sony.

This was a refurb, so the 90 day warranty is past. These little ultraportables require a lot of gentle loving care, and even then things can go wrong, and they can cost a fortune to fix.

If there are other parts you want from my TZ, PM me, and I'll let you know what I would like for it.

I will be parting it out on ebay this week.

Thanks and best wishes to all you TZ owners out there!

Scott

 

Hi i'll take this, I'm from the UK so we can sort it out with paypal, the PM system on here is not working..

 

sorry, sold it already.

 

Can you Believe the Top of the Line TZ in the UK Costs £2100, about $4100 US, where as in the US you can get the same model but with a built in 250GB 2.5" HD for only $3000 US, so what gives?..

So can anoyone source me the Hard drive adapter parts if you feel sorry for how much I have to pay, unfortunately sony do not ship the parts outside of the US..

https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonySty...2BC29B854725B70EA94700A8000000002BC29B72)/.do

 

Hey Scotty,

I'm interested in purchasing the entire component necessary to reconvert my built in 2.5" hd into the internal dvd. Do you still have it and will you sell it to me?

Basically I want to do the opposit eo fwhat everyone in this thread is trying to do as I think a built in a dvd drive is more convenient for me than an addittional HD.

Thank

AIM & Yahoo = nhtran328

 

he already sold it

 

He sold his DVD drive?

 

thats the reason for the recall...

 

Kapton tape - shielding tape for avoid high temeprature from hotair or PCB elements. During heating using hot air we often demage plastic elements or sometimes BGA balls demage due hot air occurs. This tape will allows you to forgot about such problems forever.

SO what does the tz kapton tape look like and where does it go?

 

Sorry, wrong thread.

 

Meansizzler: I never used the kapton tape on mine and never figured out where it would go. On another note I sold my TZ on ebay for 1625 Not as much as I wanted but hey I only spent 1k on the laptop so not bad.

I am still selling the harddrive adapter with everything needed to hook it up. PM me if interested ill charge the same price sony charges you just wont have to wait for the parts to arrive and then figure how they go together since mine is already assembled Free shipping within the US too. I can ship internationally but that will be more.

 

Why is everyone selling their TZ's?, you'd think with the hard drive adapter installed it would make them want to keep it even more...

 

I sold my tz since sony gave me the brandnew replacement one and I also got a new MBP from work so no need for 2 laptops.

 

Here's my dilemma guys. I bought the HDD kit for my TZ150N, got it to work for about 5 months, then the recall happens. I sent my laptop in and just got it back this weekend. Before sending it in, I removed the kit, and put the normal DVD drive back in there. After I got the laptop back, I attempted to reinstall the kit in, and this time it doesn't recognize my 2.5" Seagate 5400.4 250GB drive. It worked just fine before, so I don't know why it doesn't work now. I tried restore the BIOS back to factory setting multiple times, but that doesn't work. One thing is that I took off the battery and just leave the power adapter on when turning on the machine to test for the 2.5" harddrive. Is that the cause of the problem? Is there anybody who got the laptop back from the recall servicing and install in the HDD kit with no problem? Also, do you get it to work with the battery on, if that is the case, can you please test what happens if you take the battery out and power it on via only the AC adapter? Thank you for any input.

PS: I also want to add that my 1.8" HDD works just fine, the third USB port also works just fine via the AC adapter with no battery attached. I never attached the battery on during all the things I do above. Is that the source of the problem? Can anyone confirm this?

 

did the same thing you did, they actually even replaced the mobo cause I had a usb power problem. Nonetheless, apart from having to reset the BIOS, everything works fine, in all the configurations you mentioned. Any chance you didn't fit some connector properly in there? There is always the risk you fried the connector board with static while putting it back in. Best of luck.

j.

 

Thanks for the confirmation, I'll probably try it again. If it still isn't working, I guess I'm just out of luck and a component got fried, I just need to determine which one to order a replacement. Thank you anyway. Rep+

 

How many size can we replace hdd with optical drive? 500gb hdd more thickness and cannot suitable for TZ,right?

 

I got a little lost in this thread. But I know I want to convert my DVD drive to a hard drive.

I want to get the kit. Where can I buy it @? I live in the US.

I have a TZ290

 

I have the kit that I'm not using anymore, if you want to buy it, send me a pm. The only thing that isn't functional is the actual HDD connector that you can buy separately. The actual kit costs me about $200. I can sell you all the pieces for $100. You can order the connector separately for about $70. I can also tell you where to buy it too. Let me know if you're interested. Most pieces are metal, so there's no possibility for malfunctioning there.

 

Anyone know where I can get this in Australia? I dont think the US sony DAPC ships overseas. Very tempted to get a SSD in there. hehe. Was thinking of getting the samsung 1.8in SSD but they are not worth the price. esp when you consider they are on PATA and not SATA

 

Wow it really costs that much!? Thats quite a bit to replace a drive. Must be cuz the lappy is small...I think thats too much for me to just add a drive. Thank you for explaining it to me and your offer... But now I dont want it. I think I am good with a 100gb.

 

Yeah, I kindof understand why you don't want it. Don't worry, I'll probably buy the damaged connector again myself and add that in. I already have a 32GB SSD as my main drive. I'll add a new 500GB into it for storage. That'll make this machine the cornerstone of portability and storage. ;P

 

hello: i purchased my TZ90 from japan, and it came with a 32GB solid state drive + a 160GB spinning drive. I would like to upgrade the spinning drive to a larger capacity: can someone confirm what type of drive i should purchase ? my understanding from this thread = a 2.5" SATA drive would work, like this one or this one

can you confirm that i'm correct ?

Any advice on which of these 2 drives is best ?

many thanks !

Seb

 

Western Digital is the best of the two. Benchmark here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=307430

Samsung benchmark is here (scroll down to the middle of the page)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=291167&page=2&highlight=samsung+500gb

 

zephir, do you still have the TZ hdd kit?

also, can we keep the 1.8" 100gb, and add a 2.5" SSD??

 

Yes I do. In fact, I sold my TZ recently and took out the 1.8" Sandisk SSD. If anybody is interested in either the HDD kit or the SSD, I have them available.
TO answer your question: Yes, you can keep the 1.8" HDD, and add an 2.5" SSD. I remembered that somebody on this same thread stated that he got a 500GB 2.5" HDD and gets rid of the 1.8" HDD entirely. That's another possibility that you can consider.

 

well... i dunno how to pm...
so.. can we boot using the 2.5"?
and whats missing from ur kit?

 

I Swapped the Optical Drive with a 400GB WD Scorpio Back in November, Swapped the stock 1.8" HD for 32GB Mtron SSD, speed wise I get 48MB/s Sustained Transfer Rate from SSD to 2.5" HD and Vice versa..

Never used the thing though since I done the swap, as I bought an Asus N10J which is 1/4 the price and does everything the TZ does as well as playing HD Video and Gaming, not much bigger than the TZ Either..

£2000 of Kit just sitting there, laptop is only 5 months old, bought it new in september 08 for £1500, then £100 for the 2.5" HD, £170 for SSD, £120 for HD Kit..

If I want a really small ultra portable Lappy I use my £300 HP mini 700/mininote 1000, even has intergrated HSDPA, if I want more power I use my £500 Asus N10J, both have 1.6GHZ Atom, best thing is I get 19MB/s read from the card readers, where the TZ only manages 2-3 MB/s

 

As I said in my post, yes you can boot from the 2.5" alone. I don't know whether you can boot with 2.5" if you also have your 1.8" in there.
The missing part is a $70 ribbon cable.
The total price for the kit if you buy them separately is $200 plus tax. I'll sell all parts for $100 without ribbon cable mentioned above

 

Sigh, can't decide if i should get the mtron 1.8in ssd, since i have the hdd kit i can just buy a 2.5in ssd (a little later on this year) at the loss of internal hard drive space (500gb WD) but better speeds since it's a SATA connection (compared to the mtron).


How hard is it to replace the 1.8in hdd ?

 

Why not upgrade both, get the Mtron SSD and the 500GB WD I have both 32GB Mtron and 400GB GB WD, with some messing about with the Cmos Settings you can use the sony restore disc to restore the OS to the SSD, even if it does say 32GB is too small it will work as it is plenty of space...

 

Hello.

I have read this whole thread without finding a link to where i can buy this dvd to 2.5" hdd.

Can someone please forward be to a supplier?

Is it possible to use the extra hard drive (SSD) as C: and use the old Hitachi 1.8" as a storage drive?

Regards,
H29

 

Zephir,

do you still have the kit? I'm interested.

 

What is the largest 1.8" drive (non SDD and SDD) that would work with the TZ190? I'm looking to replace my 32gb 1.8" SSD for a 1.8" larger in size. Speed isn't important for me, then looking to sell the stock 32gb 1.8" SSD.


Thanks,
Mike

 

This is a thread about swapping DVD drive for a 2.5" HDD. Why don't you make a new thread for your question, as it's not relevant to this thread?

 

I still have the kit. Sorry for the late response. I haven't visited this thread in a long time.

 

The Toshiba MK2431GAH [240GB]

The stock OEM drive [100GB] that shipped with my TZ160C is a Toshiba MK1011GAH (same dimensions, weight, etc. as the new MK2431GAH [240GB]

Can't find a link to buy it directly though. Only place is RapidRepair, for iPods: http://www.rapidrepair.com/shop/3119-hard-drive-disk-mk2431gah.html

 

E-mail me @ [email protected] and I will buy the kit from you if possible.

 

I'm also interested in buying the kit, let me know if its still available.

 

skippy911.. did you sell your kit yet...
and does anyone know the part number or numbers for this hard drive thingy so we can get it from sony

 

Just want to jump in and give a shout that I still have the kit. You'll need to purchase the HDD ribbon cable on your own though. Even if you buy it on your own, you'll still save money on shipping and tax. PM me if interested.

Sale thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=383901

What's funny is that I put this thread up for a year and nobody was interested, and there are suddenly lots of interest now

 

It's in this thread, start reading. You will find other useful info as well.

 

That's because a bunch of us picked up the $474 TZ295s at Sears. Mine ended up costing $174 after trading in a throw away laptop I had in the closet to Sony.

So I want to do this. What's the minimum number of parts I can get away it? I'm thinking just the cable and the plate to cover the hole to make it look nice. Instead of the bracket, I'll just use double sided mounting tape. I've used it before and believe me, it holds tight. It's almost impossible to get a 2.5" drive unstuck with double sided tape without destroying it. I don't want to get all the parts since that would cost as much or more than my TZ.

 

What's even more funny is that after all the interests, these people disappear. A guy even came randomly into another thread of mine, asking for the kit, and then say that he's not interested any more. If you don't really want to buy don't keep asking.

Can't help you there since I used all the parts. If you realize that you need another part later on, good luck with waiting for another month before Sony can ship you the part, as they stock these only in small quantities.

 

Before I buy all the bits for this, can someone confirm it works on a TZ295.