Replacing Optical Drive in Dell M90 with a HDD

I have a Dell M90 notebook. The current hard drive is a Seagate model ST9500 420AS (500GB 7200RPM).

I would like to modify it as follows:

A. Replace the existing Seagate with a 128GB or 256GB SSD (to be selected depending on price budget available), which would then become the 1st hard drive

B. Add a HDD Caddy in the optical drive bay, in which I would fit the original Seagate HDD as a 2nd hard drive

C. Take the removed DVD drive, and fit it in an enclosure with a USB connection, so that I can use the DVD drive as an external drive when needed.

So -- to this end, it would seem I require:

1. An HDD caddy for the Dell M90 optical drive bay
2. An additional 128K or 256K SSD
3. An external USB enclosure for the removed DVD drive

As I'm in India, sourcing (1) and (3) is a little complicated (these are more esoteric items than an SSD, which is just expensive!). Anyways, I've found a local supplier who has a 2nd Hard Drive Caddy which he describes as "Dell E series E6400 E6500 2ND HDD HARD DRIVE caddy". My question -- would this work in the optical bay of a Dell M90? The seller (an Ebay sourcer) isn't too forthcoming with technical details.

The next issue would be -- where do I get an external USB enclosure in which I could fit the removed DVD drive.

Would appreciate any input, and would also like to hear from people who've carried out such a conversion. Thanks!

 

No, modular bay devices for the E-series uses SATA connectors, and you need one with ATA. D-series 2nd HDD modules will work, but the bezel will not match, so you'll be better off getting one that will match the M90.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300583850106

 

Thanks...I was almost at the point of ordering the caddy for the E-series!

Could you by any chance also point me to a link for the external USB case for the DVD drive?

 

Do you use the DVD drive often? I find that I use mine maybe once or twice a year, so maybe you can just swap it back in when you need it...

 

True -- I don't use it all that often; but I'd like to have it neatly accessible in a proper case with instant connectivity via USB... it's a mental 'organisation' thing, so if there's a case available, I'd like to go with it.

 

You'll need something like this:

USB 2.0 Slim Caddy Case for Laptop CD/DVD-Rom/DVD-?W | eBay

I don't know if the seller ships internationally though.

 

Will contact the seller. Thanks for all your help. Much appreciated!

 

Hi there fellow. :hi2: How are you doing with your story? I have faced same situation as you.
Machine is the same as yours. The only difference is that my HHD is the HITACHI made.

How was your success? Have you done everything you wanted to do?
I'm experiencing the lack of HDD space, so I'd like to add another HDD with greater volume same type into DVD-IDE-bay.

The question is:
1. Was your SATA HDD, added to IDE interface in IDE-PATA-DVD-bay, working on SATAI speed (1.5GBPS) or IDE(so called PATA) speed (30-50 MBPS)?
2. Let's assume: I will install another Operating System on 2nd HDD in DVD-bay, and leave my original 1st HDD with original Operating System, and set boot.ini to choose what OS I prefer to boot up. Question: if I will switch these HDD's between each other, will they continue to work as before? I meant: the one, greater volume SATA-HDD from DVD-bay - I want to put into original SATA-bay, and another one, smaler SATA-HDD, from original SATA-bay, I want to put into DVD-bay. Hope you get what I mean.
Many thanks in advance.
Other duscussion members are also invited to join answer. Much appreciate it.

Looking forward to order these ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitachi-Tra...Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item5d496a43fc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2nd-SATA-HD...6?pt=US_Drive_Bay_Caddies&hash=item416f1daac4

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-Ext...=US_CD_DVD_Blu_Ray_Drives&hash=item3cd56b9d90

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4GB-RAM-MEM...erComponents_MemoryRAM_JN&hash=item4abe507231