[GUIDE] M15x Optical Drive HDD Caddy Installation (56k Warning)

Thanks for the guide!
Swapped in the 12.7mm caddy with a WD 1TB drive. I managed to not break anything but had to reinstall the palm rest and center control cover a second time due to my sloppy reinstalling. Fortunately, the laptop still feels just as solid as before after my mucking around

Also ordered the LG $28 external DVD-RW drive posted last page

Now everything is great

 

congrats man it was an easy swap as long as you take your time and lay it out nicely. I had to go back a and remove the damn protective cover off the caddy but took my time and made sure everything was put back the way it should have been.

How did the 1tb drive fit and which caddy did you use and are you using a SSD in the main slot or just 2 drives in both slots.

 

I got this caddy since it was a little cheaper. Should be exact same as the one linked by OP:
2nd HDD or SSD Caddy for Alienware M15x (replaces optical drive) [OBHD-SATA12-SATA-NF] - $43.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

The 1TB drive fit with no problems at all. Kept the original 320GB 7200rpm in the main slot, and 1TB in the optical bay. I was thinking about SSD but decided I don't really want it at the moment. Might consider replacing my 260M with a 5850 instead

 

pick up the video card next as that will have a huge impact in gaming and then SSD next as that will have a big impact on everyday usage of the laptop. gaming it will have no difference just quicker load times.

here is a video card a member has listed on ebay and seems like a fair price

ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 1GB GDDR5 (new and sealed) - eBay (item 260662771582 end time Sep-17-10 12:03:44 PDT)


Dell tech support i believe charges like $350 shipped with tax

 

Do you know if that 5850 on eBay is originally from Dell?

 

i would double check with the seller but the packaging seems like the same as the one i received from dell as a replacement today. It is a red card as well and if you look at the picture the card seems red and i think the clevo card is green and normally a 5870 not 5850.

this is clevo i believe

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8360/dsc01936o.jpg

here is my card

http://forum.notebookreview.com/att.../55882d1284333304-fps-just-drops-sam_0530.jpg

 

I'm currently doing the install. I need some help. I have 4 long black screws. I know the 2 longest are for the palmrest, and the 2 smallest are for the magnesium cover at the front corners but I have 2 others that I don't remember where they go. Here's a pic, the one on the right is the palmrest screw. The service manual doesn't really help much. I'd really appreciate the help.

 

Man, this is a great guide. I consider myself pretty technical & have opened up many laptops. But there are so many parts to disassemble that I'm paranoid I'd screw (no pun intended) something up. Certainly miss the "Smart Bay" on the old Area-51 m15x. I am on the fence if I should embark on this effort...

 

did you get the 2 screws for the i/r board

 

Just be careful with releasing the ribbon cable connector latches. I almost broke one figuring out how it opens. I had to stare at the service manual's arrows for a minute to figure out two of them.

Also, don't be like the guy who posted above.. Put all screws removed into separate jars or containers with labels. I did that and did not ever lose or get confused with the screws.

 

if you do not have separate containers then use an egg carton and some little notes or whatever to help you separate where each sets of screws go. The task it self is not that hard just need to plan it out and take your time along with some organization.

 

iceberg -- how long did it take you start to finish & are you very confident everything is put back correctly & there are no creaks/etc b/c something just didn't fit back correctly?

 

3 hours start to finish
Yes everything is put back correctly 99% sure- I've been gaming and using my laptop normally without issue, USB ports etc all good. No creaks too. Only issue was having to re-install the palm rest and center control cover twice because the first time around I did it wrong. It's all good now though

 

Villosa -- I don't suppose you'd do this for me if I shipped you the laptop & paid you?

 

I just put the screws, together with the component they used to hold in place, on the table and had no problems finding the right ones when putting it back together again. The process took less than two hours and everything fits just as well as before the mod.

I have been working with computers for about 15 years now, but I don't think it would be difficult even if it was the first time you tried to take a laptop apart. Just take your time, and have the service manual next to you.

 

Just purchased a Panasonic UJ335. Very helpful guide. Rep to you!

 

uj 335???...what are you trying to do have a bluray drive external or install a bluray drive into the laptop to replace your dvd drive. Make sure you are buying the right part...uj235a is internal slot loading bluray writer drive for m15x or m17x...the "ca10n" is bluray reader. UJ240 is tray loading and will work as an external in a usb slim enclosure case...what model did you buy???

 

I'll drop you a PM and we can discuss the possibilities of that.

 

Hi bro, nice to see you around

Gonna use this guide soon (caddy is still making its way to my place)

 

Typo..... Part no. is UJ235AWT902. You got me worried a bit as I just ordered it Monday from a third party vendor. Was holding my breath whilst double checking.

 

this might work for a bezel for the front of the stock slot loading drive in a USB enclosure if someone wants to try it out


Slot Loading Optical Drive Bezel Panasonic/Mata - MRC-0089 - Mac Recycling

 

+rep

and I like how clean the assembly is compared to the awesome but woven together M17x R1

 

Thanks to all who have kept this guide alive; makes my day! I've also successfully modded a fellow NBR's M15x with the caddy and hdd!

 

i used this guide to work on my m15x and then convinced the wife to do the same in her Macbook and now she has a 5400rpm 500gb WD scorpio blue and 60gb Phoenix pro SSD. It is blazing fast and boots up quicker than windows 7 and made a huge difference in here setup. Makes her C2D chip feel like a i7 and now i do not mind using her laptop since it is very snappy. Thanks villosa and in case anyone needs a caddy for a macbook MCE optibay i used this for her unibody.


Apple Macbook Pro Optibay 2nd Hard Drive Caddy - eBay (item 220672208914 end time Oct-20-10 11:45:25 PDT)

2nd HDD caddy Apple OptiBay SuperDrive Replacement SATA - eBay (item 300467831991 end time Oct-10-10 21:23:17 PDT)

 

Man I have to take some time and gather some of this valuable info for the front page. Thanks for the hard work guys.

 

What made you think that Windows 7 has a quick boot up time? Look how quickly ubuntu boots up now. On my ssd I dont even get to see the splash screen

 

Wattos....now i am going to have to download Kubuntu and play with that just to see how quick it boots. I always hated win 7 boot times but SSD helped knock that down a good chunk but after loading OSX on a SSD and letting it boot with no tweaks and nothing and it spanked win 7 like no other lolz...Any recommendations besides ubuntu or kubuntu

 

Villosa, rep+ to you sir, this was a great idea. and now I have a 120 GB SSD and my 500 GB hd for games and such.

 

Your missing something


haha Jk, good write up !

 

This guide is great. I'm going to have 320GB SSD (2xIntel X25-M 160GB RAID 0) plus a 1TB HDD for storage, and an external blu-ray! (Blu-ray going in an enclosure) I just need to get my system back, quit being lazy, and order the parts.

Going to be nice to have speed, space, and be able to use the blu-ray burner.

 

I thank everyone for their continued support of this guide, I PROMISE (life has been busy) I will update the OP with everyone's findings!

Also, just an announcement, I do have a 12.7mm (9.5mm) caddy for sale in the marketplace!

 

I'm considering doing this mod, but I have two concerns. One is noise, the other is heat.

Someone posted above that they can hear their HD. Is it really that noticeable? Are there bays that are quieter, or ways of damping the sound a bit?

Heating wise, I assume the actual HD bay has some sort of cooling (fan, heatsink, or even airflow?). For those who've had this mod, is there a heat issue?

 

Never had a heat or noise issue. The M15x lacks the vents for cooling for the primary HDD but I've never noticed heat build up. I've also never noticed any noise issues from the drive spinning etc. It honestly depends on how sensitive the user is, I for one am very sensitive to noise levels.

 

i can still hear the occasionally. i always hear it spinning up if it was sleeping and i open a file from it. by no means is this a problem and it can only be heard in a silent room. the first couple of days i originally thought i would put in some sort of tape with a cloth material (cloth absorbs sound, and this would close the open cd slot, may even help with dust ). after a few days i forgot about it, as the issue is really not noticeable.
perhaps my problem back then is that i had 2 hdds and now one is replaced with an ssd it helped.
i have seen a lot of stock laptops (specially small ones) which sounded louder than the M15x with its caddy HDD.

as for heat. HDDs actually do not require a heatsink, nor fan, and most manufactures dont leave room for airflow (M15x doesnt cool its original hdd and it is noticeable from underneath when the bottom gets hot)
i thought about this while installing the drive (didnt think about the sound) the system is extremely well built to handle heat, and atleast for me i have failed to notice ANY kind of change in temperature in the area above the new HDD.

 

Thanks guys, rep to you guys.
Would this caddy work?

SATA 2nd Hard Disk Drive caddy for DELL XPS M1210 M1710 - eBay (item 270716622634 end time Mar-09-11 19:59:04 PST)

Also I remember reading in the posts above that the optical bay has a slower SATA. Is this true? Will that affect it dramatically?

 

i dont think this will fit a M15x, it has a different port than the one faiz23 and i bought. i have posted the link underneath you can compare images.

as for speed, the optical bay is slower , but i haven't noticed any REAL difference in speed. games installed on the drive have maybe 1-2 seconds extra loading (when compared to another laptop). i haven't run benchmarks, and the hdd i have installed isnt exactly a fast drive, im not the best person to comment on this.

 

Rogue,

I don't think that caddy will work because it appears to have a front bezel. You will need one that is specifically make for slot loading optical drives.

 

The front bezel is fine since mine had the same Bezel and i did not have to shave anything it just fit. The problem is the port on the back is not the same SATA and i think it might be PATA or proprietary.

 

Hmmm.... the listing does say SATA.

Btw, can someone who has a HD in the caddy download this program and run some speed tests. HDDScan – free HDD test utility with USB flash and RAID support It also looks like it will tell what type of SATA the port really is. I am having no luck finding the SATA speed of the optical drive bay. Thanks.

 

[EDIT] Scratch that, please try this one.
http://download.cnet.com/PC-Wizard-2010/3000-2094_4-10793737.html

 

i would run the test but my HDD has been giving warnings and is about to fail.
what exactly are you looking for in this test?
most of your programs will be running of the main drive anyway.

 

PC Wizard will scan all your hardware. When you select drives, and select the hard drive in the caddy, it will tell you the SATA type and speed. That's what I'm looking for.
PC Wizard 2010 - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

 

Can anyone please try this?

 

ill go buy a new HDD tomorrow, will test and will post the findings.

 

I want to do this, but taking the whole machine apart is a lot of work. The LCD and everything has to come off, it's a 3 hour job.

 

sorry mate cant help you at the moment. my country's going through difficult times and everything is closed - civil disobedience.

 

You could still do the test on your current HD (unless you're not even running your computer for fear of it dieing).

If not that's alright madoon. Hope all is well.

 

It's not that bad. First take apart took me under 2 hours, second time 45min. You don't have to remove the LCD assembly either. Organization and prep will save you loads of time.

 

is this what your looking for?

 

YES!!! thanks madoon. Looks like the optical drive bay is indeed SATA 1.
Now i'm going to do some math and compare if...

SSD at 3.0gbps & a HD at 1.5gbps is truly faster than...

a HD at 3.0gbps on it's own