Possible to add 2nd internal HD to XPS 15?

Is it possible to add 2nd internal HD to XPS 15 (model L501X)?

 

Only on DVD drive bay. Not enough room in other place.

 

Try this:

http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=358

 

That. is. cool.

Thanks a lot Sailo and Jataayu.

 

If you get one of these, could you please post any opinions of it here? I'm trying to get one here in the UK but can't find an exact match antwhere - I will get one from this US site if I know it's a go and fits properly.

Thanks

Edit - Ahh, I bought the XPS 15 caddy and the eSATA-USB cable (eSATAp), to connect SATA optical drive externally - That way can have 1x Intel SSD for OS and programs plus 1x640GB for storage - and an external Blu Ray drive.

Whenever it arrives I'll leave my impressions.

 

Any generic 12.5mm sata optical drive linked from http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...rage-using-optical-bay-caddy.html#post4936086 would work. Best bang-per-buck option is the Fenvi branded ebay ones with metal chassis and swappable faceplate. Can be had for US$20-delivered worldwide.

 

Thanks for those links - I've got the Newmodeus version on order - they also have a guide on their website ( < PDF link)on how to attach the faceplate from your drive onto this caddy - pretty straight forward stuff...shame Dell don't supply a caddy directly.

 

Thanks for all the info guys! Occam's Cat, please do post back and let us know what you think of your coming setup. If it works as well as it is desirable, it should be really nice to have.

 

I caved and copied Occams_Cat idea too. It was too awesome to pass up!
I realized I only used the Blu-Ray drive for ripping and playing and a hard drive can hold more blu-rays, plus I only rip at home typically.
I can't afford the SSD yet so bought a 500GB hard drve for £35 to keep me happy for a couple of months.
Thinking of dual-booting OS X with it as some of the dev

One question, Occam how do you intend on transporting your blu-ray drive? Did you go for the newmodeus.com caddy with the bad- pouch?
I'm thinking we need a drive enclosure, without a chipset, just either an SATA pass-through or essentially a cut-out...... A box really. =)
I'm finding it surprisingly hard to find a box!
I'm not sure how stable the drive's going to be without it though.
Thoughts anyone?

 

Anybody done this yet? I am looking to do it, but adding the SSD as the in place of the HDD, and having the HDD Swappable with the bluray in case the need arises to burn a disc. The HDD would primarily be used for storage.

I had a question about cloning and the ability to retain the dell factory setup for the HDD, but the problem with using a smaller drive? 120 or 160GB drive..

 

Hey Stonetrap - exact same reasoning here, I rip Blu-Ray films at home on the PC, so having the extra HDD is a much more appealing scenario for everyday use. I would use the BR drive in the L502x infrequently at best, so having as an extra eSATA drive attachment is perfect.

Yes - I got the caddy that comes with the pouch. Currently I have a standard laptop DVD drive in a MCS drive - this is a 50 pin connector though, not the SATA connection on the back of current Blu Ray drives. A quick look around and I have still not been able to find a slimline USB3/eSATA connected case for laptop Blu Ray drives to put this drive into. So I bought the raw cable instead.

If I manage to find a slimline, laptop, Blu Ray drive case powered over USB3 or eSATAp - I will post it here. In the mean time the cable will do, I don't mind having the drive naked.

 

It is possible to clone to a larger drive to a smaller destination drive, (as long as the data on the larger drive doesn't exceed the SSD's size...obviously), involves some partitioning from what I read somewhere on this site. TBH, I think you'd be better off just formatting the HDD and putting it in the caddy and then doing a fresh install of the OS on the SSD - that's the route i'll be going.

 

Another question, if there is a problem with the laptop in the future and its still covered under a warranty. Do you think that would cause a problem without the recovery partition? Also, instead of me finding my box, does dell send a operating system DVD? Thanks

 

It's definitely possible to clone the drive, you'll just need to boot from something other than the drive you're using. Hiren's BootCD comes to mind as it undoubtedly has several tools to do this.
There is no reason losing the recovery partition would in any way affect the warranty any more than upgrading the hard drive. If you damage the hardware it would be voided, but Dell couldn't say wiping a hard drive would invalidate the warranty.
Saying that they may charge you for recovery discs if you're unlucky so it's worth making your own operating system media and driver discs.
Last time I did a fresh re-install I was left without any network drivers and believe me that was pain when I went to the internet cafe to download them and forgot my machines service tag.
Dell will send an operating system DVD, they charge if you order it though. In the UK it is £5. I was lucky enough to have a great tech engineer come out and give me the disc.
He also told me to buy the extended warranty because after 3 years I could make up an over heating story and get a new system as they would no longer have the parts to replace the old. Cool guy.

Anyway it isn't technically illegal to download the operating system ever. It would be illegal to install it if you didn't have the license. However you do have an OEM license, so perhaps searching for a Dell OEM Windows download is a good bet, provided you can trust the source.

Hey Occam I think I did manage to find one in the UK but it was something like £50-60 and I just don't see the point in buying something like that. With the eSataP there's no need for a chipset in the enclosure so it seems crazy money for what is essentially a cable extension!

I'm still unsure on the naked drive front, might be a bit much for my optics however finding something to store the drive in is alot trickier than I thought. Might try and find an old school soft Walkman case and use that.

 

You can use Easus Todo Backup for free to clone the drive while you are using it, or you can pay for Acronis True Image to do the same thing. I use both of these and they work fine.

 

Now when all is said and done, do you think it will be better to run the ssd in the hdd bay, if it will be the primary partition, and run the HDD in the optical drive bay? Any difference?

 

@jdavis7765 - Think so. i'll be putting a 120GB Vertex 3 in the HDD bay then putting the 640 7.2k drive in the HDD caddy. At least that way I can swap the bluray drive back in if I need to without losing my OS!

 

Thats what I was thinking.. Are you doing fresh install of the os, or cloning? Also, I have been reading a lot of reviews of, I believe, that drive. Most of them are saying the drive dies after a few days or a month..

 

I'll (begrudgingly) do a fresh install - I have a windows 64 bit disc from my PC build. The Vertex 2E has a great reputation - got any links to the Vertex 3 users saying that they are dying? The initial reviews are blindingly good.

 

The requirement for an "OEM Windows CD" download died with Windows 7. Unlike XP, where you needed to download a "Dell OEM CD image" or it wouldn't accept your product key, a regular retail copy of windows 7 will work with the product key that's on your computer. You can download the correct version of windows 7 from the links below and they're guaranteed to work with your Dell Windows 7 key, activated, with genuine validation, and legitimately. Just make sure you download the correct edition and save the required drivers on a usb or CD before doing it.

Here are the links:

By the way, I'm also waiting for OccamCat's review before I order my XPS15 and the caddy. I have an SSD already, and I am conflicted about putting the 7200rpm drive that the dell ships in the caddy or getting another SSD and making it raid 0. The loss of trim support and the extra cost of the raid setup is stopping me though. Not being able to replace the optical drive is a deal breaker for me on any notebook.

 

Should have been more specific, customer reviews from newegg.com state the drive had been failing. Quite a few of them, but hard to tell if its user error in any case. Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX120G 3.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD). I have a Intel 40GB in my home computer and have not had one problem with it, but intel seems to have slower reads than any other drive.

 

Just realized that's the vertex 2....

 

Hmmm...yes, the Vertex 2 does look like it could have been a lemon under certain circumstances, the 2E version with the updated firmware does seem better. This will be my first install of an SSD and this is making me think twice again - they still don't seem to have the long term stability and sustained read/write rates. They all seem to have long term usage issues.

I'd be using this for location photography work - it needs to be as dependable as possible...I think i'll do some more reading up on SSD's and see where that leads me. Another 640GB 7.2K drive is only £50 so maybe that would be a better idea for the time being.

 

I have had the Newegg.com - Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2K5 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for about a year or two. Have not had one issue with it. As long as you have the TRIM functionality and keep up on running it every week.

 

Also, does the L501x even have the SATA III interface? Looks like it wouldn't take advantage of the higher speeds if not..

 

...that's a good question, better find out :laugh:

 

Regardless, the speed even on my home computer with the Intel SSD is well worth the upgrade, I may not be buying an OCZ though, going to shop around for one without the negative reviews..

 

I'm definitely going to be changing for a SSD once they reach a slightly more affordable price point and following Occam would suggest having the SSD in the primary drive bay.

I managed to luck out while looking for a bezel as I realised I would need another if I'm putting the original on the drive caddy and found something for my drive to sit in so it's a little more stable than a fully naked optical drive. This has definitely become a reality, now the wait for everything has begun!

For those interested a shameless promotion of what you could do with your optical drive once removed.
USB Blu-Ray 4x Writer UJ-230 + BD-RE 50GB + More on eBay (end time 18-Mar-11 19:13:32 GMT)

Use the blu-ray burner in the auction with the eSATAp cable mentioned and then stick the stock drive in the USB enclosure.

 

All the new reviews on this drive look really good.. Almost all 5 stars (eggs for new egg). May be purchasing that one! The SDD and current HDD are the same size, correct? So there is only need to purchase one Optical drive caddy thingy?

Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

The controller on the L501X only SATA II (3Gb/s). Stated with the intel HM57 chipset specs.

 

It's the L502x I'm curious about. I think the controller technically could support it, similarly it theoretically supports 1600mhz RAM if it were made.
The problem is other hardware, or even Dell crippling the BIOS that act as a bottleneck

 

I wasn't sure what model you had. I saw a post somewhere about the 502x having sata III. Not sure where though

 

It does have SATA III.

Intel® H67 Express Chipset and 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors

 

I got the drive caddy and eSATAp to 13pin SATA cable I ordered from the US today. Should get the laptop on Friday, so I'll stick a 500GB HDD in the extra caddy for the time being (wait for the vertex 3) and see how the bluray drive works off the eSATAp cable.

 

HAsn't been any action on this thread, so I wanted to post my experience with this caddy .
I thought I read somewhere last week on this board about the caddy not working with the 7200 rpm HD .. and I have come up to this brick wall .

I ripped my L501 apart last night after receiving my caddy on Friday from Moduleous. Stupid me , looked at the usb/esata cable and thought that would be cool .. and then decided nah I have some many cables around now.. and didn't even think that I could use it on my dvd rom I was taking out.. stupid stupid ... but I have used my dvd maybe twice since I got this laptop before xmas.

So I did the cpu and GPU repaste with AS 5 and changed my internal drive to my 60 GB SSD ( Vertex 2 ) that I have had for 6 months with no problem what so ever in my old Dell XPS.

Everything is great .. do a fresh install of 7 64bit Ultimate .. from my dvd drive that I popped back in the bay to do the install and get the base install done.

Shutdown and put the caddy in with my 500 GB 7200 rpm drive from the laptop , and it won't boot into windows... Bios sees all drive np .. everythin looks good. So I take the caddy out, boots into windows..
I take an old 120gb 5400 rpm drive copy my drivers to it from my desktop and put it in the caddy ..
Boots np and I get the wireless drivers installed and continue installing the lasted drivers and updates..
Tried my 500 GB 7200 drive again and same thing , won't boot into windows.

So at this point I have my 120 gb back in it and getting everything going...

Anyone else have this going on?

Thanks
M

 

Has anyone contacted newmodeus about the 500gb original drive from the XPS l50x not working with their caddy?

 

Hi guys, I'm kinda new to modding laptops. I've read this idea before, but for those who have done this already can you post any observations, good/bad effects, or advantages/disadvantages you've noticed after installing a 2nd HD?

I just ordered an L502x last week. Originally, I was planning on replacing my HD with a Momentus® XT SSHD ($109). But as I have noticed, the only time I use the OD is for installing software and since it's 'hot swappable' it's all good still.

So I'm planning on having a set up like this:

Primary bay: Kingston SSDNow V100 Series 64GB 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive - Kingston - SV100S2/64GZ($85) (<-- will this ssd do?) ; Main use: For OS, (any other suggestions which I can/should include?)

Optical bay: Dell's 750GB 7200RPM ; Use: For all other files, software.

 

I like that setup.... I've already installed the SSD in place of the original 640 gig one and it works fine. I want to make use of the HDD in the optical drive, but no one here seems to actually have done it with any success. Anyone have opinions?

 

I am running a 500gb 7200 seagate drive in place of the stock DVD drive. Vertex 2 Pro (~275 mbps write/read) on the main drive slot. Loving it so far .

 

I am, works fine... What would you like to know?

 

Can you link to the caddy you used? And did you use the SATA III HDD or just the one that came with it? (640 came with mine)

 

Have a look at this discussion...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/557591-xps-15-l502-2nd-hdd-caddy.html


XPS 15 L502x | i7 2720QM | 1080p | GT 540M | 120GB Vertex 3 MaxIOPs| 500GB in Caddy | 8GB RAM | 6230 + BT | BL KB | TV Tuner | 9 Cell

 

Did you ever get this working? I just installed an Intel 320 120 SSD and I'm having the same problem as well =/

 

I tried defragmenting, shrinking the Dell partition down to 111GB to create an OS image and clone the drive onto the SSD (to keep the W7 HP key), but it didn't work, as the W7 repair disk does not support external drives over USB3, so I just did a clean install on the SSD & replaced the optical drive with the original HDD.

Everything works fine, you can still see the original system partition, the Dell recovery partition & the data partition I created for everything else. Thus I could go back to the factory settings if I really wanted to (but don't).

Cheers, Greg.

 

Which Caddy do u have used??? Do u got any problem regarding screw size??? You got L502X why dont u put a SATA3 SSD in it????