NBR How-To: Replace Your DVD with a New Hard Drive

Read the full content of this Article: http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/nbr-how-to-replace-your-dvd-with-a-new-hard-drive/

 

What are your thoughts about Raid, using an extra hdd in this fasion, let me explain.
My Laptop ( HP DV7 ) in the Bios there is no mention of Raid ( naturally because it is designed for only One HDD ).
But I f I add another HDD by using a Caddy, Would the Bios Then Show the Option to Configure Raid.???

 

This should be easier for me cos I have ultrabay. There should be SSDs designed to fit into it.

 

At least with Thinkpad ultrabays, they'll accept any 2.5", 9mm height drives, so you don't need a specific SSD. Any should do.

IIRC, the same goes for Dell and HP business laptop ultrabays as well.

Personally, I wouldn't even bother with RAID. You don't have hardware RAID in that laptop, so you'd (possibly) only have a software RAID options, which isn't known for being reliable. Besides, an single SSD is pretty much just fast as any HDD RAID setup built for speed, and a good external backup would be better than a redundancy-oriented RAID setup.

Personally, I'd go with a SSD for OS/programs, and a high-capacity HDD for bulk storage.

 

Just saw this article on FB, surprised it wasn't covered yet.
IIRC there should be a post about this around 2 years ago.
Rocking an extra 1.5TB in my ODD bay and loving it.

 

Very interesting guide, thank you, one question though: Can I boot from the SSD that I'm going to add?
Thank you

 

You should be able to, but the experience will differ between notebook models.

 

@Thawed, put SSD in the main slot while HDD in the second anyway.

+1 that this should be created 2 or 3 years ago)

 

For me, the main reason for doing this upgrade would be to run an more affordable SSD (say 128 or 256GB) as the boot drive together with an HDD for the bulk storage.

The SSD (or new HDD if installing two) is best placed in the primary drive bay which usually has a faster interface than the optical drive bay.

The issue of 12.5mm HDDs is irrelevant unless planning to get one of the rare, very high capacity, 2.5" HDDs. The standard 7mm and 9.5mm HDDs will fit both the 9.5 and 12.5mm bays.

John

 

Thanks for the feedback.

As you can see, I used my notebook to demonstrate the article. I've been running a 120GB Intel SSD in my notebook's primary bay and a 500GB 5400RPM WD Scorpio Blue in the optical drive bay for about two years now. It works really well. Windows 7 makes it pretty easy to map your documents, pictures and so on over to another drive. It makes everything just about seamless.

Agreed this topic has been around a while, I'd have written it up a few years ago given the opportunity.

Look for more NBR How-To articles in the future. I have a queue of articles to write, but am open to suggestions if you'd like to see a specific topic covered. Private message is the best venue for that.

 

Yes but I don't think I'll find a SSD that would fit in my laptop's main slot.

If its true that the primary drive slot is faster, then I'll have to search more for a SSD that would fit.

And thanks for the replies guys.

 

It's not necessarily true. It'll depend on notebook models. Also, if you have a normal hard drive in your main slot, I find it hard to believe that you'll not be able to find an SSD that fits. What laptop are we talking about?

 

its Dell latitude E6400, the hdd has some sort of a plastic attachment that fits to the side of the laptop.
to remove the hdd I just unscrew two screws in the back, and pull the plastic attachment, it comes out with the hdd.
I can't really describe it, I hope you get the picture.

 

Yeah, I know just what you mean. There's no reason why an SSD wouldn't also fit into that bracket - it'll have the same mounting holes that your current drive does. You could pop the thing out, unscrew or otherwise remove the HDD, put in an SSD, and replace the bracket.

 

OK thanks man, I'll definitely go for it now

 

My SSD and Caddy are on the way! SSD will be here in two weeks, but I can't when's the caddy coming. can't wait to try this

 

I wrote a buying guide of 2nd HDD caddies 1 year ago and compared some caddies with another. Even though some links got lost it is still useful.
Pay attention to weight, quality of the board, materials and thermal dissipation.

 

Damn, would have been nice to read that first, really helpful. Anyway, what's done is done, I got this:
9 5mm SATA CD DVD ROM Optical Bay 2nd HDD Hard Drive Caddy Tray Universal US | eBay
Waiting on the delivery.

 

Yeah, cheapo caddy... for not so cheap btw. Sorry that I haven't posted that earlier.