The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Replacing DVD drive with SSD on NP530U**

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by blckDTshadow, Nov 20, 2015.

  1. blckDTshadow

    blckDTshadow Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hey,

    I am thinking about replacing my useless ;) DVD-Drive with a more useful second SSD. Has anyone ever accomplished it? How complicated would it be?

    Thanks for your experiences!

    And a warm Hi from a new member,
    blckDTshadow
     
    blckDTshadow, Nov 20, 2015
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,841
    Likes Received:
    2,165
    Trophy Points:
    581
    You will need something like this. Make sure that the caddy you get is the same height as the optical drive you are removing. You will probably need to remove the bezel / faceplate from the optical drive and put on the caddy in order to match the computer.

    I would note that on most notebooks the optical drive interface is slower (eg SATA 2) than the primary storage interface (SATA 3) so you will not get the full potential speed of a recent SSD. However, if you spread your files between the two SSDs then the overall file access could be faster than having everything on the primary SSD.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Nov 21, 2015
    #2
  3. skor78

    skor78 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    51
    Messages:
    221
    Likes Received:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Hi and welcome.

    I did this myself on my NP550P5C and on a friend NP530U4C. But instead of another SSD we simply used our native HDDs (1TB for me and 750GB for my friend). I agree, another SSD might not be worth it..
    It's quite easy to accomplish, just be careful dismantling your laptop and the DVD plastic cover..
    - Like Ratsey said, check your drive height. I still have a 9.5mm caddy laying around somewhere because I assumed instead of measuring, and for that I had to pay for another 12.5mm caddy.
    - Be very careful removing the DVD plastic bezel to insert it in the caddy, they are very fragile and tend to break the snap on clips.. Here's a link:
    http://hddcaddy.eu/2013/02/22/how-to-safely-remove-plastic-bezel-frontplate-from-optical-drive/

    Good luck.
     
    skor78, Nov 21, 2015
    #3
    Dannemand likes this.
  4. blckDTshadow

    blckDTshadow Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hey,
    Thanks for the answers. Very good information. @John Ratsey Sata speed is a good hint, haven't thought of it, my just do what @skor78 suggested and use my 500GB hard drive I took out for the SSD, @skor78 any special gotchas when opening the notebook?

    Thanks again,
    blckDTshadow
     
    blckDTshadow, Nov 24, 2015
    #4
  5. skor78

    skor78 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    51
    Messages:
    221
    Likes Received:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    31
    skor78, Nov 24, 2015
    #5