SSD - Put HDD in DVD Caddy

DoaM · 22 October 2018 at 4:01PM

I'm looking to replace my laptop HDD with an SSD (maybe this one), and put the existing HDD into a caddy in place of the DVD drive. I've taken out the DVD and roughly measured the thickness of the metal casing ... it is between 12 and 13 mm.

Does that mean I need something like this caddy rather than a 9.5 mm version?

Edit: This is my laptop with the base cover off. The DVD fascia can be seen at the right and the existing HDD is clearly visible.

arciere · 22 October 2018 at 4:06PM

I would say yes, if you have measured between 12 and 12, then the 12.7mm should be the one.

Remember to keep your DVD drive, it's highly likely that you will need to remove some mounting brackets or screws from it and put them in the new enclosure.

DoaM · 22 October 2018 at 4:19PM

Cheers. I've seen a mounting bracket that needs to come off the DVD caddy - it's where that screw you see between the RAM modules and the product key label screws in to.

I won't be throwing away the DVD - I may need it at some point.

(I'll probably end up putting it into an external USB caddy for future ease of use, but one step at a time).

arciere · 22 October 2018 at 4:30PM

Is that an Acer?
Anyway, yes, you normally have one screw that fixes the drive to the laptop, but sometimes you also have the interface card, which basically aligns the SATA port on the drive to the SATA port on the mainboard.

DoaM · 22 October 2018 at 5:12PM

It's a CyberPower X6-9200 laptop, based on a Pegatron A15HC motherboard.

DoaM · 22 October 2018 at 7:19PM

I've taken the DVD out again and the caddy I linked measures up correctly.

Any thoughts on the SSD I linked?

hollie.weimeraner · 22 October 2018 at 8:17PM

I bought this a couple of weeks ago https://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-samsung-860-evo-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-mjx-mlc-v-nand-512mb-cache-read-550mb-s-write-520mb-s-98?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6rXeBRD3ARIsAD9ni9D5J9MY3gGX0RmnUDnx0iu29xZqMtLNnDijOMvD8Y08SuTGfZCSyYwaAm2kEALw_wcB and am really pleased with it.

grumpycrab · 22 October 2018 at 8:36PM

DoaM wrote: »

Any thoughts on the SSD I linked?

As this is MSE and you're putting your existing disk in a DVD caddy I'd suggest a cheap and cheerful 128/120GB SSD.

DoaM · 22 October 2018 at 10:01PM

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

I bought this a couple of weeks ago https://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-samsung-860-evo-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-mjx-mlc-v-nand-512mb-cache-read-550mb-s-write-520mb-s-98?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6rXeBRD3ARIsAD9ni9D5J9MY3gGX0RmnUDnx0iu29xZqMtLNnDijOMvD8Y08SuTGfZCSyYwaAm2kEALw_wcB and am really pleased with it.

Thanks. I found the same item on Amazon cheaper (albeit without the "free" game) and free delivery (I have Prime).

DoaM · 25 October 2018 at 10:14PM

Update:

SSD and HDD caddy received. Windows installed on the SSD (dead easy and activated itself). Now I'm busy reinstalling what I need. (Office already done).

The HDD in the DVD bay caddy wasn't being recognised. I had to go into BIOS (where the drive could be seen) and deselect it as a boot drive - once I did that then everything started working just fine.

SSD - Put HDD in DVD Caddy

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