RedneckDude RedneckDude

Replace Laptop's SATA Optical Drive with 2nd HDD or SSD!

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Replace Laptop's SATA Optical Drive with 2nd HDD or SSD!

I need to do this!

from WinCustomize Forums

Guys, I thought this was cool, just wanted to share!

 

 

 

141,184 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top

A powered external only further restricts the portability of a laptop. I would never choose that option.

 

Portable may be slower, but screw a bunch of cords, and having to be near an outlet, etc.

 

Laptops are about portability.

 

BTW, I get my HDD caddy today ( via the miracle of amazon prime one day shipping ), to replace the optical drive, and I already have the SSD in the laptop, fully installed with Windows 8.1, and fully updated.

 

I'll let ya know how the caddy deal works out later.

Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top

So I take it you never got Windows 7 past the blue screen? I realize the article link deals with a different symptom but the root cause is the same. Windows 7 did not come default usb3 drivers so they need to be updated the way the article explains by Updating and replacing the boot.wim and install.wim files. I have an iso with it already done.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I would still want to use the caddy. It was never intended to dual boot. It is storage space.

 

I haven't given up on the Windows 7 external yet. I got your email, just been busy today.

 

I'll respond to your email shortly, thanks, Ken!   

Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Caddy was only $8.49. Not bad.

 

It works flawlessly. I now have the SSD I took from another PC, for the OS drive, and a 1 TB drive in the caddy replacing the optical, for storage.

 

Faceplate from the optical went on just fine, so it looks just like it came from Dell.

Reply #30 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 29

Caddy was only $8.49. Not bad.

 

It works flawlessly. I now have the SSD I took from another PC, for the OS drive, and a 1 TB drive in the caddy replacing the optical, for storage.

 

Faceplate from the optical went on just fine, so it looks just like it came from Dell.

That is awesome, sounds like a worthy upgrade for my old HP laptop.

Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting JuniorCrooks, reply 25

I agree with what you are saying starkers. My seagate is not a powered external but I do have a couple I could try to see if there are any speed differences. Its hard to imagine that speed would improve over what I have now.

Does it make sense the way I installed windows 7 on the external by creating its own partition? I made a large partition just for the operating system 80gb but I do not store files on that partition. I use the rest of the hard drive for files. I found doing it that way made the operating system run faster than my first attempt where I just cluttered up the hard drive with the OS and my large music files.

When i say that a powered drive may be better, it's not so much speed that I was thinking of, but moreso  consistency and reliability over USB powered.  Thing is, I never had an issue with booting/running Ubuntu on a portable, and obviously you are running Win 7 okay, so maybe there isn't a lag issue with the newer USB 3.0 drives.

I agree with you, Jim, a laptop needs to be clutter free when out and about, and I usually take any additional files, etc on a couple of 64gb sticks, so the powered HDD was more an in-home thing for dual booting, which is not something I'd imagine finding a need to do while at the drs, etc.