Checking upgrade options - SSD

[andste659]

I've been toying with the idea of upgrading my old PC Specialist laptop - and having dredged up the order confirmation etc, it is old being from 2012 - with a new SSD.

From taking the back off, there looks to be a second SATA slot, with a removable plastic insert but nothing that looks like it would secure a drive. It looks like a drive would float out the end of it. My limited understanding is that the various m.2 slots can leave drives floating, just secured by the slot (I might be making that up) but it doesn't feel like that would be intended here.

I can't remember where I've put the old documents or paperwork in case that had any detail (or something useful such as model names etc). What's the best way for me to find out if I need to buy some manner of caddy (or wedge things in place with something) in order to fit a new drive?

If there is a something extra that I need, will it still be available

Ahh, there was more detail in one of the order emails, it was an Optimus Series: 17.3", it doesn't look to specify the motherboard

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've been toying with the idea of upgrading my old PC Specialist laptop - and having dredged up the order confirmation etc, it is old being from 2012 - with a new SSD.

From taking the back off, there looks to be a second SATA slot, with a removable plastic insert but nothing that looks like it would secure a drive. It looks like a drive would float out the end of it. My limited understanding is that the various m.2 slots can leave drives floating, just secured by the slot (I might be making that up) but it doesn't feel like that would be intended here.

I can't remember where I've put the old documents or paperwork in case that had any detail (or something useful such as model names etc). What's the best way for me to find out if I need to buy some manner of caddy (or wedge things in place with something) in order to fit a new drive?

If there is a something extra that I need, will it still be available

Ahh, there was more detail in one of the order emails, it was an Optimus Series: 17.3", it doesn't look to specify the motherboard

The motherboard is specific to the chassis.

can you take a photo of the SATA port?

Why do you want another drive is the best place to start and what’s your current SSD size and model?

 

[andste659]

Currently it's a mechanical disc (actually a short sighted replacement since the original died - the rest of the laptop has kept going strong) so just looking to get a boost to responsiveness and load times by getting Windows and some programs onto an SSD and keeping the current drive on there for storage and programs that can run well enough as they are.

The processor and graphics are no doubt long in the tooth but it seemed a sensible small upgrade - if it works (the age is a contributing factor in not wanting to go the whole hog and replacing the current drive with a particularly large SSD).

I've also belatedly noticed I probably should have picked a different forum as this is perhaps more technical support than sales...

A photo does seem the most sensible option, I'll get one and add it at some stage

 

[SpyderTracks]

Currently it's a mechanical disc (actually a short sighted replacement since the original died - the rest of the laptop has kept going strong) so just looking to get a boost to responsiveness and load times by getting Windows and some programs onto an SSD and keeping the current drive on there for storage and programs that can run well enough as they are.

The processor and graphics are no doubt long in the tooth but it seemed a sensible small upgrade - if it works (the age is a contributing factor in not wanting to go the whole hog and replacing the current drive with a particularly large SSD).

I've also belatedly noticed I probably should have picked a different forum as this is perhaps more technical support than sales...

A photo does seem the most sensible option, I'll get one and add it at some stage

I'll move the thread to another sub forum and let you know.

Awaiting photo

 

[andste659]

Here we go

These are a wide shot of the back, showing the existing drive and whole board, with a closer up shot of the slot with and without the mounting insert thing.

There are no screw holes etc where the far end of the drive would go - will this just be meant to be a snug fit in the insert?

Also thanks for moving the thread to a sensible location

 

[Tony1044]

Looks like the black plastic unscrews from the board and screws into the HDD, then is screwed back to the board once the HDD is inserted (or I should say SSD in this case)

Or possibly doesn't even screw to the disk - bit hard to tell, but it might just snap into the screw holes on the side of the disk nearest the SATA connector of the drive.

 

[andste659]

Crumbs, I hadn't noticed those screw holes, thank you (I think they're there as you say - the laptop is back in use so can't check the side view) - for an SSD that's presumably going to be fine given it won't be making it's own vibrations

Any further comments obviously welcomed but it seems a lot less weird with there being at least some form of attachment, even if it's a lot less than is there for the installed drive on the other side

Is there any issue with slave/master settings or slots (the board does have slave and master written on...) I should watch out for? I recall needing to set jumpers and such like properly back in the day with old IDE hard drives

 

[Tony1044]

You're welcome. SSD's in particular are light so I wouldn't be worried about it holding it securely.

SATA doesn't have any concept of master and slave in the way the old IDE drives did. Crikey that is bringing back memories. I used to have an A4 folder full of jumper settings for different models of IDE drive. It was like gold dust. That would be 25+ years ago now!

 

[SpyderTracks]

You're welcome. SSD's in particular are light so I wouldn't be worried about it holding it securely.

SATA doesn't have any concept of master and slave in the way the old IDE drives did. Crikey that is bringing back memories. I used to have an A4 folder full of jumper settings for different models of IDE drive. It was like gold dust. That would be 25+ years ago now!

I hate having to set things as master and slave, was a pain! And not being able to hotswap drives on the fly!

 

[Tony1044]

I hate having to set things as master and slave, was a pain! And not being able to hotswap drives on the fly!

We've come a long way when you think back.

I paid £105 for a 105MB (Yep..Mega) HDD back in the day because storage had dropped to £1 per MB. It caused great amusement to my friends and peers who couldn't imagine what you'd use all that space for,.

This was still DOS & Win 3.11 days, though, which were about a dozen floppies worth of installers between them.

HP used to be a fan of Cable Select and sold units with that weirdly twisted IDE cable.

Somewhere in my garage I have a SCSI drive that's about 2" tall.

 

[SpyderTracks]

We've come a long way when you think back.

I paid £105 for a 105MB (Yep..Mega) HDD back in the day because storage had dropped to £1 per MB. It caused great amusement to my friends and peers who couldn't imagine what you'd use all that space for,.

This was still DOS & Win 3.11 days, though, which were about a dozen floppies worth of installers between them.

HP used to be a fan of Cable Select and sold units with that weirdly twisted IDE cable.

Somewhere in my garage I have a SCSI drive that's about 2" tall.

SCSI was actually quite incredible for how early it came about, but do you remember the noise drives used to make?

I’m setting up an integrated virtual environment atm on my laptop and it’s all on a WD black 7200 drive, god I’d forgotten how truly slow they were for anything but data! Got an ssd on the way.

 

[andste659]

Thank you both for the help

The trip down memory lane was quite nice too

 

[Tony1044]

SCSI was actually quite incredible for how early it came about, but do you remember the noise drives used to make?

I’m setting up an integrated virtual environment atm on my laptop and it’s all on a WD black 7200 drive, god I’d forgotten how truly slow they were for anything but data! Got an ssd on the way.

I managed to drop onto a brand new 4TB Samsung 860 EVO SATA disk for my laptop on ebay for just over £200. I always found that HDD's are fine once the VM is running but trying to boot more than one at a time is a challenge. SSD's solve that nicely.

I always use Hyper-V on Windows now to stand up a dedicated per-customer VM alongside any demo machines I need to set up. I get total data segregation and don't have to worry about which Teams or email account I've logged into etc etc. Once the work is done, it can be archived onto my NAS.

Ah yes...I remember well seeing a Compaq server with hot swappable SCSI drives for the first time. And the noise as each one was spun up in turn (because they drew so much current at initial spin-up they couldn't spin them all up together!).

 

[Tony1044]

Thank you both for the help

The trip down memory lane was quite nice too

Haha yeah we did get a little distracted...sorry