Many laptops have CD/DVD drives, which, in fact, are no longer needed by almost any ordinary modern user. CDs have long been replaced by other formats for recording and reading information, and therefore drives have become irrelevant.

Unlike a desktop computer, where you can install several hard drives, laptops do not have spare boxes. But if there is a need to increase disk space without connecting an external HDD to the laptop, then you can go a more cunning route - install a hard drive instead of a DVD drive.

The first step is to prepare and take everything you need for replacement:

• DVD > HDD adapter;
• Hard drive form factor 2.5;
• Screwdriver Set.

Adviсe:

1. Please note that if your laptop is still under warranty, then such manipulations will automatically deprive you of this privilege.
2. If you want to install a solid-state drive instead of a DVD, then it is better to do this: install an HDD in the drive box, and in its place an SSD. This is due to the difference in speeds of the SATA ports on the drive (less) and the hard drive (more). The dimensions of the HDD and SSD for a laptop are identical, so in this regard there will be no difference.
3. Before purchasing an adapter, it is recommended that you first disassemble the laptop and remove the drive. The fact is that they come in different sizes: very thin (9.5 mm) and regular (12.7). Accordingly, an adapter must be purchased based on the size of the drive.

The process of replacing a floppy drive with a hard drive

When you have prepared all the tools, you can start turning the drive into a slot for an HDD or SSD.

In some cases, users who installed an SSD instead of an old HDD may not find the connected hard drive in the BIOS instead of a DVD drive. This is typical for some laptops, but after installing the operating system on the SSD, the space of the hard drive connected through the adapter will be visible.

Due to the constant saving of newly captured photos, music and videos, there was not enough space on the 250 GB hard drive, also called a hard drive, installed in my Samsung-R719 laptop. The question arose of choosing a new hard drive with a larger capacity to replace it.

Another question about choosing a new hard drive may arise if it fails due to aging, magnetic coating applied to the disks, or failure of the electronic board. Service centers do not repair hard drives.

An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or its modern analogue, an SSD (Solid State Drives) in a computer or laptop is designed for recording, storing and reading information. Without a device for storing information, any computer product will not be able to fully operate.

Choosing a HDD for a laptop

To choose the right hard drive for a laptop, you first need to decide on its basic technical characteristics, such as:

• Hard disk capacity;
• Method of storing information (HDD or SSD);
• The type of connector (interface) with which the hard drive is connected to the laptop;
• Form factor (geometric dimensions).

By memory capacity

Currently, only hard drives with a capacity of 500 GB or more are commercially available for storing information data. This amount of hard drive in your computer will be enough to install all the necessary software, store photos, music and your own videos. If you need to contain an archive of films, you will need a hard drive with a capacity of 1 TB or more. When choosing a hard drive, keep in mind that not all motherboards support hard drives larger than 2 TB.

Do not be surprised if a hard drive installed in a computer, for example, with a capacity of 1 TB, when tested, has a capacity of 0.93 TB. The fact is that the computer processes information in the binary system, in which 1 GB = 1024 MB, and manufacturers indicate the volume of the hard drive in the decimal system (which is not true), considering that 1 TB = 1000 GB. A kind of marketing technique that misleads consumers. In addition, part of the hard drive's memory is used by the computer system to store service information.

By method of storing information

Recently, a new type of hard drive has appeared on the market and is becoming popular, in which information is stored not on magnetic disks, but using microcircuits that are widely used in flash drives connected to a USB port. Such drives are called solid-state drives and are briefly designated SSD (Solid State Drives). Due to the absence of mechanical components, SSD solid-state drives have high operating speed and high reliability. But their cost is more than twice the cost of traditional HDDs. So the choice completely depends on the budget allocated for replacing the hard drive.

There is a third, combined type of hard drive for laptops. On the board of an ordinary hard drive, SSD memory chips are additionally installed, which store information frequently requested by the computer system. This allows you to significantly increase the speed of the disk as a whole with a slight increase in its cost.

When buying a hard drive for a laptop on a limited budget, I recommend paying attention to the combined type of hard drive.

By laptop interface type

There are two ways to find out the type of interface installed in a laptop HDD - informational and mechanical. When using the information method, you need to go to the control panel of the laptop, then to the List of equipment and find out the model of the installed hard drive. Using the model number on the Internet, it is easy to find technical specifications, from which you can find out all the parameters of the hard drive.

The mechanical method is simpler, since it does not require searching and understanding the technical characteristics of the hard drive; it is enough to have only a Phillips-head screwdriver on hand. First you need to close all programs, turn off the laptop and fold it. Next, turn the laptop over and place it so as not to scratch the lid on a soft surface. Usually, on all removable laptop covers there is an inscription about what is hidden under them.

Attention, before removing a hard drive, SSD, DVD, memory sticks or any other device, to avoid damage to the laptop, you must turn it off, unplug the power adapter and remove the battery.

Typically, the battery in the laptop case is fixed using two movable latches, which are released by moving them in the direction of the arrow on the laptop lid with sliders connected to them. Both sliders must be simultaneously moved along the arrows on the cover and the battery must be moved to the side, as shown in the photo, and removed.

On the cover of the compartment in which the hard drive is installed, there is the inscription HDD, and under it there is an arrow in the form of a triangle, indicating in which direction you need to slide the cover to remove it after unscrewing the screws located on it.

To separate the connector on the hard drive, there is a tongue made of thick plastic. You need to grab it and move the disk, as shown in the photo, away from the connector.

After removing the hard drive from the laptop, it became obvious that a SATA type serial interface was used to connect the hard drive Serial-ATA. The photo shows this type of connector, with which today the vast majority of laptops, regardless of the manufacturer, connect the hard drive.

And this is what the Serial-ATA connector looks like on a hard or SSD drive. Previously, laptops used an IDE connector to connect hard drives.

Connector IDE It is a set of two rows of pins protruding from the base, as in the photo, so it is easy to distinguish it from the Serial-ATA connector.

Speed ​​characteristics of the SATA Revision specification interface

To connect hard drives, computers use Serial-ATA connectors of one of three specifications.

SATA connectors of all specifications are interchangeable. For example, an SSD with a SATA 3.0 connector can be installed in a laptop that has a SATA 1.0 connector. In this case, the maximum information transfer speed will be limited by the data transfer capability of the SATA 1.0 connector.

The specification of the connector determines only its capabilities, and the actual write-read speed is determined by the technical characteristics of the hard drive installed in the laptop. For example, a modern, one of the best Seagate hard drives with a capacity of 3 TB has a maximum read/write speed of only 150 MB/s for large volumes of information, and only 1 MB/s for small files. Thus, any hard drive will provide maximum data transfer speed, regardless of the computer’s SATA interface specification.

It's another matter if a solid-state SSD is installed in the computer. In some models, the read-write speed is up to 550 MB/second. To implement such a speed, you will only need an interface of the SATA Revision 3.0 specification.

Determining the hard drive form factor

The form factor determines the standard geometric dimensions of a hard drive. In laptops you can find hard drives of the 2.5” form factor (69.9 mm wide) with a case thickness of 7, 9.5 or 15 mm. As a rule, manufacturers install 2.5” form factor hard drives with a thickness of 9.5 mm in laptops.

The form factor of the hard drive can be found out from the technical specifications of the model or you can measure the thickness of the drive with any flat ruler or caliper.

Additional technical specifications
SSD drives

To correctly select a new hard drive, it is enough to take into account its technical characteristics listed above. When choosing a replacement solid-state SSD drive, you must additionally pay attention to the type of memory chips on which the solid-state drive is made, since its service life depends on this.

Types of SSD memory chips

In SSD drives, manufacturers install memory chips of one of three types:

• TLC is the cheapest type of memory with a rewriting resource of at least 1000 cycles;
• MLC is the optimal type of memory for a home computer with a rewriting resource of at least 3,000 cycles;
• 3D NAND is the most expensive and fastest memory with a rewrite life of more than 10,000 cycles.

At first glance, it seems that 3000 rewriting cycles to a disk is not enough, but if you do the calculation, then for a 240 GB SSD disk this memory resource will be enough for decades of intensive use.

For example, my computer has a 240 GB SSD drive. I work on a laptop every day, and additionally, it records 24/7 from three high-definition street surveillance cameras.

Let's calculate the real rewriting resource of an SSD disk: - 240 GB × 3000 cycles = 720,000 GB = 720 TB. No more than 30 GB of video and other information is recorded per day, less than 10.8 TB per year. Let's divide the disk resource by the annual recording volume: 720/10.8= 66 years old.

Calculations have shown that a solid-state SSD disk assembled from microcircuits of any type of memory in a home computer will become morally obsolete before it exhausts its resource.

How to transfer system and files
in a laptop from the old hard drive to the new one

Having decided on the basic technical parameters of the hard drive, which guarantee the possibility of installing it in a laptop, you can begin to select and purchase it.

New hard drives do not have Windows installed, and after connecting it to the laptop, you will need to install Windows with all the software necessary for operation. This is a rather labor-intensive process, as it requires care, patience and a lot of time.

The task can be simplified using special programs for cloning hard drives, for example, Paragon Drive Copy. The program supports the Russian language and any laptop user can understand it.

In order to use Paragon Drive Copy, you need to install it on your old hard drive, connect the new drive to your laptop, run the cloning program and wait until all the information is copied. Then install the new disk in the laptop and you can immediately work on it, as if the hard disk had never changed.

How to install a second hard drive in a laptop

To transfer the system and files (cloning) from an old disk, you need to connect two hard drives to the laptop at the same time, which is not provided for by its design. There are two ways to solve this problem:

• Use a special adapter container in the form of an external box;
• Install an adapter container instead of a DVD drive, which will allow you to add a second hard drive to your laptop.

Both options are equivalent and it all depends on your future plans for using the old hard drive. If you plan to use the removed hard drive as a USB flash drive for storing and transferring large amounts of information, then you should purchase an external adapter container. And if a hard drive is required to expand the total storage capacity on a laptop, then you will need to install an adapter container instead of a standard DVD drive.

I had to use both options. Several years ago, when it was necessary to increase the capacity of the hard drive, and a DVD drive was still in demand, I had to buy an external USB adapter container in the form of a remote box. And the second time, when I wanted to replace the mechanical hard drive with an SSD drive in order to increase the performance of the laptop and increase the storage capacity of information. The DVD drive was no longer needed and instead an adapter container for a second hard drive was installed in the laptop.

Using a USB adapter container

The market offers a wide range of adapter containers in the form of an external box, which are designed to connect a hard drive to a laptop via its external USB interface.

When choosing, the main thing is that the form factor and internal interface of the adapter match the form factor and interface of the hard drive. There are also adapters with which the hard drive is connected directly to the laptop connector. They cost less, but are inconvenient to use because, if accidentally touched, such an adapter can easily be broken.

The hard drive adapter container is a plastic or metal box with an external mini-USB connector and an operation indicator LED. The adapter container is connected to the computer using a standard flexible cord with connectors at the ends of mini-USB and USB.

Since 2.5-inch hard drives consume little current, the power provided by the laptop’s USB bus is quite sufficient and no additional power source is required.

To install a hard drive into the adapter container, you need to remove the cover from it, place the hard drive in it and slide it onto the interface connector. After this, close the lid and use a standard USB cable to connect the adapter container to the computer. Now the additional hard drive will work like a familiar USB flash drive. Thanks to the use of an adapter container, it will be possible to quickly connect a hard drive to any laptop or desktop computer.

Instead of a DVD drive

Today, DVD discs have lost their relevance, and optical DVD drives installed in laptops are only collecting dust. To expand the technical capabilities of laptops, the industry has mastered the production of special adapters that allow you to install a second hard drive in a laptop instead of a useless DVD drive.

The form factor and interface connector are the same for all DVD drives installed in laptops, and they come in thicknesses of 9.5 mm and 12.7 mm. Therefore, before purchasing an adapter, you should find out the thickness of the DVD drive installed in your laptop.

There are two ways to determine the size of a DVD drive. Go to the “Device Manager” of your computer and find its technical specifications using the drive model on the Internet. But it is more advisable to remove the drive from the laptop and measure its thickness, since at the same time it will be possible to study how the drive is designed and figure out how it is removed.

To remove the DVD drive from the laptop case, you need to unscrew just one screw using a Phillips screwdriver, which is located on the side of the bottom cover of the laptop in the area where the drive is located. This screw usually has ODD next to it and an arrow pointing to the head of the screw. After this, the drive can be easily removed.

Since the thickness of adapters for hard drives differs significantly, it is easy to determine it by eye, but to avoid mistakes, it is better to measure it with any ruler or caliper. Measuring the size of the DVD drive installed in my Samsung-R719 laptop using a caliper showed that its thickness is 12.7 mm.

Where can I buy an adapter to replace a DVD drive?

After determining the form factor of the DVD drive installed in the laptop compartment, you can start purchasing an adapter. Computer and digital equipment stores have a large selection of Chinese hard drive adapters for installation instead of a DVD drive, costing around $15.

Exactly such adapters, made in China, can be purchased in the Aliexpress online store for $4, although you will have to wait for delivery from a month to two.

My choice fell on an adapter made of aluminum alloy, since the hard drive heats up during operation, and metal dissipates heat better. The screw method was chosen for fixing the hard drive in the adapter as it is more reliable. 40 days after payment for the order, the adapter was received by mail. Upon opening the soft packaging and careful inspection, no defects were found. There was also a small Phillips screwdriver in the package.

Replacing a DVD drive with an adapter with a hard drive

Before installing the hard drive into the adapter, you need to perform preparatory work, which consists of transferring the corner with the threaded hole and the front panel from the DVD drive to the purchased adapter.

A corner with a threaded axle for fixing the DVD drive in the laptop case is located next to its interface connector and secured with two screws. The adapter did not have a corner, but there were two threaded holes in the required location.

Therefore, I had to remove the corner from the DVD drive and, observing the orientation, secure it to the adapter using the unscrewed screws.

The decorative plastic panel installed on the purchased adapter (lower in the photo) differed in shape and size from the panel installed on the laptop DVD drive. Therefore, in order to avoid large gaps and the appearance of the laptop, I had to remove the panel from the DVD drive case and install it on the hard drive adapter case.

The photo shows a laptop with an adapter installed with the front panel installed by the manufacturer. As you can see, the appearance of the laptop is not pleasing to the eye.

Changing the panel is not a difficult task if you know where the latches are and how to release them. It is better to remove the panel from the adapter first, since it will no longer be needed and if the latches accidentally break, this will not lead to undesirable consequences.

In a DVD drive removed from a laptop, the pull-out tray for installing disks, on which the front panel is attached, is recessed, and it is impossible to reach the latches in this position. But to extend it, there is a small hole on the panel, into which it is enough to push a metal rod, such as a needle or a straightened paper clip, using a couple of centimeters of pressure.

The decorative front panel on the DVD drive pull-out tray is secured with two latches. One latch, shown in the photo, is located on the edge of the right side of the panel. To release the latch, just use the blade of a screwdriver to press it in the recess provided for this.

The second latch is located on the opposite side of the panel and is slightly removed from its end. It is released from entanglement in the same way.

The front panel is removed from the adapter in the same way. After removing it, you need to install the removed front panel from the DVD drive onto the adapter and you can install the hard drive.

After installing the hard drive, you need to secure it in the adapter by screwing in four screws that are already partially screwed into the adapter housing. The screws must be screwed in such a way that they do not protrude, otherwise it will be impossible to insert the adapter into the laptop compartment.

In this hard drive adapter model, to the left of SATA there is a switch for adapting hard drives from different manufacturers:

• A: for HP/Cony;
• B: for Dell/IBM;
• C: for Other Brand.

A Seagate hard drive was installed, which was not on the list, so at random the switch slider was set to position B.

The hard drive adapter is ready to replace the DVD drive, and now it's time to insert it into the laptop bay.

The adapter easily fit completely into the laptop compartment, and the front panel merged with the body, just like the front panel of the previously installed DVD drive. All that remains is to secure the adapter by tightening one screw on the bottom of the laptop and you can check the operation of the hard drive.

After installing the battery and turning on the computer, the Windows system recognized the adapter, installed the driver, and the partitions of the additional hard drive became available for work. When writing and reading from the second hard drive, the blue LED on the adapter panel blinked, and in sleep mode it was constantly on.

By installing a hard drive adapter into a laptop instead of a useless DVD drive, it became possible to store up to 1.1 TB of information. In addition, by placing Windows system files and storing frequently used information on an SSD drive, the acoustic noise that the hard drive previously emitted has disappeared, allowing the laptop to operate virtually silently.

Hi all. Today I want to tell you how to independently install an additional SSD drive in place of the CD drive in an Asus X550L laptop.

First, you need to familiarize yourself with the technical characteristics of your laptop in order to understand what components you need to purchase in order to start installing an SSD drive. I’ll say right away if your laptop model is different from the model I’m considering in my post, don’t be upset. Almost all modern laptop models that have a CD drive can install an additional HDD.

Before we start, we need to make sure that we have everything we need.

• New SSD HDD. Your new SSD must have a 2.5″ form factor.
• A set of tools for disassembling a laptop (small Phillips screwdriver). The heads of all screws that you will unscrew are the same size.
• A plastic pick for opening laptop cases or a bank card.
• Pocket for replacing a laptop CD/DVD drive with a 2.5” HDD/SSD.

Here I will tell you in more detail. The thickness of the adapter should be 9.5 mm. since the thickness of the installed DVD drive in the laptop model in question is 9.5 mm. and for successful installation of the adapter you need exactly this thickness, otherwise you simply will not be able to install the adapter. For this laptop model I purchased an adapter Espada SS95 Alu SATA 3 (SATA CD/DVD 9.5mm to SATA 3). You can buy it. The cost of such an adapter today is 300-370 UAH.

Included with the adapter is a screwdriver (for one use), screws for fastening the HDD, and a plastic cover that is installed on the adapter to close the hole that is formed after removing the DVD drive and installing the adapter. We don't need this cover, but first things first.

Now the fun part :).

First we need to open the laptop. We take our laptop and turn it off. We check that our laptop has successfully turned off, turn it over and remove the battery.

After removing the battery, we need to remove our original hard drive. To do this we need to unscrew the cap on the opposite side of the battery.

In the screenshot above, I indicated with arrows where the screws need to be unscrewed.

After you have unscrewed the screws you need to remove the cover. To remove the cover, you need to pull it slightly towards you and lift it (provided that the laptop is lying in front of you as shown in the screenshot).

Under the cover you will see the hard drive and memory modules. We need a hard drive. We must remove the hard drive because we will install an SSD drive in this place. You may ask why here and not instead of a DVD drive. I'll explain. If the speed of the bus to which the hard drive is connected is faster (SATA 3 for hard drive, SATA 2 for optical), then the SSD is placed in this place.

In the screenshot above I showed the mounting locations for the hard drive. You need to unscrew the screws and slide the hard drive to the left, after which the drive can be removed.

Please note that the screws are of different sizes and you need to remember where you removed them from.

When you unscrew all the screws, the pick comes into play. You need to separate the top of the laptop from the bottom.

Please pay special attention that all screws are unscrewed, otherwise you may damage the case.

You need to separate the top of the laptop from the bottom.

Be extremely careful when opening the case as these models have very flimsy latches on the case and they can break off.

Insert the sharp edge of the pick into the gap between the bottom and top of the laptop and slowly turn it to release the latches inside the case. You need to start from the front of the laptop where the indicator lights are located. Thus, you need to walk the pick along the entire perimeter of the body.

When the top cover is separated from the bottom, do not lift it sharply to the top since the top and bottom of the laptop are connected by cables. This can be seen in the screenshot.

I also advise you to watch a video recorded by a kind person with the nickname danythe007. This video shows how to disassemble this laptop model.

I want to say right away that I did not disconnect the cables to remove the top cover because I was able to remove the DVD drive without disconnecting the top part of the laptop (this saved my time).

Let's return to our sheep. Now we need to unscrew the DVD drive. In order not to disconnect the cables, I used a short screwdriver to unscrew the screw that secures the drive to the laptop.

The screenshot shows where the screw is located that needs to be unscrewed to remove the DVD drive.

After we have removed the drive, we need to work on our adapter. We need to install our old hard drive into the adapter. We immediately remove the old disk from the mounting frame and install our SSD in the frame instead of the old disk and set it aside. We'll come back to it a little later.

There are small instructions on the adapter that tell you how to attach the disk. After installing the disc, we need to remove the plastic cover from our DVD drive.

In order to remove the cover from the drive, you need to open it. For this we need a needle or paperclip. There is a small hole on the front panel of the drive; you need to insert a needle into this hole and press a little; the drive carriage should come out of the housing. You now have access to the bottom of the drive to separate the plug from the drive carriage.

The laptop is all assembled. We received two installed hard drives, one installed in the adapter and a new SSD installed in place of the old drive.

Also, after you have assembled your laptop, you need to enter the BIOS. There you will see two hard drives. It is necessary to set the AHCI mode to Enchanced if this has not already been set. This parameter will allow us to work with the new drive as a full-fledged SATA device.

Now you ask, what to do with the installed operating system? How to transfer without losing the functionality of the OS?

Since I knew that I would be installing an SSD drive in the future, I created a 95GB system partition in advance. After installing the hard drive, I transferred the system partition and all related records to the new SSD drive using Acronis Universal Restore. If you want me to describe how I did this, write in the comments and I will write a new post with a more detailed description of transferring the OS to a new disk.

Hello friends! We receive many letters on our website asking us to describe how to replace a DVD drive with additional HDD or SSD in a laptop, which is what we will do in today’s article. For readers who do not quite understand what we are talking about, I will briefly explain.

Now in computer stores and andOnline computer and digital equipment supermarkets sell special adapters. SlimDVD -> 2.5 at a price of 1200-1300 rubles.The laptop's hard drive is installed into the adapter itself, then the adapter is inserted into the laptop instead of the optical drive, and an SSD solid-state drive is installed in place of the laptop's HDD. As a result, you have two hard drives in your laptop. You install the operating system on the SSD(more advanced users can simply transfer Windows from HDD to SSD), and use the laptop hard drive to store files. In my opinion, it is a very good idea to remove the drive and install an HDD instead, since if you ask you when you last used the drive, you won’t even remember.

Toshiba laptop hard drive in a special Espada SS95 adapter

All your questions on this topic:

1. Is it possible to replace a DVD-ROM (disk drive) with an additional SSD on your own, without resorting to a service, using a special adapter? Isn’t this too difficult?

2. Will an SSD drive installed instead of a drive be visible in the BIOS and is it possible to install an operating system on it?

3. Is it better to install a regular laptop HDD in this adapter, and install an SSD solid-state drive instead of the HDD? If yes, then how in this case can you transfer the Windows 7, 8.1 operating system to an SSD from a regular laptop HDD?

To install an SSD drive in a laptop instead of a disk drive, you don’t need to be a computer wizard, because you don’t have to disassemble the entire laptop, you just need to remove the disk drive and hard drive, but still to the point needs to be taken into accountin all seriousness, workcarefully and slowly.

Friends, this article is provided for your information and if your laptop is still under warranty, then after such a replacement you will naturally lose this warranty. If you are not confident in yourself, make such a replacement in the service, but still read the article first to decide what exactly you will install in such an adapter - a regular laptop HDD or an SSD, I recommend HDD, and install the SSD in the standard location of the hard drive laptop.

Get ready for the fact that in most cases not everything will go smoothly (I deliberately chose a difficult example so that you know some of the pitfalls), since such DVD -> HDD adapters are not officially made by any laptop manufacturing company, but despite this, a large Some of these Chinese devices work great.

• Note: First of all, remove the battery from the laptop; if it is impossible to remove it, then be sure to disconnect it from the motherboard; this should always be done when disassembling the laptop. By doing this you will insure yourself and your laptop from possible troubles. When working, do not touch the components located on the laptop motherboard with your hands or a screwdriver.

Select and buy an adapter for installing an HDD instead of a disk drive on a laptop

One of my friends bought this Espada SS95 9.5 mm SATA adapter for 1200 rubles

and asked me to replace the DVD-ROM with an HDD, but did not take into account the fact that there are two types of drives in laptops: a regular drive 12.7 mm high and an ultra thin drive from 9.5 mm. My friend’s laptop is not new and has a 12.7 mm drive, but despite this, the 9.5 mm adapter was still installed and sits firmly in its place.

Still, I advise you to buy an adapter the size of your drive and there will be fewer problems with installation.

When choosing an adapter for installing an HDD instead of a disk drive on a laptop, keep in mind that some adapters come with special “ears” and such an adapter can be easily removed back.

Removing the laptop drive

Friends, articles have already been written and are almost ready on how to make such a replacement on HP, Toshiba, ASUS laptops, and we will start with SONY.

Turn off our laptop and turn it upside down.

Disconnecting the battery

If the battery is not removable, then be sure to disconnect the battery connector from the motherboard!

Disconnecting the DVD-ROM

Don't rush to disassemble your entire laptop! To disconnect the disk drive on a laptop, you usually do not need to remove the bottom cover of the laptop or, even worse, disassemble the entire laptop, but only need to unscrew two screws. If you have never done this, type in a search engine the request - How to remove a disk drive from (hereinafter referred to as your laptop model).

Disconnecting the laptop hard drive

In the case of a SONY laptop there are no problems at all, we unscrew two screws and remove the cover and here is our hard drive. Unscrew two more screws

And carefully pull the silicone tab, the HDD is removed from its place.

Installing a laptop hard drive into the Espada SS95 adapter

In my opinion, we need to install a laptop hard drive in this adapter, and in the rightful place of the HDD we will install an SSD solid-state drive, onto which we will install or transfer the operating system. This needs to be done because the SATA port of the drive (up to 1.5 Gb/s) is often slower than the SATA port (6 Gb/s) of the hard drive.

Windows on an SSD will run much faster than it would on a regular HDD. Almost all laptop HDDs have a 2.5 form factor, just like SSDs, so an SSD will fit perfectly in place of the HDD.

The laptop hard drive is located in special “slides” and is attached to them with four screws; unscrew them and release the HDD.

P adapter Espada SS95

Now, friends, the time has come for our adapter. We have it in this box,

In addition to the adapter itself, the plastic packaging contains a small screwdriver, a bag of screws, a plastic blanking panel and a spacer.

We take out the adapter

First, you need to remove the special fasteners from the drive and attach them to our adapter.

Note. The optical drive is located on top, and our adapter is located on the bottom. This mount on the drive must be removed and attached with the same two screws to the adapter. Using this mount, the adapter will be attached to the laptop body.

We install the laptop hard drive into the adapter and carefully insert it into the SATA connector.

Then we install the “spacer” into the adapter.

The hard drive in the adapter is secured not only with the help of a spacer. Turn the adapter over and tighten the screw securing the hard drive in the adapter.

On the other side of the adapter there is also a screw, only it is somewhat “recessed” in its place; we screw it in using a thin screwdriver.

Now remove another mount from the drive

and attach it to the adapter.

We put a plug on the adapter

We install the adapter in the laptop in place of the drive.

We attach the sleds remaining from the laptop hard drive to the solid-state drive

and install the SSD in place of the HDD and secure it to the laptop case with two screws.

Close the hard drive bay with a cover and secure it with screws. We also attach the adapter to the laptop body with two screws. We put the battery in place.

Side view of our laptop.

Installing Windows 8.1 on SSD

We enter the BIOS and see only one 120 GB SSD solid state drive; a regular laptop HDD connected via an adapter is not seen by the BIOS. This sometimes happens on various laptops, but nevertheless, if you install an operating system on the SSD, then the space of the HDD connected via an adapter will be available.

The Windows 8.1 installer still sees both drives: Disk 0 (SSD) and Disk 1 (HDD).

We install the Windows 8.1 operating system on the SSD.

We go to Disk Management and see our SSD (120 GB capacity) with Windows 8.1 installed and a regular HDD (320 GB capacity) with Windows 7 installed.

What happens if you leave one adapter in your laptop without an SSD?

You see for yourself, there are no defined hard drive models in the BIOS,

Conclusion:

Let’s say you are happy with everything in your laptop, then you definitely shouldn’t indulge in such experiments, it’s another matter if you are an enthusiast and want to get the most out of your laptop, then definitely, our article is for you!

After installing an ssd in my laptop instead of a hdd, I began to experience a catastrophic lack of space on the first one. Purchasing a sata-usb adapter made it possible to expand my media library onto an old hdd. A couple of months passed and this option no longer suited me, namely, I was tired of carrying this “appendix” with me, and the speed left much to be desired. After some time, I came across a number of articles about installing a second drive using an ESPADA adapter. This miracle device with a second disc was inserted instead of the original DVD drive and delighted users. A search in electronics stores led to the understanding that this device is an unaffordable luxury for me. Prices start from 800 rubles here, from $6 in China. Then on the hub I found articles on how to independently remake a DVD drive for additional installation of a second disk, but I was sorry to break the drive for such experiments, and then it started... At work I took a dead hdd, sata cable, molex-sata from an old power supply.

Just my apartment was undergoing renovation and I had a lot of tools to “adjust” some parts for my idea.

Using an angle grinder, the sata connector was upgraded to Slimline SATA.

On the power side, 5 contact pads were left and other areas we did not need were cut down.

By removing unnecessary contact pads, I finally got the connector I needed, exactly like in a DVD drive.

In advance, a pinout diagram for the contacts was found on the Internet.

Armed with a soldering iron and a lot of patience, I soldered the whole thing into a SATA (ODA)->SATA (HDD) adapter.

Having filled everything with ordinary shoe glue (well, I don’t have hot glue) and wrapped it with electrical tape, I got a completely aesthetic-looking wiring. After waiting for the glue to dry, I began to try to assemble the whole thing. I taped the HDD with double-sided tape, thereby creating a “cushion”.

I connected everything and inserted it tightly inside.

With my fingers crossed, I turn on the laptop and immediately run to the BIOS.

Hooray! WDC has made its decision.

I boot the system and everything is fine.

There are no limits to joy and pride! It turns out how easy it is to connect a second drive to a laptop at a minimum cost.