Hardware [laptop users] HDD caddy replacement for ODD.

[DinohScene]

Any laptop users here that changed their ODD with one of these?

I've recently ordered one as I never use me DVD drive (nor can I use it as I had to tape it shut since the frame was cracked)

Anyway, anyone that has one has any experiences with it and is it possible to RAID1 it?

 

[migles]

that's really neat. i never thought doing this.. (that you could remove the optic drive and insert an hdd enclosure)
i guess it's the same thing as in the desktops, the optic drive uses a sata plug\interface...

as for raid, don't you need a supporting motherboard? or the OS takes care of that?

in case you wouldn't be able to use raid, how about getting a SSD and replace it with your current internal hdd?

 

[DinohScene]

ODDs in lappies indeed use the SATA interface so it's really easy to replace it yep.

I honestly have no clue if it's the hardware that does it or the software...
I suspect the hardware tho...

No money for an SSD.
Got a spare 320GB drive laying around for now.
Besides, next year or in 2018, I'll have a new laptop which probably will come with an SSD anyway.

 

[lethalcrayonz]

as long as you have purchased one that is the same size as your laptops original dvd drive it will work. ive done it to my laptop because i installed a 500gb ssd internally and then just put a spare 250gb i had laying around in the optical slot works flawlessly i just removed the face plate from my odd and used that on the new hard drive bay and it looks like nothing has changed

 

[DinohScene]

Sweet.
I've already planned to use it as a 2nd drive to store data on there.

 

[lethalcrayonz]

one thing to note is the laptops ODD is usually only sata 2 resulting in slower hard drive speeds.

 

[a9lh-1user]

I use them on my Thinkpads also as on my Mac book pro and all of them are working well
(look at the spec's which SATA you can use, everything else is easy)

 

[Originality]

one thing to note is the laptops ODD is usually only sata 2 resulting in slower hard drive speeds.

That's only significant for SSDs. HDDs don't even saturate SATA2 speeds, let alone SATA3, so there will not be any noticeable difference in speed based off SATA interface.

 

[VinsCool]

Woah looks pretty nice. I would totally see advantages of using one of those on my laptop.

 

[migles]

hey @DinohScene forgot to ask, can you easily swap HDD in the caddy? or you require screws and is supposed to be fixed?
do you have to remove the whole caddy or there is a eject button or something?

 

[raulpica]

Haven't seen many laptops with RAID support (except huge, costly stuff), so I wouldn't expect it. Just use some neat differential backup utility to save your important stuff automagically

 

[DinohScene]

hey @DinohScene forgot to ask, can you easily swap HDD in the caddy? or you require screws and is supposed to be fixed?
do you have to remove the whole caddy or there is a eject button or something?

Literally ordered it like 4 hours ago ;p
No, their fixed into place and aren't supposed to be hotswappable.

Haven't seen many laptops with RAID support (except huge, costly stuff), so I wouldn't expect it. Just use some neat differential backup utility to save your important stuff automagically

Thought as much.
Well using it as a JBOD isn't bad either.
At least I can free up some space on me main drive.

 

[Originality]

Haven't seen many laptops with RAID support (except huge, costly stuff), so I wouldn't expect it. Just use some neat differential backup utility to save your important stuff automagically

I've seen some Lenovo laptops sporting it (it could fit up to 3 drives, however the ODD slot didn't support RAID in that particular case). I've also seen several mid-high end desktop replacement laptops support it (like my old Packard Bell). Although personally I don't think RAID is needed if you just have a SSD primary and HDD secondary for cheap storage. Then again, personally I would no longer use HDDs in any laptop - portability and movement kill them too frequently.

 

[raulpica]

Portability and movement kill them too frequently.

Amen, I've jumped on SSDs for my family's laptops as soon as prices were decent. Best choice ever. I can literally crash the laptops on the ground now without breaking anything (except maybe the screen).

 

[azublazer]

Make sure to have this switch at the top in the correct position or your computer won't shut down when you try to turn it off. I had a tough time figuring it out my first time installing a second SSD. Haha.

 

[DinohScene]

I've seen some Lenovo laptops sporting it (it could fit up to 3 drives, however the ODD slot didn't support RAID in that particular case). I've also seen several mid-high end desktop replacement laptops support it (like my old Packard Bell). Although personally I don't think RAID is needed if you just have a SSD primary and HDD secondary for cheap storage. Then again, personally I would no longer use HDDs in any laptop - portability and movement kill them too frequently.

I never had that problem in all honesty.
I've replaced the HDD with a 500 GB HDD less then half a year after I got it and later replaced it with a HHD.
Always took the thing with me everywhere I went.

Make sure to have this switch at the top in the correct position or your computer won't shut down when you try to turn it off. I had a tough time figuring it out my first time installing a second SSD. Haha.

I'll deffo have a look for that.
Is it inside the laptop or on the HDD caddy?

 

[azublazer]

I'll deffo have a look for that.
Is it inside the laptop or on the HDD caddy?

It should be on the caddy itself. Right inside the top, next to where you attach the hdd to the caddy itself. Here's a more full picture:

 

[SAIYAN48]

I ripped out my laptop's disk drive and threw in an HDD. Not lots of uses for disks these days.

 

[DinohScene]

Cheers!
I'll deffo check it.

 

[Jayro]

In my particular case, my laptop's ODD SATA controller was SATA I, while the HDD controller was a SATA II, and nowhere in the BIOS were any RAID options. Even if there were, two RAIDed SATA I speed SSDs wouldn't get you anywhere too quickly with that much of a bottleneck. Barely any faster than a 7200RPM mechanical HDD.