If you are the owner of a laptop and you are not entirely satisfied with the speed of its operation, especially the loading speed, and you are increasingly thinking about upgrading or even replacing the entire laptop, then do not rush. We offer an upgrade option for almost any full-size laptop for reasonable money.
The fact is that the processor is not the first freshness, a small amount of RAM and a built-in video card are not the main culprits of the system’s “brakes”. The main reason is a slow hard drive. We propose replacing it with a more modern analogue - SSD. But you probably thought about such a purchase yourself, but to fully use a PC you need a lot of free space on the information storage device - at least 500-750 gigabytes. And the prices for SSDs of such capacity are very, very high.
And when buying a 60-120 gigabyte SSD, there will only be enough space for the system and applications, there can be no talk of any media content. Therefore, you need to look for another solution, one in which you can increase the speed of the system and not lose disk capacity, and without spending too much money. We understand you perfectly and offer just such a method.
Why do you need a DVD drive?
No, seriously, what do you need it for? Any films or music can be downloaded on the Internet, which almost everyone has, information that does not require constant access can be stored either in the cloud, of which there are now countless, or on an external hard drive, the prices of which are completely “ridiculous” today. I wouldn’t trust optical disks with important information - they get scratched quite easily and become unusable.
So, if you really don't need a DVD drive on your laptop, then we suggest installing an SSD instead. And again, don’t be alarmed - you won’t have to break anything, and you won’t have to “tinker” either - we promise to leave the beautiful appearance of your beech intact.
What do we need?
First, we need an SSD and connectors to connect it. In principle, a 60 GB disk for the system will be enough for us, but it’s still better to buy 128 - in this case, you won’t worry about running out of space and you can always put some large program on the SSD, or one that is demanding on input operations\ output the game (after all, this is exactly why we buy an SSD). In addition, the prices for this gadget of such volumes are quite low and the purchase of such a part will not hit your wallet.
In addition to the SSD, we will need a seat for it, or rather an adapter that will replace the DVD drive. At various foreign auctions and in online stores this is called “HDD-Caddy” (in our country it is most often referred to as “Adapter for connecting HDD 2.5 to the laptop drive bay”). Buy this device only for your laptop model.
Actually, this is all we need to purchase. The tools we need are a screwdriver and... nothing else.
What is the best place to put it?
It's up to you to decide. You will have unhindered access to the device installed instead of the DVD drive, that is, it is better to install a media device there - a hard drive (movies, music, photos, etc. will be stored on it). In this case, you can always quickly take out the HDD and, using a special device (pocket), connect it to a DVD to watch movies or connect it to another PC as a bulk flash drive.
On the other hand, the heat dissipation of the drive is worse, and there will be more vibrations here, and it is also difficult to say about the protection from mechanical damage of this place. And an SSD is much smaller than a hard drive and is afraid of vibrations, high temperatures, etc. That is, as far as performance properties are concerned, it will be better here than a hard drive.
In any case, it’s up to you, depending on how you plan to use these devices and depending on the configuration of your laptop model.
Let's get started
In principle, the procedure is quite trivial. First you need to remove the DVD drive - in many laptop models you don’t even need to remove the case - they are held on by one bolt, after unscrewing which they are simply pulled out of the laptop.
When you have the DVD drive in your hands, you will need to remove the cover on which the compartment opening button is located and move it to the purchased HDD-Caddy. Now we perform the reverse procedure - install the adapter in place of the DVD drive. Don't forget to secure it with a bolt. Well, that's all - all that remains is to install the SSD here (or a hard drive, and the SSD in place of the hard drive).
Installing or migrating an operating system
Next, you need to install the operating system on the SSD, having first removed the system partition from the HDD and attached it to the partition on which the media information is stored. Installing the operating system will be no different from the process you are used to.
But, if for some reason you want to keep your old system, then before deleting the partition from the HDD you need to “clone” it to the SSD. This can be done by any program for working with hard drives in boot mode. For example, Acronis Partition Director or Mini Tool Partition Wizard are suitable - in general, the choice is yours.
Instead of conclusions
After the replacement, you will be surprised how much more responsive and fast your operating system has become. In addition, if you previously did not have enough space on your hard drive, now you will have free space previously occupied by the operating system.
If, however, the only thing stopping you from such an upgrade is that to use the DVD drive you will now need to twist the adapters every time, then we will reassure you - you can buy a special “pocket” for the DVD drive and connect it to any PC via USB interface.
Every year, users resort to using optical drives less and less. USB drives and cloud storage services, due to their convenience and mobility, have almost completely replaced CD/DVD drives. Many users are unhappy that the drive in their laptop takes up space that could be used for something more useful. Fortunately, there is a way to do this. Indeed, instead of an unnecessary disk drive, you can install an additional SSD disk, onto which you can transfer the operating system, and store all your files on a regular HDD. This approach is very practical and convenient. In this article we will take a closer look at how to install it instead of DVD in a laptop. Let's figure it out. Go!
Installing an SSD and HDD on a laptop is not as difficult as it seems
In online stores and regular stores that sell computer components, you can purchase a special Slim DVD adapter, which allows you to install a hard drive instead of an optical drive. It works as follows. The HDD of your computer is inserted into the adapter, then the disk along with the adapter is mounted instead of the drive, and an SSD is installed in the place where the computer’s hard drive was previously installed. Agree, it sounds quite simple. In reality, everything is not so complicated either.
Let's get started. You need to start, of course, by purchasing a Slim DVD adapter. Adapters, like disk drives, come in two types: 12.7 mm and 9.5 mm. Depending on what kind of drive you have, buy the appropriate adapter, otherwise the hard drive simply cannot be placed in place of the optical drive. If you have already purchased it, then you can proceed to installation.
The first step is to remove the necessary components. This is not difficult to do, because you do not have to completely disassemble the laptop, but you will only remove some of its components. It’s worth noting right away that if your computer is under warranty, then such modifications will void the warranty. Despite the fact that this whole procedure is not very complicated, it should be taken with the utmost seriousness and responsibility. Therefore, if you are not confident in your own abilities, it is better to entrust this work to a master.
First, remove the battery, but if you can’t just remove it on your laptop, then disconnect it from the motherboard to avoid possible problems and malfunctions. There is no need to remove the entire bottom. It is enough to unscrew a couple of screws to remove the HDD. It's the same story with the optical drive. You can easily find disassembly instructions for each laptop model on the Internet (since they are all different). See how to remove the floppy drive and hard drive from a specific laptop model. After you have removed the appropriate covers, remove the HDD. To do this, you need to pull the special silicone tab. Since the HDD is mounted on special skids, they must be removed by unscrewing the corresponding screws.
Now you need to install the drive into the adapter. As a rule, everything needed for installation is included inside the box with the adapter, namely: a screwdriver, screws, a plug, a spacer and instructions. Please note that you need to remove the special fasteners located on the sides of the drive and screw them to the adapter. Install the HDD into the adapter and insert it into the SATA connector. Then install the spacer. The HDD itself still needs to be secured with a screw on the other side of the Slim DVD. To do this, you will need a thin screwdriver, which comes with the kit. Then remove the fastener from the other side of the optical drive and attach it to the adapter. Place a plug. All. Now you can insert the drive into place of the drive.
Using this adapter, it is possible to replace a long-obsolete DVD drive with an HDD with a SATA interface.
Thus, you get a laptop with two drives.
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.
1. New SSD HDD. Your new SSD must have a 2.5″ form factor.
2. A set of tools for disassembling a laptop (small Phillips screwdriver). The heads of all screws that you will unscrew are the same size.
3. A plastic pick for opening laptop cases or a bank card.
4. Pocket for replacing a laptop CD/DVD drive with 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.
Appearance of the adapter.
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 up (
provided that the laptop is 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 the 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.
Removed disc from mounting frame
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.
Place where the plug is attached to the DVD drive carriage.
Removed cover from DVD drive
When you have the plug from the drive, you need to install it on our adapter. Next, we need to remove the bracket from our drive that secures our drive to the laptop body and move it to the same place on our adapter.
After this, the adapter must be installed in place of the removed DVD drive. And tighten the screw that secures the drive.
We turn the laptop over and install our SSD in place of the old hard drive and tighten the bolts. We close the cover that was removed at the beginning of disassembling the laptop and tighten the remaining bolts around the entire perimeter of the laptop and insert the battery.
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 mode AHCI V Enchanted who hasn't had it displayed yet. 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 install an SSD drive in the future, I created a system partition in advance with the size 95GB. 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.
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This happened a little less than two...Greetings! A long time ago I had a desire to make a small upgrade to my old laptop and breathe new life into it. At the moment, the best thing to do for my junk is to add RAM and replace the ancient HDD with a new SSD. Since I already have the maximum possible four gigabytes of RAM, the hard drive had to be replaced. Modern SSD drives are expensive, and there is never too much space. It was decided to install the old disk in place of the DVD drive. Installation, tests, conclusions - please under the cat...
The purchased 250 GB Samsung 750 EVO SSD was logically installed in place of the standard HDD drive. My native disk was 320 GB, which is not much more. There are plenty of options for using an old hard drive. Sell and recoup some of the money for the purchase of an SSD, buy a box with a USB interface and use it as a portable drive or just some kind of adapter, or install it in place of a DVD drive, which I have not used for a long time. Having defeated the “toad”, it was decided not to sell the disc. Since I already have a portable HDD, the choice fell on the so-called Caddy or Optibay device.
Specifications
- Device thickness standard: 12.7 mm
- Interface: SATA
- Disk size and interface: SATA(2.5")
- Dimensions: 12.6*12.7*1.27cm
- Caddy - 1 pc.
- Screwdriver - 1 pc.
- Bolts - 8 pcs.
- Seal - 1 pc.
The device itself is extremely simple. The shape is exactly the same as a standard DVD drive. The only thing to consider is the thickness of the drive. DVD devices for laptops come in two sizes: 9.5 mm and 12.7 mm. So I strongly recommend that before purchasing a “pocket” you take out your DVD and measure its thickness. But if you really don’t want to disassemble the laptop once again, then you can go online and determine its dimensions this way. Also be sure to check which interface your DVD is using. The screwdriver is very cheap and not particularly convenient, but if you don’t have a tool at hand and want to install the disk right now, then it will do the job.
The bolts were very useful. They help keep the disc in place, but not in a traditional way. I will describe the installation a little later. The rubber, perforated block most likely serves to more securely fix the disc in the pocket and to reduce vibration.
Disassembly
I decided to disassemble the adapter body a little and see what else was interesting there. I didn't find any surprises. The tin body is reinforced with a plastic insert. The adapter board is extremely miniature, on which the SATA and mSata interfaces are located. I also discovered a strange kind of switch that has three positions. What function it performs remains a mystery to me. I will be glad to see versions of his appointment in the comments.
Installation in a laptop
The first thing you need to do is get the standard drive for your laptop. Each laptop does this differently, but the principle is the same. In my case, it was necessary to unscrew the cover of the compartment under which there was a drive mounting bolt. I unscrewed it and pressed a small pedal, the DVD moved out a little from its saddle. Now you can take it out freely. 
After we compared the dimensions and checked that the adapter fits freely into the DVD drive, we can install the disc in the Caddy. To securely fix the disk, you need to screw four bolts into it until they stop, put the disk in the “pocket” and slide it into the SATA interface. The bolts will rest against special protrusions on the adapter body. Thus, the disk will be firmly fixed, but for greater reliability it is necessary to install a rubber seal at the rear end of the disk. 
In this form, you can already connect the adapter to the laptop and turn it on. But it will not be recorded, which is not safe. The adapter is attached to the laptop case using a special fastener, which must be unscrewed from your standard DVD drive and fixed to the new adapter. These mounts come in a variety of shapes, but have a standard hole pattern for mounting on the drive housing and our Caddy. 
The final touch is to bring beauty. From the disk drive I remove the decorative cover with the button, which is held on by several latches, and install it on the Caddy. Everything is standard here too. All holes for latches are in place. All that remains is to install the adapter in its rightful place, secure it with a bolt to the laptop body and close the compartment. You can turn it on and enjoy :). 
Testing
I carried out several simple tests and it turned out that I have the same revisions of the SATA interface on my laptop, both at the main installation location of the laptop and at the connection location of the DVD drive. Since my laptop is not the latest, the most I could count on was SATA 3 Gb/s. And so it happened. In my case, it didn’t matter which interface I connected the SSD drive to, and which HDD. The operating speed is expectedly the same for both SSD and HDD drives.
conclusions
There are a great variety of similar adapters at very different prices. I can’t say exactly what the difference is between them. In my case, this is one of its cheapest representatives. The data transfer speed on an SSD drive is no different from the speed in a standard location. Perhaps there will be some difference in working with the SATA 3 interface, but I cannot verify this. I have no complaints about the build quality. Everything fit like family. I hope it will serve and please me for a long time.
I hope I helped you decide whether to purchase the product and, in particular, this adapter. If I missed something, I will try to answer all the questions asked in the comments.
A short video review for greater clarity
That's all. Thank you all for your attention to my review! Happy shopping and good luck!
You can purchase PLN adapters at
Good day! We all know that a PC is much more convenient than a laptop in terms of upgrading. To be honest, my PC case is over 10 years old. I only change the filling in it, and I changed the monitor once. I wish laptops could also be easily upgraded, but often, if a laptop is outdated, you just have to replace it with a new one. For some there is nothing complicated about this. And for some, his laptop is an entire workstation with many programs (possibly licenses) and settings. In this case, switching to a new laptop is a little problematic. And for a long time.
But fortunately, we are not completely limited in terms of laptop upgrades. We can do something. We can add RAM, we can replace it, sometimes we can replace the processor with a slightly more powerful one but from the same line. We can even connect if you wish. This all sounds pretty harmless except for replacing the hard drive, because the system will have to be set up again.
There is an exit! There is an excellent solution - you can insert secondHDD insteadDVD drive. By the way, this could also be . Don't skimp on the drive; I doubt you'll use it.
Replacing a DVD drive with an HDD (SSD drive)
In order to replace DVD with HDD, we need a special adapter (adapter ), which looks very similar to a DVD drive. When choosing this adapter, pay attention to its thickness. Disk drives come in thicknesses of 9.5mm and 12.7mm, and so do the adapters, respectively.
Hard drive adapter
When searching for an adapter, it is better to call it " hard drive adapter" You can buy it in specialized stores in your city. In this case, it will cost you about 1000 rubles. Or you can order it at aliexpress. It will cost you about 200 rubles, but you will have to wait 2-3 weeks. Judging by the reviews, delivery takes about this long. By the way, judging by the same reviews, the quality of the adapter is no worse than the one you would buy at 5 times the price.
How to insert an SSD instead of a DVD drive in a laptop?
It's time to get down to business - repeat what I will describe in the stated order, and you yourself will be able to install an SSD drive (or HDD hard drive) instead of a DVD drive. There is absolutely nothing complicated about this.
First, completely turn off the power to your laptop. That is, disconnect the charger from it and remove the battery.
Remove the disk drive from the laptop. To do this, you will have to remove one screw at the bottom of the laptop that holds your drive. Finding and recognizing this screw is not difficult.
Unscrew and pull out the drive
Next, you need to carefully insert the SSD drive (or hard drive) into the adapter and screw it with the screws that came with the adapter and additionally secure it with a special plug (it will also be included).
The fastening is simple: unscrew, screw on
After this, you will need to move the mount and the external panel from the DVD drive to the adapter. With the fastening everything is simple: unscrew it, screw it on. And handle the socket very carefully, because it is a fragile creature.
That's it. Insert the adapter into the laptop and screw it on. Everything should have taken you no more than 5 minutes. Let's recap how to insert an HDD or SSD instead of a DVD drive:
- Disconnect the laptop
- Remove DVD drive
- Insert HDD or SSD into the adapter
- Transfer the mount and outer panel to the adapter
- Insert and screw the drive
If you want to install an SSD drive instead of a DVD drive, then for better performance of the laptop it will be useful to make a slight castling. Place the SSD drive in the space reserved for the hard drive, and insert the hard drive into the adapter.
This is due to the fact that modern laptops have connectors for the drive. SATA 3, and for the drive they are usually limited to the connector SATA 1. Well, it’s clear that in order to unlock the full speed potential of an SSD drive, it will not have enough bandwidth for the SATA 1 connector. A little more detail about SATA types is written in the article about.
That's all I have for today. I hope the article answered all your questions. If you still have questions, I will be happy to answer them in the comments.
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Every user would like to install a modern SSD drive on their PC for better productivity and higher system speed. Installing an SSD on your computer is incredibly easy, and the process itself is usually not accompanied by any difficulties.
By the way, there was a similar article earlier, but in it we only needed to remove a small cover on the back of the case, which does not create any difficulties.
But installing an SSD in a laptop instead of a DVD drive is much more difficult, because first you need to carefully disassemble it. And many users already have difficulties at this stage. So let's look at the whole process in more detail.
What is required for installation?
First, you should familiarize yourself with the characteristics of your laptop to understand what components you need to purchase. As practice shows, most modern models with a CD drive can easily be equipped with an additional hard drive. Therefore, there should be no problems.
Before you start, you should make sure that you have everything you need for full-fledged work.
You will need:
Special attention should be paid to the last point, so let's look at it in more detail.
How to choose an adapter?
The drive size comes in two types and differs in thickness - 9.5mm and 12.7mm. Before purchasing an adapter, carefully measure the thickness of your drive and only then buy the appropriate adapter. Otherwise, the SSD drive adapter simply will not fit into the laptop in place of the DVD drive.
You should also pay attention to the interface through which the drive is connected. If the interface is SATA, then using an adapter with an adapter to mSATA, you can easily install an SSD instead of a disk drive. But if your DVD drive is connected via IDE, and this is an outdated technology, then to connect the SSD you will need an adapter from IDE to SATA.
As mentioned above, the adapters differ only in thickness, while their shape and width are the same. The adapter usually comes with a disposable screwdriver, screws for securing the hard drive, and a plastic cover. The latter is needed for installation on the adapter to cover the free space that appears after removing the drive.
Disassembling a laptop
After we have prepared everything necessary for replacement and purchased a suitable adapter for the SSD, we can begin opening the laptop and then replacing the drive.
You can do this as follows:
After the battery is disconnected, you need to remove the installed hard drive.
For this:
Under the cover there is a hard drive and memory modules. We need to remove the hard drive, since a solid-state drive will be installed in its place.
If you ask why we install the SSD here, and not instead of the drive, then there is a simple explanation for this.
When the speed of the bus to which the hard drive is connected is faster (in this case, the hard drive is connected via SATA 3, while the drive has SATA 2), then the SSD is installed in place of the HDD.
To properly remove the drive, you must carefully follow the following instructions:
We put both drives aside; we will return to them later.
Removing the Top Cover
Now we need to remove the top cover of the laptop by unscrewing all the fixing screws. You should take into account the fact that they come in different sizes and you definitely need to remember where they were unscrewed from.
After all the screws are unscrewed, the matter remains with the pick. Now you need to separate the bottom and top of the laptop. You need to be extremely careful when opening it, as most models have unreliable latches that can easily break. Check again that all screws have been removed, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the device case.
To remove the cover, you need to insert the pick into the slot that is located between the top and bottom covers, and slowly turn it to release the latches located inside the case. You should start from the front of the laptop, where the indicator lights are located. It is necessary to walk the mediator around the perimeter of the entire body.
After you separate the top cover from the bottom, do not lift it up suddenly. Both parts are connected by cables and you can damage them.
When working with some devices, you do not have to disconnect the cables, since sometimes you can replace the DVD drive without removing the top part of the device, which can significantly save your time.
DVD drive
Now unscrew the DVD drive. We will need a short screwdriver to remove the screw that secures the drive to the case. Once it is unscrewed, you can remove the drive without any problems.
Then remove the plastic cover from the DVD drive. To do this, you need to open it. To do this you will need a paperclip or a needle. Find a small hole on the front panel of the device and insert a paper clip into it. After lightly pressing, the drive carriage will move out of the housing, and you will have full access to its lower part and can easily separate the plug from the carriage.
Once the plug is removed, it will need to be placed on the adapter.
After this, we install the adapter in place of the drive we previously removed and tighten the fastening screw.
All that remains is to turn the laptop over and install the SSD drive in place of the old HDD. Close the cover removed at the beginning of disassembly and tighten the remaining bolts around the perimeter of the device, insert the battery.
The laptop is now assembled and ready to use. We installed two hard drives: we put the old HDD in an adapter and connected it instead of a disk drive, and a new solid-state drive was mounted in its place.
Software settings
The next step will be setting up Bios, namely enabling AHCI mode. This mode allows you to increase the speed of the drive, mainly due to the advantages of NCQ technology. It also opens up other possibilities, such as hot swapping.
Now you know how to install an SSD in a laptop instead of an old DVD drive, and you can do it yourself without any problems, following our instructions exactly.
By the way, you can completely transfer the system without losing its functionality using special programs, for example, Acronis Universal Restore, Macrium Reflect and others. They have wide functionality and will help you in this situation.
If you are the owner of a laptop and you are not entirely satisfied with the speed of its operation, especially the loading speed, and you are increasingly thinking about upgrading or even replacing the entire laptop, then do not rush. We offer an upgrade option for almost any full-size laptop for reasonable money.
The fact is that the processor is not the first freshness, a small amount of RAM and a built-in video card are not the main culprits of the system’s “brakes”. The main reason is a slow hard drive. We propose replacing it with a more modern analogue - SSD. But you probably thought about such a purchase yourself, but to fully use a PC you need a lot of free space on the information storage device - at least 500-750 gigabytes. And the prices for SSDs of such capacity are very, very high.
And when buying a 60-120 gigabyte SSD, there will only be enough space for the system and applications, there can be no talk of any media content. Therefore, you need to look for another solution, one in which you can increase the speed of the system and not lose disk capacity, and without spending too much money. We understand you perfectly and offer just such a method.
Why do you need a DVD drive?
No, seriously, what do you need it for? Any films or music can be downloaded on the Internet, which almost everyone has, information that does not require constant access can be stored either in the cloud, of which there are now countless, or on an external hard drive, the prices of which are completely “ridiculous” today. I wouldn’t trust optical disks with important information - they get scratched quite easily and become unusable.
So, if you really don't need a DVD drive on your laptop, then we suggest installing an SSD instead. And again, don’t be alarmed - you won’t have to break anything, and you won’t have to “tinker” either - we promise to leave the beautiful appearance of your beech intact.
What do we need?
First, we need an SSD and connectors to connect it. In principle, a 60 GB disk for the system will be enough for us, but it’s still better to buy 128 - in this case, you won’t worry about running out of space and you can always put some large program on the SSD, or one that is demanding on input operations\ output the game (after all, this is exactly why we buy an SSD). In addition, the prices for this gadget of such volumes are quite low and the purchase of such a part will not hit your wallet.
In addition to the SSD, we will need a seat for it, or rather an adapter that will replace the DVD drive. At various foreign auctions and in online stores this is called “HDD-Caddy” (in our country it is most often referred to as “Adapter for connecting HDD 2.5 to the laptop drive bay”). Buy this device only for your laptop model.
Actually, this is all we need to purchase. The tools we need are a screwdriver and... nothing else.
What is the best place to put it?
It's up to you to decide. You will have unhindered access to the device installed instead of the DVD drive, that is, it is better to install a media device there - a hard drive (movies, music, photos, etc. will be stored on it). In this case, you can always quickly take out the HDD and, using a special device (pocket), connect it to a DVD to watch movies or connect it to another PC as a bulk flash drive.
On the other hand, the heat dissipation of the drive is worse, and there will be more vibrations here, and it is also difficult to say about the protection from mechanical damage of this place. And an SSD is much smaller than a hard drive and is afraid of vibrations, high temperatures, etc. That is, as far as performance properties are concerned, it will be better here than a hard drive.
In any case, it’s up to you, depending on how you plan to use these devices and depending on the configuration of your laptop model.
Let's get started
In principle, the procedure is quite trivial. First you need to remove the DVD drive - in many laptop models you don’t even need to remove the case - they are held on by one bolt, after unscrewing which they are simply pulled out of the laptop.
When you have the DVD drive in your hands, you will need to remove the cover on which the compartment opening button is located and move it to the purchased HDD-Caddy. Now we perform the reverse procedure - install the adapter in place of the DVD drive. Don't forget to secure it with a bolt. Well, that's all - all that remains is to install the SSD here (or a hard drive, and the SSD in place of the hard drive).
Installing or migrating an operating system
Next, you need to install the operating system on the SSD, having first removed the system partition from the HDD and attached it to the partition on which the media information is stored. Installing the operating system will be no different from the process you are used to.
But, if for some reason you want to keep your old system, then before deleting the partition from the HDD you need to “clone” it to the SSD. This can be done by any program for working with hard drives in boot mode. For example, Acronis Partition Director or Mini Tool Partition Wizard are suitable - in general, the choice is yours.
Instead of conclusions
After the replacement, you will be surprised how much more responsive and fast your operating system has become. In addition, if you previously did not have enough space on your hard drive, now you will free up space previously occupied by the operating system.
If, however, the only thing stopping you from such an upgrade is that to use the DVD drive you will now need to twist the adapters every time, then we will reassure you - you can buy a special “pocket” for the DVD drive and connect it to any PC via USB interface.
