Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

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iain_33
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Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

In my ponderings about how to install Linux (replace Windows or dual-boot) and how to partition, and/or whether to buy a bigger HDD, I struck upon the possibility of replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD and put the operating system(s) on there. It looks quite straightforward on this site and the benefits would be obvious, but is it feasible? The main things I'm thinking of would be its extra power requirements - is there any way of checking if my ageing laptop's up to it - and extra heat output - do SSD's generate much?

Another consideration I just thought of too, I'm thinking back to IDE days here, where an HDD would be connected to the motherboard as the primary/master device and the CD/DVD drive as a slower secondary/slave. Does SATA still work that way, and as such, would replacing the DVD drive with an SSD have it connected as a slower device?
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by JeremyB »

I would think the feasibility of an SSD on an old laptop would depend on the SATA spec of the laptop. My 4 year old laptop uses SATA 2 and I have 10 second boot times with Ubuntu on it
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by AndyMH »

Depends on whether you can get a caddy to fit in where your DVD drive sits. I've done it twice on two thinkpad T430's. In one I have a 2TB HDD, in the other a 1TB HDD. I use them as backup drives as they have sata3 interfaces and thus quick.

You would need to be more specific about what laptop you've got. Also look in your BIOS and see what boot options you have - can you boot from a SSD/HDD in the caddy?

If you go for only one OS rather than dual boot, might be better putting an SSD in to replace your existing HDD and putting the HDD in the caddy.

Also depending on what you want to use win for, could be better to run win in a VM. I started with mint dual booting with win7. Now mint is my primary OS and for the odd thing I need win for, I run it in a VM using virtualbox.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

My laptop's a HP G70-110EM from 2008/09, I'm not sure what SATA version it has but according to Windows Device Manager the HDD controller is an "Intel(R) ICH9M/M-E Family 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 2929".

(edit: from the release dates on the SATA wiki page I reckon it's SATA 2)

In the BIOS I have options to boot from the optical drive and from an external USB HDD/pen drive, so I presume it will also boot from an HDD/SSD in place of the optical drive?
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by AndyMH »

sata2 is 3gb/sec, sata3 is 6gb/sec. sata2 is fast enough, got an msata SSD sat in one of my T430's and it's fast enough.

Think the only way you will find out is find a caddy that fits and try it.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

I did some Googling about finding which SATA version I have, and came across using dmesg in Linux, so I've started up a Live CD session and put it into the terminal:

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ dmesg | grep -i sata | grep -i "link up"
[   10.492083] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[   11.316073] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
I assume this means I have two SATA channels, one 3.0Gbps (= SATA 2) and one 1.5Gbps (=SATA 1). Presumably the DVD drive is connected to the slower one ... in that case is it worth putting an SSD on there?
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by AndyMH »

I'd do what I suggested earlier, replace your existing HDD with an SSD and put the HDD in a caddy, found one on ebay for only £8:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-G32-G42-G ... 0650920615

Having looked at it, can't see any differences from the caddy in my T430.

SSDs are not expensive now, a 120G one will set you back less than £20 and 240G around £30.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

Thanks for all your help, I'll probably go ahead and get an SSD and caddy in the new year, once Christmas is paid off :lol: ... to be honest I hadn't realised SSD's were so affordable now, I hadn't looked since they were new and exotic.

Interesting, I've also read that dmesg / hwinfo / your tool of choice will report the SATA link speed for whatever device has been connected, rather than the controller's capability, so it may be that I have two 3.0Gbps channels.

In the meantime, I got impatient, took the plunge, wiped the Win 10 partition and installed Linux on the HDD 8)
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by kc1di »

iain_33 wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 5:30 am
In the meantime, I got impatient, took the plunge, wiped the Win 10 partition and installed Linux on the HDD 8)
Congrats on that move :) enjoy!
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by lsemmens »

Well done! You'll be kicking yourself that you did not do that MUCH sooner. :D
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by JeremyB »

Don't buy a SSD, you will want to replace all the HDD's with them
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by redlined »

JeremyB wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 7:05 pm Don't buy a SSD, you will want to replace all the HDD's with them
:lol:
(truth!)
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

Well ... an update. I was googling about size / thickness of optical drives vs SSD's and caddy sizes, and I came across the issue that, in HP laptops, an HDD / SSD in place of the optical drive won't be bootable (can't see why that would be, but that's how it is apparently) and will be slower than it would be in the main HDD bay. Could put the SSD in the main bay and the old HDD in the optical bay as already suggested, but I'd rather not sacrifice the access speed.

Still, not a huge deal, as Mint is running faster from the HDD as it is, than Windows ever did.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by AndyMH »

Could put the SSD in the main bay and the old HDD in the optical bay as already suggested, but I'd rather not sacrifice the access speed
Put the SSD in the main bay and install mint on it. If you thought mint was a lot quicker than win on the HDD you will be in for a very pleasant surprise :)

Note, there are SSDs and SSDs, my thinkpad can take a 7mm or 9mm thick SSD internally, but not any thicker. Think the caddy in the ultrabay can take up to 12mm. Check before you buy.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by JeremyB »

Clone the Mint install to the SSD and put the SSD in the main bay and use the caddy for the HDD
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by redlined »

hi iain_33!

+1 to suggestions on install Mint on that SSD! (you will enjoy it even more, for sure) :D

One thing to consider would be to leave dvd as is and purchase a USB to SATA adapter, $7 - $30usd depending on need for speed and flexibility in connector type(s) desired and included. Then just put the HDD into a generic enclosure and you have some good removable backup storage life left in that drive to take advantage of without the additional headache.

I don't recall when USB3.0 came out, but if your laptop has it then for sure the way to go, if not look at upgrading at least one USB port to USB3. This might be done externally, if even possible- but an idea to look into as USB3 will move your data noticeably faster than USB2

If you do crack open that HP (notoriously poor design and difficult hard drive access, tons of tiny screws everywhere, etc) to replace HHD with SSD then I'd recommend looking at replacing other pieces which may be due a freshening up, like touchpad or keyboard (the latter of which get removed to allow access to drive).

Also, RAM is usually very easy to access and cheap to max out nowadays if not done already. I've had great fortune buying Timetec brand (very inexpensive, but dang good and no fakes detected so far.. amazon prime is where I picked it up) this past season.
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by iain_33 »

Thanks for the suggestions ... I appreciate that Mint installed on an SSD would be much faster, but I'm concerned that it would be offset by slower access for the files on the HDD (whether connected to the optical drive bay, or via USB ... unfortunately my laptop only has USB 2.0) especially when it comes to browsing folders full of photos, editing RAW photos or watching videos - one of the sites I've read suggests copying such files from the HDD to the SSD before watching / editing, it seems a bit cumbersome?

Come on people, convince me otherwise!
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Re: Replacing my laptop's DVD drive with an SSD ... feasible?

Post by redlined »

I don't think there will be any noticeable "lag" when watching videos, music files, and such stored on USB2 device, the "bottleneck" is not so much during read but write speeds. I have a good number of USB2 external drives still in operation and they serve well enough for everything other than huge file transfers (or tons of smaller files) but even my slowest drive works great for backups run in background as well file server type storage space for network which I stream music and video from.

The slowness may be 'painful' in loading large directories full of many files and definitely so for picture file directories if thumbnailed/icon views. As well large file transfers (size and/or amount) would be wearisome, so transfer video from hdd to ssd to watch would get real old real quick. For video edits I'd consider the transfer to ssd though, then back when done if space on ssd may get tight in the long run.
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