Turbo-operation,Notebooks with SSDs accelerate

Turbo-operation
Notebooks with SSDs accelerate


In almost all laptops can replace the hard drive with a fast SSD. One sacrifices the optical drive, SSD, and you can even use the same panel - for high speed and plenty of capacity.

Who installs an SSD in a notebook, the perceived speed increases dramatically. The laptop suddenly reacts correctly pointed, after booting you can get started immediately, the browser starts in a split second.

In the simplest version, the SSD replaces your hard drive. Then you need a relatively large and therefore expensive SSD: 250 GB, there are from 380 €. You might get by with a smaller SSD, if you outsource rarely used data to an external drive - for example, the original notebook drive in an enclosure with a USB cable.

Incorporate a little more complicated, but under circumstances more favorable and convenient is a tandem of SSD and magnetic disk. For this you also replace the old drive to build an SSD, but it in the next step back into the notebook. Then you can take a small SSD and have their archive yet always there. At least 120 GB (costs about 170 €), you should have Windows and the applications, however.

A compromise is around 90 € more expensive Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid represents the 250-500 GB of magnetic storage combined with 4 gigabytes of flash memory. The flash cells will automatically fill it with frequently used sectors, so that some applications run faster than a standard plate.
Quick screwed


The chassis does a second hard drive or SSD in the slot under the DVD burner. With a little luck you can attach the panel to the frame of the burner. Consistently high reading speeds, but you get only with SSDs. They are mainly available in the 2.5-inch design and therefore fit in most notebooks. Even the super-flat sub-notebooks with 1.8-inch bay, there SSDs. Retrofitting an ExpressCard SSD, however, is not a good idea, since most are tied up slowly. The fast mSATA SSDs fit only into a few notebooks.

Before you whip out the screwdriver, you decide how you want to move their data. If your operating system and programs after the change do not want to reinstall, you need to clone the old drive or move with the help of an image.

The hard drive you can usually take out after opening a flap on the underside of the notebook, and after loosening a few screws. If she's in a metal slide, unscrew it and fit it onto the SSD. Your warranty claims remain at hard disk replacement, get it unless he is the one causing the problem. Some manufacturers include in their guarantees, however, modifications by the user.




Plus SSD HDD

For the tandem you need not necessarily one of the few notebooks with two drive bays. If you sacrifice the optical drive, you can push the disk into the slot. This works with a mounting frame. Choosing the right frame is a little tricky:

    For business notebooks like Dell's Latitude E-series or Lenovo's T-series of DVD burners plugged into a proprietary removable tray. For such a model you should choose a frame that is tailored specifically to supplier claims.
    For Apple MacBooks, there are also special frame. This is the article "MacBook Pro to speed" before.
    In other notebooks is a good chance that a universal frame fits - even if the provider does not list your notebook model in the description. But you must get the right height and the right connection.


SATA ports, you agree to the flat contact strips. The quickest way to determine these criteria by expanding your optical drive. You solve one or two screws on the underside of the notebook, carefully pull the drive out and measure: Most are 12.7 millimeters high, only in shallow notebook drives are stuck with 9.5 millimeters in height. If your laptop is from the last four years, is probably a SATA port as a port, they recognize the two contact strips. Only found on older models or the PATA / IDE interface with thin pins, where the conversion is likely to fail.

One disadvantage of universal frames: They usually have a black, flat front panel. Rarely interferes with the installation, but often visually, because it is not flush with the notebook chassis. The cover of the DVD burner, however, is adapted to the notebook design. You should try, therefore, whether this decrease can be. With a little luck and skill you can later install on the frame.


In addition to the 12.7-millimeter high mounting frame, there are 9-millimeter models for very thin notebooks. Armed with this knowledge you are looking for their frames. Ebay presented under the heading "2nd HDD Caddy" primarily offers by traders from Hong Kong, China and the United States. These require 10-40 € per frame - including shipping. About height and interface can be found in the item description, but only rarely is there information on replacing the front panel. A wide selection of Californian and has many tutorials online store NewMode which takes around 40 € including shipping.

A disadvantage of traders from non-EU countries: For delivery postman collects the taxes, if the total value (program plus transportation costs) exceeds 22 €. Apart from the importers of the MacBook mounting frame, however, we found a German retailer with significant selection.




Plastic Surgery

In the operation of magnetic disk and SSD, the SSD should serve as a primary drive that resides on the operating system and applications. Only then it speeds program startup and shortens the boot time. If the boot drive in BIOS adjustable, the SSD in the DVD slot. If you are not sure, bring as described above, the SSD in the slot under the hard disk. The hard drive then plug the frame into the slot of the DVD burner.

We have tried the high with a 12.7 mm universal frame of NewMode: Using the screwdriver, open it and insert the hard drive. On the back you bring to the DVD burner unscrewed angle bracket that connects the frame fixed to the notebook later.

Dexterity you need for the transplantation of the iris, included for NewMode a plastic splint as a connector. A detailed guide for this activity, you will find the manufacturer. When the aperture is located, you screw the frame and slide it into the notebook. During one of our Acer laptops also cosmetically convincing results: the transplanted front panel is flush with the housing closed. When a Toshiba model, they stood over a few millimeters.

More difficult is the expansion of the optical drive in some sub-notebooks. Sony's Vaio Z, we even had to remove the keyboard to accommodate a 9.5 millimeter slim frame of NewMode. A guide can also be found in this NewMode.

The extended DVD burner does not disappear in the basement. In mail order, there are 5.25-inch enclosure for SATA Slim drives that turn it into an external burner.