Replacing Optical Drive with SSD- Toshiba Latop L50-C

smiles on 06/10/2017 - 10:54

Friends,

I am sure , fellow OzBargainers will have some ideas\suggestions for me

I have got Toshiba Satellite Laptop L50-C052 model which came with 1 TB SATA 2 HDD. I'm now plannin' to upgrade or rather replace my existing Optical drive (which nobody uses these days) with SSD.

Step 1: Buy SSD - Could someone suggest me a very good 250GB SSD online ?
Step 2: HDD caddy to place my HDD\SSD and replace my ODD
Step 3: Would my Toshiba BIOS support using both SSD as primary and HDD in the caddy essentially replacing ODD
Step 4: Laptop\PC Tool kit online?

Thanks

Computing

Comments

  • ESEMCE on 06/10/2017 - 11:21

    1) No suggestions - Intel or Samsung were the brands to buy when I last bought an SSD 4 years ago!

    2) I did same (sorta) on my Toshiba Portege R830.
    It was a little fiddly to do, but not that bad.
    Just bought a generic caddy off eBay for $8. from this seller https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/parts-wholeseller?ul_noapp=true
    Quality is OK.. a bit flimsy.. I didn't bother removing the faceplate from the DVD drive.. the included generic one looked good enough for me. there's a few mm gap, but it's not noticeable from the top, only from the side.

    I installed a spinning HDD into the caddy for extra storage as it came with SSD installed.

    3) Nothing stopping you from swapping out your HDD into the caddy and installing the new SSD into the HDD bay if the BIOS doesn't support booting from the Caddy, but worst case it should see the caddy as a CD/DVD ROM which can be made bootable.

    4) Not sure what you're asking here - maybe you want to clone your OS from the HDD to the SSD? I don't think this is recommended…

    • smiles on 06/10/2017 - 13:57

      Thanks mate
      3) I would rather place my laptop HDD in the caddy and SSD into the HDD port. Bought a crucial SSD 275GB for $115 from eBay ( PICK20UP ) code :-)

      4) Do we need any special tools or the one which comes with Caddy is enough?

      • ESEMCE on 09/10/2017 - 07:29

        Depends on the laptop as to whether it has any "Security" screws…
        Apart from that, no specialty tools required.

  • mskeggs on 06/10/2017 - 11:28

    I have done this to a couple of laptops, and it is very straight forward.
    I would be inclined to install your OS on the SSD for speed. One time I replaced the HDD with the SSD and installed Windows from scratch then added the HDD in the optical slot sled.
    The other time I just stuck the SSD in the sled and made it the boot drive. It seemed to perform the same, but I didn't run any benchmarks.
    If you can sqeeze your HDD down to under 250Gb, you could also consider cloning it, but I gather a fresh install on the SSD will be slightly better as the way Windows stores info varies slightly between mechanical and electrical drives (sorry, I don't know the details).

    Undoubtedly, Scrimshaw will be along momentarily to advise the technical details.

    • smiles on 06/10/2017 - 14:00

      Thanks a lot…Yes, I may go ahead with fresh installation on SSD. I heard you could simply download Windows 10 and install it

      • mskeggs on 06/10/2017 - 14:04

        Yes, go to the MS download centre if you have the licence key for your laptop to download the media.
        A small phillips head screwdriver should be the only tool you need.

        • smiles on 06/10/2017 - 14:11

          Got it - Thanks!!

  • playswithfire on 06/10/2017 - 12:21

    Samsung 850 Evo is a great SSD.

    • smiles on 06/10/2017 - 14:00
      +1

      Crucial seems to have the same specs as Samsung mate …Bought a crucial SSD 275GB for $115 from eBay ( PICK20UP ) code :-)

      • playswithfire on 06/10/2017 - 14:30

        nice one!

      • ESEMCE on 09/10/2017 - 11:59

        Sounds like a bargain..

  • timmypete on 07/10/2017 - 10:21
    +1

    I would rather place my laptop HDD in the caddy and SSD into the HDD port.

    Avoid this if possible. The HDD slot in your laptop will have better vibration mitigation than the ODD slot, particularly if there is a cheap caddy replacing an OEM optical drive.

    Your HDD is a lot less vibration tolerant than the SSD, so should not sit in the caddy unless bios/SATA port configuration forces you to.

    • smiles on 07/10/2017 - 23:20

      Great point mate - completely agree with you. I'll try and follow what you suggested. HDD will sit in its own slot and I will buy a decent Caddy to place SSD in the ODD slot. thanks

  • SPCTRE on 09/10/2017 - 11:53

    Seems like you brought a crucial SSD 275GB. Good choice i brought one for myself and works like a treat.
    Also since your already opening up the the laptop, you might want to consider upgrading the RAM too.

    • smiles on 09/10/2017 - 13:31

      Cool - I have installed a 4GB RAM already which adds upto 8 GB now.
      My only worry is when I install SSD in ODD drive in a caddy, I will have my new OS installed on d: drive rather than c: drive..I see 3 problems here

      1) How do I uninstall old windows 10 installed in HDD?
      2) Is there a way I can rename SSD to drive letter C: and HDD to drive letter D: ?
      3) Is it a good idea to format 275GB SSD into 2 virtual drives and use it?

      • ESEMCE on 10/10/2017 - 08:15

        Windows doesn't work that way… (I think..)
        I'm 99% sure that Windows will assign c: to be the boot drive.
        It doesn't care about the physical location of the boot drive.

        Most people would just wipe the old drive and turn it into a data storage drive

        I'd keep the SSD as one partition unless you plan to dual boot.

  • smiles on 10/10/2017 - 10:08

    Alright mate.. i’ll let you know how it went

  • raytriplej on 14/10/2017 - 09:17

    Any links to Good Guys SSD drives on ebay, I cannot find them.

  • smiles on 14/10/2017 - 11:09

    They don’t seem to have any atm… you can try futu online eBay.. I bought Crucial and it’s amazing .. of course 20% off

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