2nd HDD and USB 3 HDD dock

A

ArcticMonkey

Bronze Level Poster
hi guys!

im looking for a second HDD for my vortex III (Primary drive: 120 SSD) i need something over 750GB and fast (maybe a hybrid drive) please leave your suggestions. (i may also need intructions on how to phisically install the HDD into a Vortex III) Another thing i'am looking for is a USB 3 HDD docking station/bay. if anyone knows of any realiable, cheap dock please let me know. appreciate your feedback guys :)

thanks you!
 
CEUOTC

CEUOTC

Enthusiast
ArcticMonkey said:
hi guys!

im looking for a second HDD for my vortex III (Primary drive: 120 SSD) i need something over 750GB and fast (maybe a hybrid drive) please leave your suggestions. (i may also need intructions on how to phisically install the HDD into a Vortex III) Another thing i'am looking for is a USB 3 HDD docking station/bay. if anyone knows of any realiable, cheap dock please let me know. appreciate your feedback guys :)

thanks you!
Click to expand...

IF you have a 17.3" Vertex III? If the SSD has been installed in the Primary slot under the Optical drive then it is pretty straight forward to install the 2nd HDD into the Secondary HDD slot in the middle, however l guess PCS would have fitted the 120 SSD into the Secondary Drive bay leaving the Primary bay under the Optical drive empty.

1. To check open the Secondary drive bay in the middle of the laptop by removing the two small screws (keep them safe) and flip up the cover and see what is in it, if empty then the SSD is in the primary slot.

2. To refit do the reverse.

3. To get at the Primary bay, open the cover under the Optical drive by removing the two small screws, the remove the single sivler screw holding in the Optical drive, finally remove the three small screws holding the primary HDD slot in.

4. To refit to the reverse.

5. You can also fit a mSATA HDD in the CPU/GPU bay.

Here is a link to a video showing a strip down of a P170EM.. The music is very annoying.

With regards to a HDD go for the fastest 7200 rpm 2.5" x 9.5 mm you can get, however l would opt for a 1TB 5400 rpm for storage and throw in a mSATA SSD for games.

Regards.

C.
 
A

ArcticMonkey

Bronze Level Poster
firstly, great reply and thanks for the effort.

i've ordered a USB 3 HDD bay for a 3.5" external back up drive i've got.

still looking for a sufficient 2nd internal drive. (i will use your instructions and use youtube videos to install the drive) i see PC Specialist sell a 3.5" 10,000 rpm drive, any idea how that performs? would you know of any reliable 7200 rpm drives? can't say i know much about the msata port, does it work with another drive or is it just a mini-sata port? (and maybe need to save up for one of those)

another unrelated questions for you, if you don't mind. (im getting there, learning everyday :p ) i've made a bit of a hash with my windows 7 installation. (as you do) my question is: would you know how to format/erase the primary drive?

your help is much appreciated. thank you mate! :)
 
CEUOTC

CEUOTC

Enthusiast
ArcticMonkey said:
firstly, great reply and thanks for the effort.

i've ordered a USB 3 HDD bay for a 3.5" external back up drive i've got.

still looking for a sufficient 2nd internal drive. (i will use your instructions and use youtube videos to install the drive) i see PC Specialist sell a 3.5" 10,000 rpm drive, any idea how that performs? would you know of any reliable 7200 rpm drives? can't say i know much about the msata port, does it work with another drive or is it just a mini-sata port? (and maybe need to save up for one of those)

another unrelated questions for you, if you don't mind. (im getting there, learning everyday :p ) i've made a bit of a hash with my windows 7 installation. (as you do) my question is: would you know how to format/erase the primary drive?

your help is much appreciated. thank you mate! :)
Click to expand...

I can't offer an opinion on the 10k drive, however l would double check the 3.5" bay can run it? Personnaly l found Toshiba based HDD's to be of good quality, as well as Samsung.

The mSATA slot(ie TV card slot) in the Vertex III (P170EM) can be used as a normal SSD HDD, at the moment my 128gb M4 is used as my main document folder.

The best way if found to format a HDD on a laptop would be to run a liveCD of Ubuntu on a USB flash drive and use Gparted to wipe the HDD and reformat to NFTS and start a fresh install.
You should be able to use the OEM disk with this Laptop as many times as you need.

"OEM licenses of Windows:
1) Are bound to the first computer installed on and are not transferable
2) Can not do an in place upgrade from older versions of Windows
3) Offer no free support from Microsoft
4) Allow hardware upgrades of all components except for the motherboard (unless because the original motherboard becomes defective)"

Regards.

C.
 
Yamikotai

Yamikotai

Expert
CEUOTC said:
"OEM licenses of Windows:
1) Are bound to the first computer installed on and are not transferable
2) Can not do an in place upgrade from older versions of Windows
3) Offer no free support from Microsoft
4) Allow hardware upgrades of all components except for the motherboard (unless because the original motherboard becomes defective)"
Click to expand...

Technically they are transferable, it's just against the user agreement. And even if it won't activate automatically, you can just use phone activation... a fair few number of times, at least. I've never found a limit.
 
P

Pyritie

New member
ArcticMonkey said:
still looking for a sufficient 2nd internal drive. (i will use your instructions and use youtube videos to install the drive) i see PC Specialist sell a 3.5" 10,000 rpm drive, any idea how that performs? would you know of any reliable 7200 rpm drives? can't say i know much about the msata port, does it work with another drive or is it just a mini-sata port? (and maybe need to save up for one of those)
Click to expand...

Sorry for the necro post, just figured it'd be better than starting a new thread since my question is similar.

I bought a Vortex 3 recently as well, with one HDD, so it only came with one caddy. If I got an mSATA thingy, would that go in the second hard disk slot (and if so, would it need a caddy?), or is there a separate thing just for mSATA cards (and so I can have two HDDs + the mSATA?)

thanks
 
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