Question Blu ray drives in old laptops?

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consptheory77

consptheory77

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Someone tossed away three laptops because they couldn't get them working, tossed them my way to fix them and keep them if I could, which I did, but I'm wondering whether it is worth it to upgrade them with a (small, cheap) SSD and put in an internal blu ray drive to make them essentially portable blu ray players. One is a Samsung 300E, the other is a Toshiba Satellite C55, and the third laptop is circa 2005, I may not even bother. But I know that drives come in three form factors (7.5mm, 9.5mm and 12.7mm) as long as I match the form factor, is there any other obstacle to compatibility?
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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Worth it depends on you, you want them working with bluray disks, then would be worth it to you. Just need to make sure the interface on the laptop matches the drives you can get. A lot of laptops use custom faceplate shapes but those are usually removable and usable on other drives, just look at them and compare.
 
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NOT_PROVIDED_16

NOT_PROVIDED_16

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If I were you, id buy some cheap SSD's and see how the laptops run after that. Then decide whether or not to buy a Blu-ray drive.
I've had great results with older laptops after fitting them with SSD's, still use a 10-year-old Toshiba.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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NOT_PROVIDED_16 said:
If I were you, id buy some cheap SSD's and see how the laptops run after that. Then decide whether or not to buy a Blu-ray drive.
I've had great results with older laptops after fitting them with SSD's, still use a 10-year-old Toshiba.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm looking to make the SSD upgrade on them too. I got the Blu-ray drive tonight, but it's clear I can't pop the disk drives out simply by unscrewing the surrounding the screws, I'm going to have to unscrew everything and then try the disk drive. I was very fond, by contrast, of the Dell Latitude D800, I had to replace the disk drive about three times during its long lifetime, long enough to still be IDE, and all I had to do was pop it out, and pop another one back in.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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The Blu-ray drive will not fit in the Toshiba (which has a better screen but a lousier processor) but it will fit in the Samsung, works fine with no problems, except perhaps that I think the latch with the screw on the drive can't be secured because the latch is slightly different than the latch on the original drive.

Even with cloning the hard drive to an SSD, the Toshiba has a Celeron processor, and even Urban Dictionary knows that "Celeron" is "the absolute worst computer component ever conceived by the hands of man". The Samsung has an i3 but I have not put the SSD in there yet. So I've found out that an i3 with a HDD is still faster than a Celeron with a SSD.
 
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R

robert600

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"The Blu-ray drive will not fit in the Toshiba (which has a better screen but a lousier processor) but it will fit in the Samsung, works fine with no problems, except perhaps that I think the latch with the screw on the drive can't be secured because the latch is slightly different than the latch on the original drive. "

I think you'll find the latch from the original (dvd burner?) can be unscrewed from the dvd drive and used to replace the latch on the blu ray drive. It should be fine then. If you're going to replace the faceplate .... take a bit of care ... it's easy to break those little plastic tabs.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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robert600 said:
I think you'll find the latch from the original (dvd burner?) can be unscrewed from the dvd drive and used to replace the latch on the blu ray drive. It should be fine then. If you're going to replace the faceplate .... take a bit of care ... it's easy to break those little plastic tabs.
Click to expand...

Yes, that does work, I don't know why I didn't think about, as I did have to use the faceplate from the original drive.

But now there is a different, more complicated, and more curious issue. I cloned the HDD from the Samsung to a SSD, and the cloning process went fine, but the laptop is more responsive with the original HDD! I added 4GB to the system for a 8GB total. Despite the fact that only 3.29 is usable (it's 32 bit Windows 10 Pro), that seems to have a difference in the system with HDD. SSD version takes a minute to boot into. HDD takes less than 30 seconds. I don't understand the dynamic here at all.

And then the Blu-ray drive. With the SSD, I try to play a movie (in this case, a pristine retail copy of the Die Hard Blu-ray using Power DVD), and after about 10 minutes or so (and I tried starting at different places in the film) the system sounds likes it's rebooting the disc drive or something (you know that noise it makes when it initially reading or booting up). But with the HDD, it plays all the way through.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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And if I take out the 4GB RAM chip, leaving the 4GB chip already in there, it boots up longer than with 8GB but still less time than the SSD - system information says this i3 is x86, not x64, so there's not some secret way it's seeing the extra RAM, but it's really extraordinary behavior
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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USAFRet said:
Full wipe and reinstall. You have no idea what gunkwware was in there.
Start with a known clean slate.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know - I have a Windows 7 Pro disc and tried to do a clean install but it wouldn't take (something about partitions?) and then I did a full wipe of the SSD, and a clean reinstall with the SSD but it wouldn't take. ("could not detect any operating system" and I tried both the disc method and the boot USB method) I'm going to try tomorrow to do a fresh install with the HDD. I was hoping to retain the Win 10 OS, but i'm not sure what advantage there is over Win 7, every OS they change all the menu options (why hide the internet time sync?) - with XP, I knew where everything was!
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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Wolfshadw said:
I would also point out that you need to check the graphic capabilities of the units. Blu-Ray does require HDCP and if your graphic solutions are not capable, then it's pointless to try and install a blu-ray drive.

-Wolf sends
Click to expand...

I had completely forgotten about that aspect of things, but since it does play through with the HDD, the problem would have had to be caused by something else, something endemic to the SSD setup.

Actually what has occurred to me now is whether it's even worth putting a SSD in a system which is SATA II
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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USAFRet said:
First, you need to determine the things actually work.

A SATA III SSD in a SATA II port will work, and still give significant benefit over an HDD>

But, what is your ultimate end game for these things?
Click to expand...

Very specifically, besides a matter of experimentation, I was hoping to give the Samsung to an elderly relative who is homebound, and not particularly computer savvy, but would definitely make use of the unit as a portable blu-ray player. I've found that with some older people, despite an insistence that they don't need all that "fancy crap" that it is in fact best to get them something as blazing fast as can be afforded, because when the system stalls for whatever reason, it can be very frustrating for them.

My mother chintzed out and got herself a $80 Amazon Fire Tablet HD 8 8th Gen, and after observing how she uses it, but also how she sometimes struggles with it, I'm mulling over getting her a $300 Chromebook tablet.

So I'm adding the SSD and (trying to) max out the RAM so there will be as much immediate responsiveness to the system as possible. I think the SSD on the Toshiba, though stable and with a marked improvement in response, is still a bust - because it's a Celeron. But I'm going to fresh install Windows 7 on that as well and see happens.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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USAFRet said:
An SSD, and RAM if applicable.
I'm not sure if I would try to force a bluray into that. It will function just fine as a DVD player.
Click to expand...

The Blu-ray drive I got ($30 and pulled from an HP Pavillion) did not fit the Toshiba, but it did fit the Samsung (a shame because I'd say the Toshiba has a better screen, though it's really hard to find specs on nits to make an actual comparison) and it does play Blu-ray discs, so I am happy with that aspect of things so far.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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consptheory77 said:
I understand that, but someone needs to tell Samsung.

The system is telling me I have a x86.

I cannot install 64bit Win7 or Win10 on it, I've tried twice for each now.
Click to expand...
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...ore-i3-2350m-processor-3m-cache-2-30-ghz.html

C8vcG1a.png
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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USAFRet said:
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...ore-i3-2350m-processor-3m-cache-2-30-ghz.html

C8vcG1a.png
Click to expand...

I know, I had checked that site myself. I know what it's supposed to be, I have no idea why the system disagrees. At this point, it's ok, I'm not worried about trying for Win 10 or doing the 8 GB right now, the fresh install of Win 7 32 bit at 4GB on the HDD was adequate enough to make it zippy, it boots into Windows in a minute, I'm going to try cloning the HDD to SSD to see what difference, if any, it seems to make.
 
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consptheory77

consptheory77

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Also for reference purposes, after doing the fresh Win 7 32 bit install, downloading and installing all the Samsung drivers, and Windows Update (for which I had to install one particular Windows update, KB3102810, before I was able to install any more Windows updates) I tried upgrading to Win 10, and got these messages.





Now, apparently, the error is a very recent thing, described here

https://borncity.com/win/2020/06/06...-wegen-laufwerksbuchstabe-bei-boot-partition/

although in that case someone was just trying to upgrade their Windows 10 version.

Since support for Win 7 has ended, maybe support for upgrading Win 7 to Win 10 has too?
 
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