[SOLVED] Laptop with Micro SATA HDD to SATA SSD... advice?

frariky

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Hi,
have a laptop HP Elitebook 2540p with a native 1.8 inches HDD in (I think this interface is called Micro SATA), the HDD is a Toshiba MK2533GSG.

I would like to use a SSD in this laptop and it looks like 1.8 inches SSD are quite unusual and expensive.

Any solution?

Is there a cable that will let me use a 2.5 inches SSD (even externally considering it won't fit inside the laptop)? I suppose this cable should be male Micro SATA (interface of the laptop) to female SATA (interface of the 2.5 inches SSD).

I hope what I said makes sense :)

In addition, are there any electrical power incompatibility or the cable will let everything work?

Thank you
 
Solution
You probably don't use disks any more so one solution might be to use the CD/DVD drive bay. Usually these are normal SATA-2 and a standard size. There are a large number of 3rd party 2.5in to CD/DVD drive adapters you can use to convert the bay into a normal 2.5in drive bay.

There is a specific one for the HP elitebook which you could use. Example in this Youtube video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRPDKxgmHz4


If you want to keep the DVD drive then your options are limited.

frariky

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Hi,
thank you for your reply, here the specs of the native 1.8 inches HDD:

SPECS GENERAL
  • Interface
    SATA 3Gb/s
  • Buffer Size
    16 MB
  • Weight
    2.19 oz
  • Manufacturer
    Toshiba
INTERFACE PROVIDED
  • Interface
    Serial ATA-300
  • MTBF
    600000 hour(s)
HARD DRIVE
  • Form Factor
    1.8"
  • Interface Type
    Serial ATA-300
  • Spindle Speed
    5400 rpm
  • Features
    shock sensor
  • Hard Drive Type
    internal hard drive
  • Form Factor (Short)
    1.8"
  • Form Factor (metric)
    4.6 cm
  • Form Factor (Short) (metric)
    4.6 cm
  • Storage Interface
    Serial ATA-300
  • Interface
    Serial ATA-300
  • Average Seek Time
    15 ms
  • Track-to-Track Seek Time
    3 ms
  • Average Latency
    5.6 ms
  • Data Transfer Rate
    300 MBps
  • Buffer Size
    16 MB
PERFORMANCE
  • Seek Time
    15 ms (average)
  • Drive Transfer Rate
    300 MBps (external)
  • Average Latency
    5.6 ms
  • Spindle Speed
    5400 rpm
  • Track-to-Track Seek Time
    3 ms
ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS
  • Min Operating Temperature
    41 °F
  • Max Operating Temperature
    149 °F
  • Humidity Range Operating
    8 - 90%
  • Sound Emission
    19 dB
  • Sound Emission
    19 dB
HEADER
  • Brand
    Toshiba
  • Product Line
    Toshiba
  • Model
    MK2533GSG
  • Packaged Quantity
    1
  • Compatibility
    PC
BAY REQUIRED
  • Type
    internal
  • Form Factor
    1.8"
  • Form Factor (metric)
    4.6 cm
  • Total Qty
    1
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT
  • Width
    2.1 in
  • Depth
    3.1 in
  • Height
    0.3 in
  • Weight
    2.19 oz
 
The MicroSATA power connector only has 3.3v and 5v pins but most 2.5" drives today don't need the 12v anyway.

If you aren't too concerned about long-term durability then a cheap 1.8" to CF adapter may even fit inside. CompactFlash is pretty cheap to replace anyway, especially compared to a 1.8" SSD
 
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frariky

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Can you remove the drive and post a pic of it?

It seems to be regular SATA, but just to verify the connection type.

Appears to be this drive:


the 1.8 inches HDD I have got is exactly the one advertised in this website:

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetai...-toshiba-1-8-sata-hard-drive-21145648330.html
 

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frariky

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The MicroSATA power connector only has 3.3v and 5v pins but most 2.5" drives today don't need the 12v anyway.

If you aren't too concerned about long-term durability then a cheap 1.8" to CF adapter may even fit inside. CompactFlash is pretty cheap to replace anyway, especially compared to a 1.8" SSD

Thank you for your suggestion, it sounds a possible solution.
What do you mean with "If you aren't too concerned about long-term durability"?
I need to professionally work with the laptop, I hope the CF card will be reliable as a SSD
 
Flash has a very limited number of write/erase cycles and modern flash cards use the cheapest QLC flash made so is technically only "good" for about 100 cycles nowadays (it can be written to many more times than this but then should no longer be expected to retain data unpowered for the JEDEC standard of at least a year). If the card's capacity is large enough then this will not be an issue as there are many QLC SSDs too. It's just that you should be aware that replacing the card before it wears out would be a good idea, and a small capacity drive wears out faster.
 
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frariky

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Flash has a very limited number of write/erase cycles and modern flash cards use the cheapest QLC flash made so is technically only "good" for about 100 cycles nowadays (it can be written to many more times than this but then should no longer be expected to retain data unpowered for the JEDEC standard of at least a year). If the card's capacity is large enough then this will not be an issue as there are many QLC SSDs too. It's just that you should be aware that replacing the card before it wears out would be a good idea, and a small capacity drive wears out faster.

Thank you,
very useful info... so I'm stuck :(
I need a reliable memory drive.
The ideal solution would be a cable Micro SATA male to SATA female like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292816345953?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28

but it looks like there is no trace of them in UK/Europe and buying it from USA puts me off: 15£ of cable + import fees + who knows when I get it :sweatsmile:
 

TommyTwoTone66

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You probably don't use disks any more so one solution might be to use the CD/DVD drive bay. Usually these are normal SATA-2 and a standard size. There are a large number of 3rd party 2.5in to CD/DVD drive adapters you can use to convert the bay into a normal 2.5in drive bay.

There is a specific one for the HP elitebook which you could use. Example in this Youtube video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRPDKxgmHz4


If you want to keep the DVD drive then your options are limited.
 
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Solution

frariky

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You probably don't use disks any more so one solution might be to use the CD/DVD drive bay. Usually these are normal SATA-2 and a standard size. There are a large number of 3rd party 2.5in to CD/DVD drive adapters you can use to convert the bay into a normal 2.5in drive bay.

There is a specific one for the HP elitebook which you could use. Example in this Youtube video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRPDKxgmHz4


If you want to keep the DVD drive then your options are limited.

Thank you,
I forgot about this option, it is not a bad one.
 

TommyTwoTone66

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frariky

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If you used that as your SSD boot dirve, then that allows you to use the internal HDD just as extra low speed storage. IDK what size or condition your HDD is but you can get a brand new 250gb drive for very little money: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392999506029?hash=item5b8098906d:g:vXgAAOSwhvZe2aXE

Might be a nice option for some movies or videos or whatever to keep on the laptop

Thanks again,
I'm going to try this for the SSD

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133668186807?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28

I hope the laptop will recognise the SSD in it as the main bootable memory drive (with Windows 10 x64 OS on it) and it will consider its native HDD as a secondary storage driver.
 

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TommyTwoTone66

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You know you'll have to do a new OS install when it is in this.
You can't transplant from one system to this one.

I mean you could with a disk imager tool like Macrium Reflect, but probably quicker just to reinstall windows on it, yeah. For sure you will have to boot from USB with the windows boot media and wipe the main drive using the setup tool before installing.

Not really something to attempt for the first time without reading up on it first and doing a full backup.
 

frariky

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I mean you could with a disk imager tool like Macrium Reflect, but probably quicker just to reinstall windows on it, yeah. For sure you will have to boot from USB with the windows boot media and wipe the main drive using the setup tool before installing.

Not really something to attempt for the first time without reading up on it first and doing a full backup.

Nah, I'll just wipe off the HDD and I'll buy a new SSD.
I suppose the right procedure is:

- remove the native hdd from the laptop

- insert SSD via optical caddy adapter into laptop

- fresh install of Windows 10 (in the boot order of the Bios setting, shall I set at some point the optical drive as the first?)

- once (hopefully) windows is installed, I'll format the native hdd and I insert it in the laptop: the laptop will now consider it as a secondary memory drive

Good luck to me :sweatsmile:
 
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TommyTwoTone66

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Before you remove the HDD from the laptop wipe it using the windows setup tool (delete all partitions), but otherwise yep, perfect.

When you remove the main HDD and just have the SATA drive in bay 2 it should boot from that by default without needing to change any BIOS settings, but you never know with older laptops, there might be some arcane key combination you need to press to override it.

The reason you wipe the drive before removing it is that most laptops will default to booting from the internal HDD SATA port no matter what, if that drive contains a boot partition. So when you got your laptop all nice and working on the SSD, then you plug the old HDD back in, it will keep reverting to booting from that and not the SSD unless you pull off the key combo of doom on boot.

By removing the boot partition before you remove it, when you plug it in again it will just be a blank drive, so would be ignored on bootup and it would default to the second SATA port. You would just need to partition it in storage manager after you plugged it in.
 
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