Question Will OS boot if installed on a HDD caddy?

[Luisito3107]

I have a HP ProBook 4540s with only one SATA port with a 2TB HDD installed on it. I was planning into buying an SSD but also I wanted to keep my 2TB HDD.
I read about the possibility of replacing the DVD drive with an HDD caddy in order to add another SATA drive.
HP laptops have (or had) a software called HP 3D DriveGuard that protects HDD hard drive from sudden movements or falls through an accelerometer.
I imagine that protection would not work if the HDD is installed in the caddy, so my intention was to leave the HDD hard drive in place and put the SSD in the caddy's place and install the operating system there, but I read that the BIOS sometimes does not detect the unit installed in the caddy as a bootable device.
I would not like to put the SSD in the main port and the HDD in the caddy's port because, without the protection of HP 3D DriveGuard, my HDD disk would be more prone to failures and loss of data.

What can I do?

 

[Lutfij]

Yes, you can drop an SSD into an SSD caddy and pop it into the ODD port (after you remove the ODD from the laptop). You might also want to uninstall 3D Drive Guard, it's not just a tool, it's also a way for the system to know that the original drive bundled with the laptop is existing on the laptop. In fact if it's installed it doesn't do much and ends up being one more app to run at startup, meaning more loading times for the OS to GUI.

I own the HP Probook 4430s so you should be needing a 12.5mm SSD caddy to drop an SSD in.

You should leave the HDD in it's original position since the laptop has vents to cater to the HDD's cooling(being in the airflow path). An SSD will not generate (much)heat thus is best suited to be in the ODD bay.

 

[Luisito3107]

Yes, you can drop an SSD into an SSD caddy and pop it into the ODD port (after you remove the ODD from the laptop). You might also want to uninstall 3D Drive Guard, it's not just a tool, it's also a way for the system to know that the original drive bundled with the laptop is existing on the laptop. In fact if it's installed it doesn't do much and ends up being one more app to run at startup, meaning more loading times for the OS to GUI.

I own the HP Probook 4430s so you should be needing a 12.5mm SSD caddy to drop an SSD in.

You should leave the HDD in it's original position since the laptop has vents to cater to the HDD's cooling(being in the airflow path). An SSD will not generate (much)heat thus is best suited to be in the ODD bay.

So, the ProBook will be able to boot Windows 7 from the SSD caddy?

 

[dasfischbrot30]

I don't think so.
Usually the DVD/CD-ROM drive is being detected as a "slave" by the BIOS.
Your internal HDD/SSD is the "master" in your system.
What that means, if you try to boot from that CD ROM drive, the system could not be able to properly start.