how to Replace Optical drive with HD/SSD in SA/SB/SC/SD series in sony vaio

[tREYTON]

i have sony vaio laptop having optical drives. Is it possible to replace optical with HD/SSD in SA/SB/SC/SD series. i googled and found that some people are using hard disk caddies for it. can anyone tell me the procedure for it?

[Ming yue]

ok, first u need a copatible caddy, best suitable for sony is fenvi caddy, you can buy it from eBAY. Since faceplate is difficult remove it is better to order spare one in advance. For any sony part and Accessories use direct number : 800-488-7669.You can get two faceplate:

-- Platinum Silver Faceplate -- SA
Part # 427655221

-- Black Sony SA --
Part #427655211

See the guidelines to remove optical drives :

• Switch off, remove the adapter lead and battery.
• Remove the back plate covering processor and memory.
• Remove single screw under the cover and beside the memory.
• Gently remove optical drive out from housing.

Ok , now remove faceplate of caddy. Note that sony faceplate and caddy faceplate doesn’t match. Now you need to break the three of the existing pins available on the sony faceplate. You sould be then able to attach the sony faceplate to caddy. I used the glue to stick it.

Now reattach all the brackets. Put your hard disk into the caddy and push into the SATA connector. There is small plastic piece behind the hard disk to ensure it is in right place. Make sure you put it in with SATA label facing up.
So you are ready to use your hard disk.

[Indra-The-Tiger]

yeah, that’s what I am doing, I have 250gb hard drive in my laptop and I also carry 1tb usb 3.0 WD external drive. I am thinking of having another caddy for me so that I can carry my DVD drive out.

[Adrie]

thanks for sharing your experience with us, I am going to buy one caddy for me . think your tips will help me too. I will be carefull while changing faceplates.

[Prince$O$Persia]

hey guys ! done with this experiment , here is the result:
Fenvi caddy is pretty good with full aluminium body and fits in veryeasily also. Once your drive is recognised , you don’t have to worry about BIOS and any other problems. It just works fine like normal laptops.

But there are some bad news:
I was very gentle in removing faceplate but still it sucks, got crack on my faceplate! But good for meit is not much visible!