Squeezing in a SSD.

The J Stands for Jay

I have an older PC and as it's getting a little bit slow, I was planning on doing a fresh Windows install. Then I started thinking about throwing in some more RAM. Looking at the memory and I see some SSDs for sale. Someone told me i could just put in the SSD and install Windows on it, leaving my data on the original HDD. Sounds lovely and lazy and right up my street.

Only problem, it's a small PC and when I opened it up for a look there's no free drive bay. While there was room to just lob it in, there's no free power cable.

I could remove the optical drive and put the SSD in it's place. The PC has esata and FireWire connections too. Does anyone have any opinions on what would be best to do?

Skatedude

An ssd will make a big difference, games etc wont run any better, but the pc will be faster and more responsive. it's probably the best upgrade you can do without replacing a lot of the pc.
You can buy a power cable adapter for a few euros which will split a current molex or sata power cable into 2.
It will need to have a sata connection for the new drive, most pc's will have it unless it's very old and you might need to change a bios setting to see the new drive. i had to change mine to ide even though it was a sata drive.
well worth the upgrade

Baked.noodle

McGaggs wrote: »

Only problem, it's a small PC and when I opened it up for a look there's no free drive bay. While there was room to just lob it in, there's no free power cable.

You can just get a piece of Duct tape and make a loop, then tape the SSD to your case. I have mine taped to the bottom of my case and it's grand. Just keep in mind that excess temperatures would probably be bad so don't mount it over your CPU or GPU, but I think the bottom of the case is a good place to put it.

the_syco

Throw us the make and model? If you do decide to place it where the DVD drive is, you'll need the following;

This to put the SSD onto, and these to fit between the other thing, and the sides of the case. This is because the plate is for a 3.5" enclosure, and the brackets are to connect the plate to the case, as the DVD bays are generally 5.25".

Example;


My gawd it's dusty!

The J Stands for Jay

the_syco wrote: »

Throw us the make and model?

I don't have a particular SSD in mind, but the PC is an Acer Aspire X3300.

challengemaster

the_syco wrote: »

Throw us the make and model? If you do decide to place it where the DVD drive is, you'll need the following;

This to put the SSD onto, and these to fit between the other thing, and the sides of the case. This is because the plate is for a 3.5" enclosure, and the brackets are to connect the plate to the case, as the DVD bays are generally 5.25".

That's a ridiculous amount of unnecessary crap tbh. Get a roll of velcro for a few quid - stick one side to the SSD and the other to the case somewhere.

the_syco

challengemaster wrote: »

That's a ridiculous amount of unnecessary crap tbh. Get a roll of velcro for a few quid - stick one side to the SSD and the other to the case somewhere.

That will work fine if your case ain't moving anywhere, I suppose. I move my case all sorts of places for LANs, so wouldn't trust the velcro.

In saying that, the velcro is an awesome idea.

pleasant Co.

the_syco wrote: »

That will work fine if your case ain't moving anywhere, I suppose. I move my case all sorts of places for LANs, so wouldn't trust the velcro.

In saying that, the velcro is an awesome idea.

Nor would I...now dual lock however

The J Stands for Jay

Skatedude wrote: »

You can buy a power cable adapter for a few euros which will split a current molex or sata power cable into 2.

What would I need to Google to find out about these? Has anyone used these or have an opinion in them?

challengemaster

the_syco wrote: »

That will work fine if your case ain't moving anywhere, I suppose. I move my case all sorts of places for LANs, so wouldn't trust the velcro.

In saying that, the velcro is an awesome idea.

You can get industrial strength velcro or the 3M dual lock stuff either.

challengemaster

McGaggs wrote: »

What would I need to Google to find out about these? Has anyone used these or have an opinion in them?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=molex%20to%20sata&sprefix=molex+to+%2Ccomputers%2C273

They're grand. Many motherboard manufacturers supplied them when SATA became more prevalent than IDE.

IrlMonk

Baked.noodle wrote: »

Just keep in mind that excess temperatures would probably be bad

Why not get yourself a new case that will help with cable management and proper airflow. It will also have plenty of bays for extra drives.
By the sounds of it you could have overheating issues with the upgrade, a new case can be got for under 50.

Come to think of it, ya might be better off starting from scratch and doing a new build. The form factor on that is tight. 220w psu!!
What are you going to be using the PC for?

Serephucus

IrlMonk wrote: »

Why not get yourself a new case that will help with cable management and proper airflow. It will also have plenty of bays for extra drives.
By the sounds of it you could have overheating issues with the upgrade, a new case can be got for under 50

Why not get yourself a new house with air conditioning to help cool the case to cool the SSD?

Just hang it off the damn cable or something. It really doesn't matter at all.

IrlMonk

Serephucus wrote: »

Just hang it off the damn cable or something. It really doesn't matter at all.

haha :pac: :pac:

IrlMonk

McGaggs wrote: »

Does anyone have any opinions on what would be best to do?

Originally Posted by Serephucus
Just hang it off the damn cable or something. It really doesn't matter at all.

SterlingArcher

Serephucus wrote: »

Why not get yourself a new house with air conditioning to help cool the case to cool the SSD?

Just hang it off the damn cable or something. It really doesn't matter at all.

Haha serp serp got into the liquor cabinet again.

The J Stands for Jay

IrlMonk wrote: »

Originally Posted by Serephucus
Just hang it off the damn cable or something. It really doesn't matter at all.

There's so little room in there, it'd stay in place without and Velcro or cable ties. I was really asking of I should ditch the DVD drive or get the cable adaptor.