After the various attempts to clone my HDD to a new SDD worked, the next step was to physically pull out the HDD and install the SDD. This is an HP Envy15 (Model 15-3012TX) we are talking about. It is a bit weird - you actually need a Torx screwdriver just to change the battery. But when it comes to the HDD, it isn't too bad. The battery might be held with Torx T8 screws but all you need to pull out the HDD is a PH0 Phillips screwdriver.
For the record, here is the USB to SATA cable that comes with the kit. If you have a cable/case of this sort already then the kit version is not needed - the bare drive is sufficient.
Let us first have a look at the bottom of the laptop. Here it is with the hinge edge at the bottom. The red circle shows the catch to be slid.
The lid comes off and exposes the battery. Also exposed on the right hand side is a black plastic sheet covering the HDD. Just a small adhesive patch holds it down - peel it off and you can see the HDD underneath as shown below. A bit of the sticky patch holding the sheet down can be seen on the bottom left.
The four red circles show the four screws to be removed in order to pull out the HDD. Two of them are just behind the black sheet and can't be seen. Once the four screws are removed, the bracket along with the HDD can be gently eased out. Note how the cable is positioned - you have to mimic this soon. Here is a photo of the HDD still in its bracket lying alongside still connected by the SATA cable. This is the only cable that goes to the HDD.
The SATA cable can be easily unplugged. And below is the HDD lying in its bracket disconnected from the SATA cable. You can see two of the screws holding the HDD to the bracket. There are two more on the other side.
Unscrew the four screws and the HDD can be removed from the bracket. Here is the bracket and the HDD lying side by side.
Let us place the HDD and SDD side by side and compare the size.
The footprint is the same. They are identical in almost every respect. It is easy to replace one with the other mechanically. There is one small difference that is a bit more obvious in the photo below.
The HDD is 9mm thick and the SDD is 7mm thick. In this case, the SDD is thinner and makes no difference but devices with ultra slim disks will need SDDs that are 7mm thick. The SDD screws in easily into the bracket as shown below.
The photo shows the 2mm spacer that comes with the kit lying on top of the SDD. This is not needed and is best not used under the circumstances. When I tried to put the SDD into the laptop, the spacer kept falling off and getting in the way. I eventually got rid of it.
Before fixing the SDD into the laptop, I plugged in the SATA cable and left the drive dangling and booted up the laptop. It booted up fine so I shut it down and proceeded to install the SDD into the laptop. The bracket is screwed into the laptop after carefully routing the SATA cable as before. The plastic sheet is pushed back on to the sticky patch and the panel covering the battery is slotted back in.
So the laptop is all put together, the SDD seems to work just fine including booting straight off without any need for fixing or disk repairing. This seems to indicate the steps in the previous blog, although two steps forward and one step back, did what they were supposed to do - transition easily from the original disk to a cloned disk. Due to the lack of a repair disk I was banking very heavily on this happening and it was a big relief when it did. The next blog will look at some minor tuning that is peculiar to SDDs.
For the record, here is the USB to SATA cable that comes with the kit. If you have a cable/case of this sort already then the kit version is not needed - the bare drive is sufficient.
Let us first have a look at the bottom of the laptop. Here it is with the hinge edge at the bottom. The red circle shows the catch to be slid.
The lid comes off and exposes the battery. Also exposed on the right hand side is a black plastic sheet covering the HDD. Just a small adhesive patch holds it down - peel it off and you can see the HDD underneath as shown below. A bit of the sticky patch holding the sheet down can be seen on the bottom left.
The four red circles show the four screws to be removed in order to pull out the HDD. Two of them are just behind the black sheet and can't be seen. Once the four screws are removed, the bracket along with the HDD can be gently eased out. Note how the cable is positioned - you have to mimic this soon. Here is a photo of the HDD still in its bracket lying alongside still connected by the SATA cable. This is the only cable that goes to the HDD.
The SATA cable can be easily unplugged. And below is the HDD lying in its bracket disconnected from the SATA cable. You can see two of the screws holding the HDD to the bracket. There are two more on the other side.
Unscrew the four screws and the HDD can be removed from the bracket. Here is the bracket and the HDD lying side by side.
Let us place the HDD and SDD side by side and compare the size.
The footprint is the same. They are identical in almost every respect. It is easy to replace one with the other mechanically. There is one small difference that is a bit more obvious in the photo below.
The HDD is 9mm thick and the SDD is 7mm thick. In this case, the SDD is thinner and makes no difference but devices with ultra slim disks will need SDDs that are 7mm thick. The SDD screws in easily into the bracket as shown below.
The photo shows the 2mm spacer that comes with the kit lying on top of the SDD. This is not needed and is best not used under the circumstances. When I tried to put the SDD into the laptop, the spacer kept falling off and getting in the way. I eventually got rid of it.
Before fixing the SDD into the laptop, I plugged in the SATA cable and left the drive dangling and booted up the laptop. It booted up fine so I shut it down and proceeded to install the SDD into the laptop. The bracket is screwed into the laptop after carefully routing the SATA cable as before. The plastic sheet is pushed back on to the sticky patch and the panel covering the battery is slotted back in.
So the laptop is all put together, the SDD seems to work just fine including booting straight off without any need for fixing or disk repairing. This seems to indicate the steps in the previous blog, although two steps forward and one step back, did what they were supposed to do - transition easily from the original disk to a cloned disk. Due to the lack of a repair disk I was banking very heavily on this happening and it was a big relief when it did. The next blog will look at some minor tuning that is peculiar to SDDs.
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