Can I add a 3rd party SSD to a dv7 that has the 750GB Hybrid drive?

[TheHolyCannoli]

I have been given contradictory answers from 2 different HP sales reps.

I am looking to purchase a dv7 with a single storage drive, and will at some later time like to add a second storage drive to the empty bay. One rep told me that both the dv6 and dv7 have 2 empty bays, and I am nearly certain this is incorrect as I've read that people were removing the optical drives of their dv6 in order to add a second disk storage drive. I was also told that if I purchase the laptop with the hybrid drive, I would NOT be able to add a SSD later on down the road because of incompatibility. Another rep told me that if I started with the hybrid drive, I COULD add a second storage drive, in the form of either a SSD or HDD.

I realize that when trying to customize the laptop, it won't allow me to choose both the 750GB hybrid AND the 32GB SSD together, as it forces me to choose either the hybrid alone, or the regular HDD and the 32GB SSD...so perhaps there is some truth to a hybrid and SSD not being able to function together properly???

So my question remains, if I customize a dv7 with only the 750GB Hybrid drive, could I later add a 3rd party SSD without issues?

[Huffer]

The hybrid drive is physically just a 2.5 inch laptop hard drive and will leave a bay open. The 32 gig ssd is an mSATA module and is located far away from the hard drives so even if one is present it should not block use of a second hard drive. Here is the most recent dv7 manual. Look at pages 47 and 70.

Manual

I believe as long as you have only one 2.5 inch standard SATA drive the second hard drive bay is available for an additional drive. You may need a caddy and cable, however. 

What exact model of the dv7 are you looking to purchase? This would help answer more definitely I think. The dv6 definitely does not have 2 hard drive bays, just the dv7.