HDD caddy Problems

[Badr_Eddine]

Hey everyone 

I would like to ask for support with following issue. i bought an SSD and replaced the original HDD(i formatted all drives and installed a fresh copy of windows 10 to the SSD) with the new SSD and I placed my original HDD to a caddy and connected it instead of optical drive.

so the problem is when i start using the HDD (that i placed in the caddy) it stop responding sometimes and the caddy light turn red (i open task manger and the  HDD is at 100% -weird-)and this happens when copying a file to the HDD or reading file (like a video ) i did some troubleshooting and found that  the HDD have CRC errors (i used HD tune pro and other software )

i'm wondering if the caddy is the problem (defected unit) or i have connectivity issues with the ATA controller in the mother ( i think the ODD is using SATA 2 but i read that windows or bios down clock the drive in that case,  the drive is SATA3 btw) i checked for bad sectors and all that stuff the drive is in a good health (but i'm kinda losing mine hahah) i also checked the connectors in the motherboard they seemed good 

any suggestion well be good

and thanks in advanced.

[Huffer]

You have to understand that an optical bay hard drive adapter is not supported by HP in any way. There are literally dozens if not hundreds of backroom shops that make them and the quality varies widely. We have a lot of reports just like this one. 

Keep in mind also the mini-SATA port designed for the DVD drive operates at a slower speed than the main SATA port designed for the hard drive on most models. Therefore you can get serious lagging and even freezing when you try to put a heavy demand on a hard drive or SSD in the optical caddy. 

Post back with any more questions. I have assisted quite a few people with setting up the arrangement you have as it is the best option in many cases, but far from perfect. I will never use an optical caddy on any laptop I own for example. 

If this is the info you needed please accept as solution. 

[Badr_Eddine]

thanks for replying 

so the SATA interface used in the optical drive bay is slower that's why i found the CRC errors??

i think the only solution i have is to use the HDD as an external drive , i would love to hear your suggestion 

and thank you for your time !! 

[Huffer]

I would actually point the finger at the caddy. Cyclic redundancy check errors usually mean a bad sector or sectors on the hard drive itself but if the caddy is bad you can get such errors just because the data does not read right and the slow interface contributes to that. Pull the drive from the caddy and check it with a known good external adapter to rule out actual hard drive errors. 

[Badr_Eddine]

ok i will try that 

just one more question how can i check what SATA interface is used in the optical drive bay (just out of curiosity )

and thanks again for your help .

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

A specification tool like Speccy or Sisoft Sandra will list the capabilities of each internal and external port. 

Please accept as solution if this is the info you needed.