HP 15-bw020ur: replacing DVD-RW with another HDD

[Drem]

Hello there,

I'm buying new notebook in a days, and after some thoughts I decided to go with HP 15-bw020ur (great hardware for its money without any real contenders on our local market right now). But there are couple of questions about software and hardware upgrage that I cannot find answers for, and hoping to obtain them here.

I've already posted the first one on OS/Recovery board and here is another one, regarding hardware upgrade that I wish to implement soon. I don't really need DVD-RW while I'm always short of disk space on my PCs, so I'd like to replace DVD-RW with 2.5" HDD with rack, using something like Orico L95SS-SV with following features:

• SATAIII, 6 Gbps
• Output6 + 7PIN SATA CD-ROM Port of Laptop
• Hard Drive Supported2.5 inch 5 / 7 / 9.5mm SATAI,II,III HDD / SSD

Now as far as I understand the situation, the DVD-RW replacement is quite the standart practice on all HP (and other manufacturers') notebooks nowadays which requires only unscrew one small screw at the bottom of notebook, underneath the DVD-RW. Though I never tried it with my old notebooks, that's why I'm asking.

But because I don't have any real information about measurements of DVD-RW tray (about its height, to be precise) and about DVD-RW connection interface, I'd like to ask you if I should look for another rack or is this Orico rack fine for that sort of upgrade?

Thanks in advance, and with best regards from Saint-Petersburg, Russia,

Maksim.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@Drem

Thank you for joining HP Forums. 

I'll be glad to help you 🙂 

As I understand you need help in replacing DVD-RW with another HDD on your HP 15-bw020ur,

No worries, as I'll be glad to help you, that said, I'll need a few more details to dissect your concern & provide an accurate solution: 

Did you check your maintenance and service guide to obtain the answer to your queries?

(Click here to view the guide)

While you check that out, I've taken the liberty in going through it and getting the answers for you 😉

For the size & details of your DVD-RW, its: 9.5 mm tray load, SATA, fixed.

That said, your replacement idea should have no issues, although, if you aren't using the optical drive, you could have customized the laptop before ordering it rather than removing it after you purchase it, however, if it's too late for that now, the replacement should do just fine in using an additional storage device.

For hard drives/size supported & tested for your model:

Supports 6.35 cm (2.5 in) hard drives in 9.5 mm (.37 in) and 7.0 mm (.28 in) thicknesses (all hard drives use the same bracket)

Serial ATA Accelerometer/hard drive protection support Supports the following hard drives:

● 750 GB, 5400 rpm, 9.5 mm

● 500 GB, 5400 rpm, 9.5 mm and 7.0 mm

● 320 GB, 5400 rpm, 9.5 mm and 7.0 mm

Let me know how that pans out

I hope you have a good day ahead,

And Feel free to ask any other queries as  well,

Considering, this forum has some of the best people in the world available and ready to help.

{If this resolved your concern, Click on "Accept as Solution" & the Purple Thumbs up}.

[Drem]

Sorry for late response, I was working hard for past few days. Finally have some free time to reply. My notebook in on the way to my home now.

Thank you for guide, actually I've tried to find something like this on our local Russian HP site but unfortunately all it has is simple two pages introductory brochure. I took a quick look at the guide you posted, it's brilliant - very helpful in many ways. Definitely need to read it more carefully later. Thanks for the details!

Next, I couldn't ordered this model of HP notebook with two HDDs, because on our local Russian market there is no option to pre-configure notebook in that way (as far as I understand the situation). If you need to add some additional hardware, you have to go to service centre or DIY. So I have to make this upgrade on my own. Fortunately, replacing DVD-RW with HDD won't violate my warranty.

And now we're coming to the most interesting part for me: you mentioned that SATA supports HDDs with capacity ranging from 320 up to 750 GB. But I need more than that, so I'm going to order 2 TB Seagate HDD (2.5", 7 mm, SATA). I'm not an expert on modern PC hardware, but I was thinking that SATA connection interface doesn't determine the maximum capacity of hard drive disk supported. Am I right? Won't there be problem if I'll stick with 2 TB HDD?

[Riddle_Decipher · Accepted solution]

@Drem

Thank you for replying with this detailed response 😉 

I appreciate your time and efforts,

That's alright, I'm glad you are back and to know that my assistance was fruitful,

And I understand you want a 2TB drive, as far as I can say it should work without any issues, however, the only reason HP supports only upto 750GB on that article I shared earlier is because that's whats been tested on your PC model.

Now, you could upgrade to higher size and it should work, although, the recovery media used to reinstall the HP shipped OS (OEM)  may not work on your 2TB drive as it's encrypted to work only with the factory shipped equipment, the alternative to that, is to use a retail copy of windows, however that's not recommended or supported by HP.

Hence, it's your call as the owner of the PC 😉

If I have helped you resolve the issue, feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon below, 

Followed by clicking on "Accept as solution" from the drop-down menu on the upper right corner,

Thank you for posting in the HP Support Forum.  Have a great day!

Regards,