SSD caddy replacing optical drive for HP Pavilion 15-au003nm

[Leon4]

I want to replace optical drive with SSD, now I am not sure if its better to replace Optical drive with SSD ot to replace HDD with SSD and Optical drive with HDD. Dont know the difference.

Then I want to do clean install of WIn10 on SSD.

I bought 128 gb SunDisk SSD.

I wanted to buy caddy with these specs:

2.5" SATA III HDD/SDD caddy 9.5mm   

Size: 125mm*125mm*9.5mm

Both SSD and HDD if I checked correctly are 2.5' and SATA. What I dont know is Optical drive SATA aswell.

What I am asking if someone can confirm that it will fit and witch option is better (above).

And is there any other parameter that I should check out before ordering caddy?

Thanks in andvance.

[Huffer]

Here are some things to consider about an optical drive caddy. 1. A drive placed in there will run slower than a drive placed in the main SATA bay. 2. A drive in an optical bay adapter/caddy will not be bootable so will not be able to hold the OS. 

So, what you want to do is take that SSD and place it where the hard drive currently is located and then place the old hard drive in the optical caddy. You can still access data on the optical bay drive and transfer is fast enough for video streaming and music but will not be optimal for things like video editing. Just pure raw storage, really.

Here is the Service Manual:

Manual

Hard drive access is on page 32 and optical drive removal is on page 27. The optical drive is 9mm, not 9.5mm and we have had some people report trying to use a 9.5mm bay adapter will not work as it is just a hair too thick to fit inside the laptop. You might find that a 9.5 mm drive adapter will fit, but I cannot guarantee it. It only uses 7mm hard drives but if you happen to have a 9.5 mm form factor hard drive you can (carefully) see if it will fit in the optical bay slot. 

Your laptop does have an M.2 mSSD ("gumstick") hard drive slot which would have been a better choice for upgrade. If you can return the 128 gig SSD might not be a bad idea. It only uses the SATA type 2280 M.2 disks with the B + M keys. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[Leon4]

Since I want SSD to be bootable I will go with option to replace HDD with SSD and Optical Drive with HDD.

My HDD is this one https://www.toshiba.ca/productdetailpage.aspx?id=2147493672

It says 9.5 mm, so If optical drive is 9mm and If I understood correctly I need 9mm caddy? When I google online I wasnt succesfull to find 9mm one. Only 9.5mm (2.5'').

And I am not sure will I have time to return SSD, what is the bad side of using SunDisk 128GB SSD?

Will this caddy be optimal http://hddcaddy.com/en/hp-hdd-caddy/750-hp-pavilion-15-hdd-caddy.html

This guy had very similar situation : http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/2nd-HDD-caddy-replacing-optical...

And he had 9.5mm HDD as well and HP Pavilion 15 which has 9mm Optical drive.

[Huffer]

The only concern I had was whether the optical drive 9.5mm caddy will fit in the bay on your laptop. It has been a while but I remember that guy and all worked out for him it seems. He used the newmodeus bay adapter 

https://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=50&zenid=2d76b1713ee30bc7fd2e5087ff009333

So it seems you can use the SSD you have already purchased. Just watch out as I warned that guy for filling up the 128 gig drive. Easy to do. The laptop I am using right now has Windows 10, MS Office 365 and several productivity apps and AV, etc and is only using 42 gigs so 128 can be plenty. 

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[Leon4]

I see he bought Newmodeus one but unfortunatly I live in Europe and I would paid double for taxes only. 

What my question is that what are important parameters that I need to look in caddy since I would bought SATA 2.5'' 9.5mm caddy from local stores and is there anything else I need to look/compare to match thos one from newmodeus

[Huffer]

Try this:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Praktische-Schwarz-SATA-SSD-Festplatte-Adapter-Caddy-Fur-9-5mm-CD-DVD-ROM-/18...