Max hard drive total or each drive?

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wtfwjd

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Jan 18, 2015
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My laptop has a 1TB HDD. The max it can handle is 1TB according to the specs.
Can I use a SSD and caddy to replace my optical drive to boost performance?
 
Solution
casper1973
Can't say I've ever encountered a laptop limited to 1TB hard drive before. It's usually over 2TB that causes issues.

Anyway, so long as your optical drives uses a SATA connector this won't be an issue. I done the exact same thing with an older laptop when SSD prices were much higher. 64GB SSD in the normal hard drive bay and a 500GB HDD in the optical drive. Worked a treat.

One thing to look out for is your optical drive might not use SATA3. Since the higher bandwidth isn't required manufacturers often use cheaper SATA2 interfaces for the optical drive. This could limit your SSD.
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casper1973

casper1973

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Can't say I've ever encountered a laptop limited to 1TB hard drive before. It's usually over 2TB that causes issues.

Anyway, so long as your optical drives uses a SATA connector this won't be an issue. I done the exact same thing with an older laptop when SSD prices were much higher. 64GB SSD in the normal hard drive bay and a 500GB HDD in the optical drive. Worked a treat.

One thing to look out for is your optical drive might not use SATA3. Since the higher bandwidth isn't required manufacturers often use cheaper SATA2 interfaces for the optical drive. This could limit your SSD.
 
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wtfwjd

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Jan 18, 2015
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So just to make sure I understand, I can go over 1TB total? I was kinda surprised too that it had a 1TB limit. It's not that old of a laptop...

Also with the SATA2 vs SATA3 issue, would that only be an issue for the optical drive port or could there be an issue of SSD speed in the hard drive bay too? If I moved the HDD that's in the laptop now to the optical port would that help? Or not make a difference?

Thanks for your help
 
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casper1973

casper1973

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I can't say 100% because I don't know what laptop you have. However I repair/upgrade laptops on a daily basis for the past 3 years and I have never came across one limited to 1TB storage.

The SATA2 comment was only if you put the SSD in the optical port. If you swap them (HDD in optical, SSD in standard bay) it shouldn't be an issue. Either way the SSD is still going to be leagues faster than the HDD.
 
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