way to change form factor from 2.5" to 3.5"

demonikal

demonikal

New Member
I'm looking at buying a 1 TB SSHD (solid state hybrid drive) and it's a really great deal, but then I realized it's a laptop sized drive, 2.5". Is there something I can put this drive into that will secure it inside my 3.5" internal (not external) bays in my tower?
 
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You screw it in as normal, just with one screw.

Use the holes on the bottom to mount the drive sideways, though this may not be possible depending on your drive bay design and what other drives you have in.

Alternatively, get a 2.5" to 3.5" drive bay adapter, though it would be a waste of money seeing as how it will fit and be secured in a single bay anyway without one
 
jamesd1981 said:
Have you checked if the drive comes with a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter bracket, most decent ssd`s do, so perhaps a 2.5 hybrid drive will as well.

If it does not come with a bracket, you can install it without as Aastii said, however if you really want a bracket there are loads to choose from and they are not expensive.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Mounting-Adapter-Bracket-Holder/dp/B009EO1UQ6
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I bought two. I bought a 256GB ssd and a 1TB sshd. The ssd came with a bracket (plastic). I ended up buying with the order a metal bracket cuz I read reviews that metal is better for heat than plastic. It was only about $5 for the bracket.

:confused::confused:
Now I have a different problem. I formatted the 256GB ssd and it says that only 129GB are available. I knew I'd lose some space from formatting, but it seems really strange that I'd lose about 127 gigs to formatting. Does anyone know what's up with this? The ssd is called ADATA Premier Pro 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD SP900 (256GB).
 
Sounds like you've got an LBA problem....I didn't think that was still possible. Are you running a real old motherboard?
 
Cromewell said:
Sounds like you've got an LBA problem....I didn't think that was still possible. Are you running a real old motherboard?
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It's an ASUS M4A78T-E is the model number. I still have the box. It says Windows 7 ready on it. That's all I use. I actually did go into the BIOS to change the settings from IDE to AHCI and saved the settings and did a reboot and got a BSOD. I don't know if that was the cause of something else or the change to AHCI for the solid state drive, but when I changed it back to IDE, it booted my Windows 7 installation disc just fine. I tried doing AHCI on SATA ports 1-4 where my DVD-ROM and SSD were hooked up and IDE on ports 5-6 in BIOS (even though there is no port 6 on the board) for my HDD, and that's when I got the BSOD on reboot. I started thinking Newegg sent me a 150 gig drive instead or something, but both the box and the label on the drive say 256GB.:confused:
 
Sorry a bit late getting back here....

Switching from IDE to AHCI will blue screen because you have the wrong miniport driver loaded. Windows disables the unneeded one.

That board is new enough that it should be fine on LBA. If you look in disk management is there unallocated space showing?
 
Cromewell said:
Sorry a bit late getting back here....

Switching from IDE to AHCI will blue screen because you have the wrong miniport driver loaded. Windows disables the unneeded one.

That board is new enough that it should be fine on LBA. If you look in disk management is there unallocated space showing?
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Yeah, when I looked in disk management, that's exactly what it showed: the space it told me I had on the disk, the approximate 129GB, and then the rest of the space on the disk was unallocated. But then, I ended up going into the command prompt and marking the disk and inactive so I could format it again, which I did.

So, now I'm back to square one again.
 
So did the help you got at Toms not help? Did you try the AData software they gave ya links for?
 
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PCunicorn said:
So did the help you got at Toms not help? Did up try the AData software they gave ya links for?
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I don't know how the heck you knew that I, with a different username on Tom's, went on Tom's Hardware for help, but, yes and no. The fact is that those are programs. I can't run a program when I have no operating system to run it. My operating system would be Windows 7, but I haven't re-installed it yet, because first I have to do the wipe. And I can't do the wipe, because the programs don't let the computer boot into them without an OS. If I had a bootable disc, then I could wipe my drive, and then change from IDE to AHCI, format the disc, or vice versa with the last two, and the put Windows 7 on.

Did you go to Tom's to check for answers and saw my same question there?
 
So there is no operating system installed on the drive yet? I would just use the windows 7 install dvd to install windows. This time, delete exisiting partitions and don't partition it. When you see unallocated space for the whole drive just highlight and hit enter so that it installs windows on that partition.
 
johnb35 said:
So there is no operating system installed on the drive yet? I would just use the windows 7 install dvd to install windows. This time, delete exisiting partitions and don't partition it. When you see unallocated space for the whole drive just highlight and hit enter so that it installs windows on that partition.
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First, I made Windows inactive on my 1 tb hdd thru the command prompt, which I'll probably make into an external drive in the future.

2nd, I took out the hdd and put in my 256 gb ssd. I went into bios and I changed my sata ports from IDE to AHCI, as ADATA recommended for the 256 ssd. I saved and rebooted and got the blue screen.

So 3rd, I went back into bios and made the sata ports IDE once again, hoping I could change them back to AHCI after I installed Windows.

4th, I installed Windows XP Pro on the drive, cuz I have a full edition of that, but only an upgrade edition of Win 7. With Win XP, it only showed 129 gb of free space. I guess I hoped the rest of the space would show up after I changed the sata ports from IDE to AHCI. I have no clue what that change does to the drive, hence my ignorance. And then I upgraded to Win 7.

5th, after Win 7 was installed and activated, I went into My Computer, hoping to see ~200 gb of free space. I read that after a format, 93% of a drive is usable and I should still leave 20% free on a ssd. But, it only showed what was remaining of the 129 gb after the Win 7 install.

6th, I went into Disk Management, and like I said, it showed that "missing" space as unallocated space. But I didn't know what that meant (I'm a n00b :))

So last, I made this Win 7 on the ssd inactive again and re-formatted the drive.

*This was a brand new drive, so there were no existing partitions on the drive, unless I accidentally made one before installing Windows.

:confused: So, I just install Windows since it's already formatted (yet it says only 129 gb are available)? :confused:

Sorry for all the confusion. And should I keep trying to change the sata port(s) setting to AHCI before Windows installation until I do not get a blue screen?
 
Makes better sense now. You must be using a pre sp1 xp install cd to install xp. Sp1 was required to address space bigger than 126-129gb( it varied) threshold. If you want XP, then slipstream SP3 into a new install cd.
 
Yes, you have to install windows with the ATA controller in AHCI mode if you don't want it to blue screen. You may need to provide a driver at install time to get this to work. Alternatively, there is a registry hack you can do, I have a post on here detailing it. I've tried it and it worked for me.

When installing windows the partition manager should ask you about partitioning. It's odd if it won't let you partition the full size since clearly it knows the other space is there.

You should be able to install directly from the upgrade CD.
 
johnb35 said:
Makes better sense now. You must be using a pre sp1 xp install cd to install xp. Sp1 was required to address space bigger than 126-129gb( it varied) threshold. If you want XP, then slipstream SP3 into a new install cd.
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Hey John. Maybe better yet...can I just purchase a full edition of Windows 7 Professional SP1 on Microsoft's website and burn the .iso image to disc? Will I be able to bypass that threshold with Win 7 SP1?

(And is the BIOS set to AHCI really super important? Or can I change that after the install?)
 
So Cromewell, I've never messed with the registry before. Should I look for an update to my SATA controller drivers on my/the ASUS motherboard website? And if so, when do I install this/these drivers? I mean at what point?
 
demonikal said:
Hey John. Maybe better yet...can I just purchase a full edition of Windows 7 Professional SP1 on Microsoft's website and burn the .iso image to disc? Will I be able to bypass that threshold with Win 7 SP1?

(And is the BIOS set to AHCI really super important? Or can I change that after the install?)
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Yes, windows 7 will be able to read more than 129 GB. Oh, and get Windows 8, not 7. And on toms, I knew because you said you had only 129 GB aialable ona 256 GB and also said you had the same board you had here and it was posted recently so yeah. Then my assumption was reinforced when I saw your signature was "I'll always be a n00b" and your username had n00b in it ;)
 
I will always suggest windows 7 over windows 8 but yes, windows 7 will not have an issue detecting the whole drive.
 
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