[REQUEST] Max HDD Height for Laptop?

[Appletax]

Customer wants to add a second HDD to their Asus G74S laptop.

How can I figure out what the max HDD height size is for this laptop?

They make them from, to my knowledge, 7mm up to 15mm.

The big 2.5" drives are 15mm. The biggest small (7mm) 2.5" drive I have found is a 2TB Seagate.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I'm not sure why you're asking this, you basically have two drive heights... normal, and huge. The huge 2.5" disks are for servers, and will never fit in a laptop. Also, most laptops simply do not have the ability to add a second hard disk, so this request is largely moot. That particular laptop might have the second drive bay, but if the unit wasn't ordered with the 2nd disk already installed the drive carrier you need to mount the thing will likely be missing... good luck getting your hands on that.

 

[Porthos]

How can I figure out what the max HDD height size is for this laptop?

Remove the current one and measure it. Both bays should fit the same size drive.

 

[fencepost]

Is this a G74S, G74SX, or are they actually the same? A quick bit of looking turned up drive caddies to let you put a SATA drive in the CD bay, for that any standard laptop drive should fit. I'd stay away from the Enterprise SSDs - you might get more capacity or speed, but higher power draw and for speed you want an SSD anyway.

The other possibility might be if the laptop will take an mSATA or NVMe SSD - if so, then that may be a better path to go down. Hard to tell on that without a more precise model number.

 

[Altster]

The huge 2.5" disks are for servers, and will never fit in a laptop. Also, most laptops simply do not have the ability to add a second hard disk, so this request is largely moot.

Seriously? I guess you've not had much exposure to laptops that HAVE a second drive option.

 

[Diggs]

Customer wants to add a second HDD to their Asus G74S laptop.

How can I figure out what the max HDD height size is for this laptop?

They make them from, to my knowledge, 7mm up to 15mm.

The big 2.5" drives are 15mm. The biggest small (7mm) 2.5" drive I have found is a 2TB Seagate.

Careful @Appletax as specs say max 1.5TB -
https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-G74SX/specifications/

2.5" drives are usually 7 or 9 mm these days. Just buy 7mm to be sure. Most ROG Asus machines have dual drive bays.

 

[HCHTech]

I would add that if you are using a thinner drive than intended, you may wish to use something to shim it up so there is no travel. If the drive knocks around inside the bay at all, it won't last long. Having to find a stray part like a drive carrier is why it a makes some sense to keep a collection of junk laptops to scavenge parts from.

I would start by removing the main drive and trying to mount it in the 2nd bay. If it works, you know what the ideal size is by measuring the drive, and you know what carrier you're looking for.

 

[Diggs]

I would add that if you are using a thinner drive than intended, you may wish to use something to shim it up so there is no travel. If the drive knocks around inside the bay at all, it won't last long. Having to find a stray part like a drive carrier is why it a makes some sense to keep a collection of junk laptops to scavenge parts from.

I would start by removing the main drive and trying to mount it in the 2nd bay. If it works, you know what the ideal size is by measuring the drive, and you know what carrier you're looking for.

Hmmm? Drives are screwed into a carrier and that is screwed into the drive bay. The reduction in drive size has always taken into account standard drive mounting locations. I haven't seen the old HP silicon rubber edge surround mounting used in some time and even those accepted thinner drives nicely.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Not always, sometimes they drives are just slotted into the SATA connection and held in place by the door. Sometimes they are stuffed into a carrier that's slotted into place and held by the door.

And I love me some Asus laptop, but that's also why I know they like to use carriers that aren't provided if the unit didn't ship with that second disk.

 

[Alexey]

Drives are screwed into a carrier and that is screwed into the drive bay.

I have seen laptops in which the drives just goes into a SATA connector, held by door and by the sides of the drive slot with some rubber-like padding. No carriers. Admittedly this was like three years ago, but I don't see why it can't survive till now, so it's perfectly reasonable to expect one of these for service. Can't recall a model unfortunately.

 

[fencepost]

Thinkpads with slot-loaded drives are like that - there's a carrier with a pull tab on it plus some rubber bumpers that go over the sides, but the drive in the carrier just slides in and goes into the SATA port, then the drive cover is screwed into place.

Admittedly there's really not a lot of way for something to wiggle around in there, though I guess you could put a drive into the carrier but not screw it in.

 

[fincoder]

I'm not sure why you're asking this, you basically have two drive heights... normal, and huge.

Wow that's precise! /sarcasm

There are actually two drive heights common in laptops, 7mm and 9.5mm. The ones bigger than these (the 'huge' ones) aren't used in any laptops that we would work on today.

Also, most laptops simply do not have the ability to add a second hard disk, so this request is largely moot. That particular laptop might have the second drive bay, but if the unit wasn't ordered with the 2nd disk already installed the drive carrier you need to mount the thing will likely be missing... good luck getting your hands on that.

This is largely true, but the exceptions are gaming laptops (such as the one mentioned in the first post) and some business laptops. In recent years I've sold plenty of HP ProBook 450/470 models, and they have an M.2 drive slot PLUS a 2.5"/7mm drive bay. The models with SSD have the functional SATA bay but no caddy, and I've managed to source the HP part required for adding the 2.5" drive securely (For HP 450 G5 it's HP p/n L00836-001). It's even easier to get a model with 1TB HDD and add an M.2 SSD (NVMe) aftermarket, you only need to find one screw to secure that.

 

[frase]

2.5 Slim or normal I usually ask for

 

[GTP]

I keep some foam rubber on hand. The sheet that comes with a new motherboard works nicely to cut packing from.
Also a roll of double sided tape from Cheap As Chips for about $2.00 works very well to hold drives in place if your worried about movement.

 

[frase]

I keep some foam rubber on hand. The sheet that comes with a new motherboard works nicely to cut packing from.
Also a roll of double sided tape from Cheap As Chips for about $2.00 works very well to hold drives in place if your worried about movement.

but overheats and slips out - +1 for foam

 

[GTP]

but overheats and slips out - +1 for foam

What overheats? The tape or the foam?
I've never had a problem.

 

[frase]

Was saying the tape - foam is a great idea!

 

[GTP]

Was saying the tape - foam is a great idea!

Never been an issue. If it got hot enough in there to melt the tape there would be a much more serious problem I would imagine!

 

[frase]

Never been an issue. If it got hot enough in there to melt the tape there would be a much more serious problem I would imagine!

< Dont mind me I will be over here in my box

 

[GTP]

Aww don't be like that mate its all good. I value and respect your opinion.
I'll think of you when I'm knockin' the head off a king brown on Friday!
Happy 'straya day!