View the updated project log on my personal site, XodusTech.com Hi, This project's aim is to fit a Western Digital Velociraptor 10,000 RPM hdd inside of a Dell D630 laptop. There are three major obstacles to completing this mod: 1) Is the drive compatible - in this test I have created an adapter that allows me to connect an external SATA device to the D630's hard drive bay. The device is a faux gutted laptop hdd where the sata connector is routed outside the laptop. 2) Powering the drive. - this phase involves actually powering the drive from the laptops own power. The drive takes 5v and 12v, with 12v at a max of ~280ma. The idea for now is to use a step up converter from another 5v rail on the laptop, like the optical drive bay that I use a 2nd battery in. The other is to take power directly from the batteries. 3) Fitting the drive in the laptop. - in the dell D630 the hdd is mounted with the sata connector at the bottom of the laptop, above the hdd bay is a pcmcia socket that I can remove. With some creative dremeling on the inside the drive can physically fit inside the laptop with no outside bulge. In this first test I have created the adapter device to test the velociraptor hdd with my laptop. In this test the drive is powered externally. This phase was for two reasons, one to see if the laptop would recognize the drive properly and the other was to see what if any performance gains were to be had. The velociraptor connected to my dell d630 and installing windows. The drive is being powered externally using an old modded external HDD enclosure power supply. Side shot of the device inserted into the HDD bay of my laptop. This is the power supply I modded, adding molex and sata power connectors. This psu gives out 5v @ 2.2a and 12v @ 1.2a, so it can power any drive I throw at it. This is the device I constructed to connect sata drives externally to my laptop. I gutted the electronics and inner mechanicals leaving only a small strip of the pcb to solder my sata cable to. I then cut a hole at the end of the drive to feed the cable out of the laptop. Underneath showing the small strip of PCB that was reused. Side profile of the device. And finally some comparative hdtach results with the stock 7200 rpm hitachi drive in my laptop and the velociraptor. Can anyone tell the difference? In the next phase I am working on powering the drive physically from the laptop itself. I could use some help finding a good 5v to 12v step up converter that can handle ~300ma.
Absolutely correct, somehow when I was creating this thread the description before the pictures was lost. I rewrote it so hopefully the project makes more sense. I am actually putting this drive in my laptop, this is just to document the process. I am currently working on powering the drive physically from the laptop. I could use some suggestions on a 5v to 12v step up converter.
i think you left out step 4 - keep raptor from melting D630 chassis ... with all of the d620 and d630's that i have watched die at work in the last year, i must say you are quite brave for even attempting this. most have been fried motherboards due to excessive heat. Our users seem to think that carpet and blankets are the perfect place to operate a laptop, and lots of dust builds character.
You are right about the heat, when I leave my laptop on I generally turn it upside down so the vents get enough air. I just had to get a replacement motherboard from dell due to the gpu (nvidia 135m) failing. Thankfully the current hdd gets about as warm as I was able to get the velociraptor. Hopefully I can use the infused metal chasis to dissapate heat from the raptor. I am going to test the velociraptor without the 3.5'' heatsink plate. I need a working 5v to 12v step up converter.
The velociraptor is available in a 2.5" version, so it should be fine without the heatsink. I think it's slightly different in design than the 2.5" disk that's screwed to the 3.5" heatsink in your version. I have one too, although I don't want to void the warranty on mine and put it in my laptop. It's perfectly happy where it is, living in the well ventilated, cool and breezy front bays of my case
In the spirit of the mod I have removed the velociraptor from the heatsink and ran some extended tests to ensure the drive would not overheat. After running a full chkdsk and then running windows 7 the drive is warm, not hot. The bottom of dell d630 where the hdd screws in from underneath is metal infused and will allow the drive to dissapate heat through the bottom chasis. The velociraptor daring me to remove the bigger than my processors', heatsink. Removing the 4 screws on the bottom releases the drive. Side profile of the velociraptor next to its heatsink. Side profile of the velociraptor next to a stock laptop hdd. The drive profile compared to the laptop profile. The hdd will push up through the pcmcia slot, which is going to be removed. The drive running externally next to the stock laptop hdd. I need a 5v to 12v step up converter
