Replacing Vaio P HDD with SSD

[-cj-]

Does anyone know what kind of socket and form factor the HD uses on the Sony P? I have a SSD kicking around that uses a ZIF socket, like the one found on the older Sony UX series. I believe it's a 1.8" drive... Has anyone looked under the hood yet?

[Jenn]

Based on this quote from Sony, I think it'll be a while before we see any disassembly pics.

There is a physical limitation on configurability. It is a fully encased product, meaning there are no exposed screws at all. It ensures security of the product but on the flip side it doesn’t allow for upgradability. It is really hard to upgrade or swap out components. The motherboard is the size of a mini-disk and everything is really soddered and fixed. There are three configurations though that we are offering and the variation is hard drive type and size.

Update: Well that didn't take long at all. Good find, Blitz!

[Blitz50]

I managed to find these photos of the HDD and SSD of the Sony Vaio P from a Japanese site. Here is what they have to say about these drives: (translated from google)

Ultra ATA/100 HDD interface is connected to the Parallel ATA. Data storage, Parallel ATA interface 1.8-inch / 5 millimeters thick 60G-byte HDD (ZIF connector specification), Serial ATA interface 64-byte or 128G-byte SSD that can be selected. SSD is a Serial ATA interface, but interface to the motherboard pin Parallel ATA so unique, they have to be connected via the adapter. SSD is the best performance Serial ATA is not the type you select, through some connection Parallel ATA adapter is expected to be the bottleneck (but still faster than HDD).

This is aside the user to purchase a HDD-equipped model store, at your own HDD in the future if you wanted to exchange the size that fits into the enclosure or Serial ATA SSD HDD connected to the motherboard to get the Because there is no adapter for that, the newer it will be difficult.

HDD with ZIF connector is 1.8 in. / 5 millimeters thick
adopted 60G-byte drive

The degradation model is a Toshiba MK6028GAL HDD.
SSD is 64G bytes or 128G bytes can choose from, Serial ATA to Parallel ATA is connected through an adapter to convert to

Remove the adapter from the SSD

And here is a picture of where the drives are located:

[-cj-]

Hmm, I should be fine... The reason they're using that adapter is because the SSD drive they used has a SATA interface and they need to convert it to PATA and then throw a ZIF connector on it. The SSD drive I have is a regular PATA with a native ZIF connection... All I need to do is utilize the existing ribbon cable that goes to the existing drive and plug in my SSD instead...

My Sony UX did not contain any 'Warranty VOID if Removed' stickers on it, I wonder if the Sony P is any different.... I'm not going to open up my current P since I'm returning it when my GPS-enabled version arrives.

BTW those pictures were extremely useful. Thanks!

[leletyM3]

Great find.....

[zwmg]

Didn't wanna open a new thread.

Is the SSD in the most expensive Vaio P worth the upgrade? Not that it's a totally terrible /slowish SSD like those in the cheap netbooks!

I hope it's superfast (like most expensive SSDs), the reason to upgrade to the expensive model!

[rennteam]

My experience with the usually installed Samsung SSDs and the new Intel SSDs: the new Intel 80GB SSD more than 3(!) times faster (READ speed) than the Samsung 64GB SSD. So if somebody is looking for great reading performance(video playback could be a good reason for that), the Intel SSD is great.

[zwmg]

What SSD is in the "premium" Vaio P?

[Jenn]

Benchmark of the 64GB SSD here: http://www.pocketables.net/2009/02/s...enchmarks.html (CrystalDiskMark scores)

[alcuin99]

Originally Posted by Jenn

Based on this quote from Sony, I think it'll be a while before we see any disassembly pics.

Update: Well that didn't take long at all. Good find, Blitz!

Looking at the pics provided by Blitz, there appear to be at least two screws under two of the rubber lid separators at the bottom corners of the keyboard. Probably more under the rest of them. Only Apple makes junk^c^c^c^cgadgets that's uber-sealed.

[frunty]

Originally Posted by zwmg

What SSD is in the "premium" Vaio P?

According to Windows, the 128GB SSD in mine is a Samsung MMCQE28GFMUP drive. It's a MLC drive, I'll grab a copy of CrystalMark and see how it performs.

[rennteam]

14669 Crystalmark HDD. Over 222 MB/s sequential read and 49 MB/s sequential write performance.
Intel 80GB SSD (2.5''). 1.8'' version should have similar performance.

Other comparisons (using HDTune Pro):
49 MB/s sequential read speed (Samsung 64GB SSD in my TZ90S)
172 MB/s sequential read speed (Intel 80GB SSD in my Z11VN)

So the Intel SSD is a pretty fast SSD.
I wouldn't always expect triple the speed of other SSDs but I'd say that the Intel SSDs are at least 50% faster than most consumer SSDs out there on the market in the lower price range.
Forget about installing cheap SSDs like those from OCZ/etc., if you want OCZ, get the Vertex(which isn't cheap though).

I'm still not sure that the P-series profits from a very fast SSD, simply because there are bottlenecks like for example the CPU.
It remains to be seen (any volunteers?) if the P-series can actually profit from a fast Intel or OCZ Vertex SSD.

[-cj-]

Just finished installing a Sandisk 32 GB SSD into my Vaio P... Only problem I ran into was that the Sandisk is a little thicker than the original drive (How retarded). So it was a pain in the ass sealing everything back up. Plus when I run my thumb along the front right area of the Vaio, near the power switch, I'm 'catching' something... So the case isn't exactly aligned/level properly.... But the drive works. I might just sell this drive and buy a smaller (physically) 1.8" drive and go 128 GB or something.

It was a huge pain in the ass finding out how to take the Vaio apart.... but once I found out the trick to opening the Vaio P it was straight forward. Even had to go back in a second time because I didn't plug in the ZIF cable properly. Helps to double check your work before screwing everything back in

[bluermlou]

nicely done!

how did you remove the rubber lid separators on the top of the keyboard? did you just take an exacto knife to them? or can they be put back in there once the work is done. wasnt sure if the rubber was just put there with adhesive....

[-cj-]

Yup, they're in there with adhesive. I used these plastic pieces I had which are inserts for dress shirt collars... But you can use anything that's sharp but not hard enough to puncture. What I did was trace around and try to dig underneth them... and when I got them off, I slid them onto another plastic piece. That way I never touched the adhesive bottom and could reapply them again.

After the bottom two screws and two screws under the keyboard separators are removed, you slide the keyboard forward towards yourself and it slides off. Then you have two ribbon cables at the bottom left to worry about. You can remove all the screws you see (They have arrows pointing to them) and the 4 hinges screws (silver). At that point you should be able to lift up the Vaio P from the bottom cover... The trick is that two of the black plastic bottom pieces come with the motherboard: The USB and power ports stay with the motherboard.

So when you are prying the motherboard apart, push up on the black power adapter piece and it'll all come undone. I actually removed the ribbon cables because the keyboard was getting in my way. If you go this route you have to unhook this clamp on the SMALL ribbon. The clamp goes UP towards the BACK of the unit and be careful because it's REALLY small and fragile. The small clamp is located on the front of the connector. The other wider ribbon cable has a small black piece that lifts UP towards the BACK of the Vaio P. This connector is on the back of the connector. Both ribbon cables have black felt / stickers ensuring that the cable stays in place. You'll have to remove those first.