[GRLUG] So I have this laptop...

[Mike Williams]

On 05/05/2011 10:15 AM, Michael Mol wrote:
> On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Mike Williams<knightperson at zuzax.com>  wrote:
>> On 05/05/2011 10:04 AM, Mike Williams wrote:
>>> Hmmm. Well, I do have a full complement of host0 through host5 entries,
>>> but only the host0 has a target0:0:0 directory under it. Which makes sense
>>> since that's the only one that actually has anything attached to it. That's
>>> fairly encouraging, combined with my theory that this laptop's chassis and
>>> motherboard are used for quite a few different models, some of which are
>>> intended to actually use that second bay.
>>>
>>> The other worry is the BIOS, since it only has entries for one hard drive
>>> and once CD. But at worst that would only mean that I couldn't boot from the
>>> second drive, right? If I boot from the existing one, Linux would be able to
>>> find a drive in the second one by querying the controller, wouldn't it?
>>>
>> Minor correction. When I put something in the optical bay, it shows up under
>> host5. I still think it is possible if (and this is the big if) I can find
>> somebody competent and willing enough to solder on the connector. I know I
>> don't have anywhere near the necessary skill myself.
> If that works, I can foresee a sweet aftermarket in motherboard upgrades.
>
I would like to see that as well, but I think the amount of labor 
involved is going to be prohibitive. Most places want  close to $100 to 
replace the power jack, and that's a relatively small job. Getting the 
port to add is relatively cheap and easy, but it's 15 or so connections, 
and they're old-style rather than surface-mount. You would have to take 
the laptop apart to come at it from the other side, making the labor 
comparable to a full motherboard swap. When I only paid $600 for the 
machine in the first place, it's probably not cost-effective.

Admittedly, cost efficiency not the point. It's the principle of the 
thing that there is an open drive bay and traces for a drive in it, so 
why can't I have an SSD for the operating system and the big, slow hard 
drive for data storage? And the hard drive is spacious, but it is really 
slow. It takes at least twice as long to restore from hibernation as it 
does to boot cold!


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.