A700 i3 Harddrive replacement and possibility of RAID?

[heinz12]

Hello,

I recently bought the A700 i3 and am generally happy. However, I have good ears and am very unhappy with the harddrive Lenovo choose...on the same regard, I wonder whether there is a way to install two hard-drives. I have seen much more expensive set-ups with two drives and the body is so huge that there should be enough space. RAID-0 would be optimal (for me) of course, but is not crucial.

Does anyone has any experience or has seen instructions to open the case? Any information would be helpful and I promise to share any experience on the matter!

All the best

 Heinz

[rdonnelly]

LOL! I can hear it with my bad ears.

[CB2011]

Hi Heinz,

Here is a link for you to download the Hardware Manual. It's difficult to tell by the manual, if there's room for a second hard drive.

http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/us/en/UserGuide/Guide_show_1275884995093.html

Good luck!

CB2011

[goodmayes]

There is no space for 3.5" drive, 2.5" maybe. But A700 has no RAID in bios and no connector for other drive on maindoard. It is a notebook with large LCD, there is nothing from desktop inside.

Inside view

http://www.bods-mods.com/Lenovo/A7001.jpg

http://www.bods-mods.com/Lenovo/A7002.jpg

Moderator edit: Image >50k converted to link, per the Community Rules.

[faquino]

What about replacing the optical drive with a 2nd drive using one of those SATA optical drive to hard drive caddies? Could use a small SSD as boot drive.

The optical drive could still be used via USB, just in case.

[heinz12]

I did not have much time yet to do anything, but I like the idea a lot. But this is some work, which will have to wair for winter then. I hopped it would be much easier and without the RAID option a second harddrive is less attractive.

[faquino]

I think there are 2 miniPCIe slots on the mainboard, so if you can go without WiFi or TV tuner you could make use of one of those 2xSATA RAID miniPCIe adapters.