How to Change Sony VAIO SZ Series Hard Drive

As most of you guys already know, my current and only laptop is my precious Sony VAIO SZ43GN/B. It is an Asia Pacific model I bought 2.5 years ago when I was studying my advanced diploma degree. Back then, Windows Vista is a new OS (but yeah, we all knew the good and the bad of Vista…or probably there are only the bad ones). Choosing a laptop back then was no cheap deal. The cost of laptops were high, not mentioning the system specification and the freshly released Vista had me a hard time choosing between laptops. But in the end, I still fell in love with the VAIO SZ series. And I’m glad I made that decision.

Since around a year ago, VAIO stopped producing the SZ series and turning to the TZ and Z series for business user. I’m not exactly a business user (although the version that I got was Vista Business), but I do use the computer more intensely and need an above average computer. Anyways, despite how I love my laptop, and I still do love her now, I always complained about the size of the hard drive and the heat problems. Can’t do much about the heat, I guess, but I can change the hard drive if I want to. So there I was, searching the whole internet for guide to change VAIO SZ series hard drive, and believe me, it was such a daunting task (well, actually it was FREAKINGLY difficult). At the end I managed to find a page about it, but I still hesitated to change it until last month (that would put my hesitation for roughly a year).

Anyways, despite how much I like to brag about my hesitation, I’ll just go straight to changing the hard disk then. But I have to remind you that I’m not responsible for any damage whatsoever that you might have done nor any misunderstanding of information in this post that could lead you to break or damage your beloved (yeah, I still love mine) VAIO laptop. Do READ the disclaimer at the end of this post. And do take a note that this only applies to VAIO SZ series. There are several things you must aware of, before you start opening it.

1. By opening and changing the hard drive, you VOID your warranty. So you better make sure that you’re not in your warranty period.

2. Sony has done a pretty good job packing the VAIO. That screws really screwed me literally. They made it so damn tight I could barely open it, and unwillingly scratch my palm. So be prepared to provide a full set of phillips screwdriver in different sizes. And make it the plus one, not the minus one. And the other one, you HAVE literally to be careful and not doing things with force, because there’s a potential damage for your keyboard, touchpad, as well as the SATA cable. Yes, this was never meant for the faintest of heart (and I don’t know why the heck I sound like Master Oogway from Kungfu Panda).

3. Prepare to lose your OS. That said, prepare whatever it is to bring your OS back to your beloved VAIO, or alternatively install a new OS. Me myself weren’t successful to bring back that somewhat crappy (although not always, it has its own good sides) OS, and change for Windows 7 dual booted with Slackware Linux (just for fun, actually, but now I’m trying to remove the Slackware, not because I don’t like it, because I couldn’t be bother to look for the wireless driver, at least for the time being). I do recommend a clean install, so do backup your data beforehand. Oh yeah, and do remember to set your boot priority order beforehand.

4. Most of the VAIO SZ (if not all) is equipped with SATA or SATA II interface. Mine was SATA. There is no difference between SATA and SATA II other than read/write speed. If your VAIO is only SATA compliant, such as mine, installing a SATA II will still works because it will run in SATA mode. So think of SATA II as backwards compatible, which is nice. Another thing you might consider is the disk speed (RPM, in other words). If you’re changing from 5400 to 7200 rpm, then there’s not much difference. But if it’s from 4500 to 7200, your VAIO will feel like flying. Choose what’s best for you (and your budget, of course). Just a note, the average laptops now are installed with around 160 to 250 GB of hard drive.

So, without further ado, let’s open up and check up that beauty (man, I sound like a pervert here). You can click the picture for a larger view if it’s too small for you (most likely, it IS).

For start, lets prepare our beloved VAIO SZ. Give her some credits, she have been a good laptop all these years. Oh yeah, and make sure you have read four things you have to be aware of above.

Now flip your VAIO and then remove the battery. Be sure to unplug any power source from your VAIO unless you want to get electrocuted (and you won’t get any cuter by doing that…well, that’s lame). Now you have to remove four screws as indicated at the picture in the left. These four screws locks the keyboard in place. The top one is a bit deep, so you might need a tweezer. And be sure to keep the screws because you need to put it back later on.

Now let’s open up the keyboard. There is like two switches located on right and left top of your keyboard that you need to press in order to open it. See the next picture for larger view. The switches are located between F1 and F2 buttons, and another between Insert and Delete buttons.

This is the switch. You might have to use a screwdriver to push it in, or another tool. But after you managed to push both switches and almost remove your keyboard, BE CAREFUL that there is a delicate cable connecting your keyboard to your laptop.

The cable that is connecting your keyboard is indicated in the green circle. Be careful NOT to rupture those. There are three screws you need to unscrew to remove the palm rest. If you think the outer screws was tight, these three was goddamn tight. I had some difficulties here because one of the screws is too tight. If that occurs, try to change into a larger size so that you have more grip. That said, don’t put too much pressure to your laptop when trying to unscrew them. After removing all three, slide your palm rest downwards (if you’re seeing from the picture’s perspective) in a GENTLE manner and then flip it. There’s another touchpad cable connecting the palm rest to the laptop. The right side protusion might be a bit of trouble, but it’s not hard to flip. Just try to be gentle.

There’s that cable connecting the touchpad to the laptop in green circle. There are another three screws you have to remove in order to remove the hard drive. I’ve read in some forums that these was even harder, but I didn’t have problems with them. So probably it is different in every VAIO. Anyway after removing them, be sure to GENTLY pull the hard disk from the SATA cable (indicated in blue circle). This is the hardest part because Sony put a tape between the SATA connector to the hard drive. It’s not impossible to remove them, but it’s damn hard.

After you remove your hard drive, it will be empty like this. And before you do it, don’t try anything odd here. Oh yeah, you still have to unscrew the placeholder (not shown in here, forgot to take the pictures, sorry) of your previous hard drive. It’s not that hard, but you have to put it back right. And another one, if you notice, your old hard drive is covered by a black paper below. That is to remove and protect your hard drive from dust. Since your new hard drive has no such thing, you might want to cover it with paper of some sort AFTER you screw the placeholder back to your new hard drive.

See the fibres in the red circle? That was the freaking goddamn tape that Sony installed. Anyways it has been removed now so you can install the new hard drive. Be sure to connect the SATA cable.

There. The new hard drive is installed. Now to put things back up, just reverse the all the processes. Screw those screws back to their rightful places. And be careful about those connector cables.

After putting them back together, now it’s time to install the OS again. If you’re backing up your previous OS, you can install them. Alternatively, you can install another OS in your laptop, although I don’t recommend it unless you have your drivers ready. Me myself I installed the Windows 7 Professional, as my Vista Business image failed to be loaded. Oh yeah, do take a note that your previous hard drive is still counted as a fully bootable hard drive, as the OS is still there.

So that’s it guys. Ten steps (is it?) to change your VAIO hard drive. It was pain in the ass, for sure, but nothing beats those additional gigabytes in your hard drive. No good deed goes unpunished (and I’m still wondering why I’m freakingly wise today). Oh yeah, as I’ve said before, as I installed entirely new OS, I had some difficulties, especially the function buttons. They just didn’t work. Well, some of them DID work, but not all of them. Anyways, I’ll be talking about it later on. If you have any questions regarding these steps, feel free to comment on this post. See you next post..!

jovee~

 

Due to the nature of this post, I had to put a disclaimer here.

I am not responsible of any damage on your equipment nor any misunderstanding of the information of this blog that could lead you to break or damage your laptop. Be aware that whatever you are doing following the indications and instructions in this blog is at your own risk only. By reading this blog you acknowledge this.

How to Get a Great Deal when Shopping Online

Hi there! Again it’s been a month since the last update, and again I felt sorry about that. I intend to post here regularly, but it seems that I still have some difficulties adjusting my time to my new schedule. Anyway, since I live in Australia now, one way or another I have to be able to purchase several items online, whether I like it or not. Back in my home country, it was such a mess whenever I try to purchase something online. Not only did the currency rate make the price seems expensive, the delivery service couldn’t be trusted either. Not to mention some sellers in eBay blacklisted my country. When I moved here, I had the time to set up my account and after that I started to shop online. It gives me the convenience of being able to buy something from all over the world, without the currency conversion, only using Australian dollars. Anyway, since I started to shop online, I had to research for an item before I decide to buy it. I’ve learned the hard way, some of my friends also learned that if you don’t do research first, you’ll end up paying more than you’re supposed to. Here are some guides to get the best possible experience when shopping online.

Please note that because I’m currently in Australia, all of the websites I will mention and figures are of Australian origin.

1. Always try to find discount coupons, rebates, or codes

The best thing about internet is that people can share what they want to share without any restrictions. And that also goes to coupons and discount codes. Several sites such as www.ozbargain.com.au provides many discount codes and coupons for various websites. And it also provides any best deals or offers that a particular website can make (I spotted a 1TB 3.5 inch external hard drive only at A$150 whereas the retail price is beyond A$200). But beware though, a discount codes and coupons usually have an expiry date, so you should check back more often with the site. Rebates, or with a more popular term, cash back, can be a good offer to save money, since you really get the feeling of getting back your money. The downside though, cash backs are usually take a longer time. It may take up to 3 or more weeks to have your money back, and probably after that time you wouldn’t worry too much about that $20 you spent in the first place.

2. Do some several comparisons on the item you would like to buy

It’s $39 on this site. I decided to buy it. Besides, who can get a Logitech speaker for just $39? Turns out that, the next website that you click would probably have it sold for just $29. It really pays off to do some research, and sometime a research and comparison could really save you a lot. I try to compare the price of a PlayStation 3 console with 80GB hard drive. The market price is about A$650, bundled with the Killzone 2 game and a HDMI cable. After I did some research, I could get the console, and one selected game with only A$560, and it’s brand new. Think about that A$90 you could save when trying to compare from site to site. Even for the simple things such as the HDMI cable. The retail price for 5 meter HDMI cable is about A$20 to A$25, while after some comparing and research, I got it for just A$10. There are several sites that provide searching bots for comparing such as www.shoppingbot.com.au and some review sites even give the best minimum available price. However, take a note that the site may not always give you the best available price, so you also have to do some research first.