Acer Laptop Aspire V3-572-734Y mSATA slot

dqt785
dqt785 Member Posts: 4 New User

I'm looking to buy an Acer V3 572 734Y laptop. Just wondering if this particular model has an additional slot for mSATA drive? Couldn't find any information on this.

 

Thank you. 

Answers

  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    I have this same laptop and an going to use the Empty optical drive slot to add an HDD caddy for the 9.5 mm Tray slot. Your can find the caddy's on Amazon or eBay for around 10 dollars or so but will have to try to navigate using Acer technical support or the Acer store to get the plastic bezel cover and the optical drive mounting brackets to be able to lock the caddy in its spot using the optical drive screw already holding in the plastic replacement piece that's in the optical drives spot currently. This is a link to one of the suppliers Acer gave http://www.skyline-eng.com/ There was a second but they only sell the whole optical drive system at 60 bucks not just the bracket and black bezel piece. You will need your laptops SNID # which is on the back of your laptop also. Also these are the part numbers I was able to Sherlock Holmes on my own for the 2 parts, 42.ML9N2.001 - ODD BEZEL

    33.ML9N2.003 - ODD BRACKET, just be sure to verify using your SNID as well as laptop model from whomever you end up ordering from but I'm pretty sure these numbers are correct. Bee sure to make sure your get a 9.5 mm caddy and not a 12.5 mm. I've already checked that it's a slimline optical slot not a standard size. Also gets a link to an eBay caddy for sale but Amazon has them also, http://m.ebay.com/itm/290670995040?rmvSB=true&ul_ref=http%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F711-53200-19255-0%2F1%3Fcampid%3D5337413396%26toolid%3D10001%26mpre%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fitm%252F290670995040%253F_trksid%253Dp2060778.m2749.l2649%26srcrot%3D711-53200-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D850760647657&_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&_mwBanner=1
  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    Forgot one last thing. You don't need those 2 Acer parts to install and use the caddy just to have the cover plate and secure it using the lockdown screw in the rear of the laptop. You can just install it and be careful not to dislodge it from the SATA port in the optical drive. Read where some dude even removed it each time after using it but that sounds dumb too me. Also don't try to dual boot or run any programs from this second drive it won't work unless you mess with the BIOS and I don't know how to do that. I'm just going to put my large movie and music files on there . Maybe photos too but no executable programs that need the registry to work.
  • dqt785
    dqt785 Member Posts: 4 New User

    If I understand your post right and you are talking about replacing optical drive with a hard drive, I'm afraid you got the wrong model.

     

    According to this link: http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MNHAA.009 , this model doesn't have an optical drive bay so replacing it is impossible...

  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    Your right it's not standard with the drive but it's there. I'm adding a SSD in a few days so I've already taken the back off my laptop and removed the insert plastic piece that Acer inserts into the optical drive to cover the empty drive slot. I also used an led flashlight to visually check that there is a SATA connection in that optical drive slot. Lastly when I removed the rear cover, which was not easy by the way I could see the SATA connection hooked into the mother board. Now I don't know 100 % that when I put a drive in there that the motherboard is set up to recognize it but other sites have had people do the same thing to other 572 series without factory installed optical drives and they say that it worked. Will let you know after I install my SSD from Amazon and move my 1TB HDD to the optical drive SATA, but there is definitely an optical drive slot and definitely a SATA connection to the motherboard. Whether it works or not I'm still to find out. Be happy to forward you pictures from my 572-734y that I just bought from New egg a few weeks ago but not sure I could attach pics in this forum. Maybe email if you are interested. Also I don't think they have any mSATA connections, at least according to my Speccy and CPUz programs they seem to both be SATA.
  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    But mine is definitely the 572-734 y because that's how I stumbled across your post looking for help with my own . Again if be happy to send you pics to confirm.
  • dqt785
    dqt785 Member Posts: 4 New User

    I'm still waiting for the Acer to come in the mail so I don't know yet. But I will definitely open it up and check it out. If it's indeed has a hidden optical drive then it's definitely possible to add an additional hard drive. The easiest way to test the optical drive port is to borrow a caddy drive and put your 1TB drive on it, edit the BIOS settings so it boots from the optical drive port and see if your laptop can sucessfully boot up. If BIOS can clearly see the hard drive on the optical drive slot then having 2 hard drives on this laptop will work out. 

     

    I think Acer should public these kind of information more clearly since it's already very confused with all kind of model, and then comes this. 

  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    I feel you 100 %. I checked the same link you sent me before I ordered mine and didn't expect it to be there but oddly when I used Acers find your laptop feature that lets you narrow down your model search it didn't grey out the DVD drive as an option for my laptop only the blu Ray player. I just got mine as is from New egg because they had a sale and I've ordered stuff from them in the past . I wanted FHD screen and an i7 processor and this one filled the bill for a great price. Thanks for the boot option suggestions. I have to remove two or three ribbon cables to get the factory drive out so I'm just going to wait till my SSD gets here Friday and remove it all then. Then I'll have the spare drive but still haven't ordered my caddy. It's weird the back doesn't really come off the laptop it's more like the top with the keyboard comes off and there's three or four ribbon cables although I think I will only have to disconnect three of them, synaptic cable, keyboard cable and another cable that's over the HDD that's right up against the front section of the laptop. All for another day though.
  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    I like the laptop by the way. It's boot up time is good with Windows 8.1 and I like the full HD screen. The only thing I'm getting used to is the touchpad seems a little harder to sense my taps than my older HP laptop but that's about it. It's fan is quiet as a mouse unlike my older HP thanks to the low power i7.
  • dqt785
    dqt785 Member Posts: 4 New User

    Thank a lot for your information. I'm glad I'm not the only one who want to expand storage of this particular model . There wasn't any information on how one can put another drive on this laptop. That's why I had to post this. And I even forgot about it until your post came up. I thought some Acer moderators here could answer my question. Guess not...

     

    Good luck with your installing. I hope it will work out for you. Changing the BIOS setting is very crucial if you want your laptop to boot flawlessly. And just get a Logitech mouse. Most touchpad are not very good anyway. Thank you again : ).

     

     

  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    No problem. I came here looking for a specific Acer tech support guy and ran across your post. I ordered a caddy from this site due to a bad review from the one I was going to order from Amazon http://m.directron.com/sstts08.html?pgrab=1 it was a few dollars more but this site was the cheapest and the one on Amazon I looked at can have power down and boot issues from the reviews I've read. Who knows until I get it installed but I can let you know when I get it in the mail and install it.
  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    Almost forgot. This you tube video is the closest I've found to how our laptop comes apart even though it's a different model.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VPkad-3rKPM. The back removal is dead on and the ribbon cable removal also seems spot on. The only thing I think is different is the location of the drive in our laptop is closer to the front corner of the laptop not towards the rear like this video but the takedown advice was helpful to me regardless. Hope it helps you as well.
  • thoc
    thoc Member Posts: 9 New User
    Just got my SSD in and cloned and installed it. If your doing the same thing, swapping out your HDD for an SSD and installing an optical drive caddy for the HDD, I just wanted to let you know how my adventure went. 18 screws on the back, plastic pry tool to unsnap the case from the top of the laptop perspective not the normal bottom due to the guts being in the bottom case not the top. Flattened out the screen as far as it would go to pop up the last few clips from the battery side and then to the cables. 3 of 4 have lift up releases but the keyboard ribbon in the middle is the side clips that pull push to release and reinstall. 2 screws to remove the drive and pull the ribbon cable a bit to release some adhesive and out it came. 2 screws only diagonally on each side to remove drive from the caddy then put in my SSD and Reversed it all. Only problem I had was that small power ribbon cable in the upper left side. I did it last so maybe a different order would have helped. Finally got it by attacking it from the flattened out screen side and latched it down. Boot up BEFORE I closed anything up and blazing fast start up time was here. Hope you get yours soon and some of this can help in any way. Good luck and my caddy gets here next week so that's my next and last laptop project for a while. Tom.
  • BestShot
    BestShot Member Posts: 4 New User

    Hi Thoc,

    I'm glad i came across your post. I also have the same laptop which I purchased on Newegg. I have submitted a post with the same inquiries and only a couple of  people have replied with not so valuable info.

    I have already opened my sytem and you are right, there are a couple of ribbons holding the top cover with the bottom one, however I did not go forward but I was able to see that on the empty dvd slot there is a sata connection.

     

    I contacted an Acer agent, and he confirmed that our system model can have an additional hard drive. But he was not able to give me more details about it.

     

    My biggest concern is the sizing. I do not know the height or width, etc. Is it SATA III?, what about the clip for the caddy?

    Thoc, I think you are allowed to insert pictures in this forum. Can you send a couple just to have an idea of how you did it?

     

     

    Thanks a lot for this informative post thoc,

     

    Regards!