Installing new hard drive in Sony Vaio problematic!

[sean12xu]

Hi guys,

I've just popped open my Sony Vaio NR21J/S to put a new hard drive inside and my setup looks like this (sorry in advance for the bad quality images):

(IDE 40gb Hard Drive)

#





I haven't fitted a hard drive before but have done a lot of research online before I finally gave in.  The problem is my setup doesn't seem to look like anyone elses. I have the caddy and my new hard drive ready to go, but what is the circuit board piece for?

It slots nicely into the IDE slot on the mother board but it doesn't fit on the hard drive properly. As far as I knew it was a case of putting the new hard drive in the caddy, fastening it all and lining it up and sliding it in the IDE slot, but it won't fit which leads me to believe the circuit board must play a serious part (no sh*t Sherlock, I know)

If anyone could shed some light on exactly how I install this I'll be grateful.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Found the problem. You're trying to put an IDE hard drive into an SATA slot.

IDE

SATA

[sean12xu]

That's what I suspected but at the same time, the hard drive I took out was IDE. *scratches head*

[Kurtiskain]

That circuit board looks like it is supposed to fit under or over the top of the drive itself though, with the holes in it.

It looks like the controller board for your last drive, did you take the old one off? That controller card is definitely SATA, and looks like it could be replaced onto the new drive (Don't try that though)

Was this a direct replacement from the manufacturer? do you have your old drive to compare?

[Computer_Commando]

It's a European model & it does contain a SATA hard drive:
http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/specifications/index.aspx?m=VGN-NR21J_S&l=en_GB

UserGuide
(not much help, but it took forever for me to find)

It looks like the circuit board is an IDE to SATA adapter; can't think of what else it could be.  Not sure why it's there, unless some previous owner was trying to adapt the 40GB IDE to SATA.  The standard hard drive was 200GB.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

That's what I suspected but at the same time, the hard drive I took out was IDE. *scratches head*

From what it looks like in the picture, the hard drive you took out is a SATA drive.

Can you get any other pics?