Welcome to part 2 of a multi-part post on moddng the Acer Aspire One!
In part 1, I showed how to take the Aspire One apart, how to upgrade the RAM, and how to add internal Bluetooth. Today I demonstrate how to replace the SSD with a 1.8″ PATA hard drive and how to reassemble the Aspire One…
Here’s another video and additional pictures that cover the process. Of course, I’m not responsible if you damage anything.
The Aspire One SSD features the same ZIF connector found on 1.8″ PATA hard drives, which are small, light, efficient, affordable, plentiful, and somewhat shock resistant – all this while providing more storage and better performance than this particular SSD. Blame the iPod :)
Apparently, there’s just enough space for a thin (5 mm) 1.8″ PATA hard drive under the Aspire One’s motherboard. I happened to have such a hard drive floating around, a 60 GB Samsung HS06THB. It’s a plug-and-play mod – just disconnect the ribbon cable from the SSD and connect it to the hard drive.
I used double-sided adhesive foam squares to secure it to the motherboard. This adds some padding and provides protection for the hard drive, but makes for an even tighter fit. Check out the pictures.
In part 3, I’ll be adding internal 3G to the Aspire One. Stay tuned :)
Update: As mentioned in various people’s comments on various other posts that have linked to my mod, thick (8 mm) 1.8″ PATA hard drives also fit!
Also, if you are having problems connecting the existing ribbon cable to the 1.8″ PATA hard drive, try another ribbon cable with a different thickness. If the 1.8″ PATA hard drive is not recognized once connected, try flipping it over (it’s unlikely to be damaged if improperly connected)…
August 16, 2008 at 2:43 am |
Damn, I already did the 1.8″ Ziff drive, I really can’t wait to see how you are going to add the 3G stuff! and can you please see if you can also add the SATA connector and the extra PCI-E connector? can you have a look to see if it is possible to add those?
Great work keep on going!!!
August 16, 2008 at 2:49 am |
@Ramon, I’ve ordered some parts to do a 3G mod using the pads for the missing mini PCIe and SIM holder on the motherboard. I’d like to use the pads for the missing SATA connector to provide eSATA support.
May 2, 2009 at 6:08 am |
Hello. Love your work. I have problem and need help. I bought a samsung HSO81HA 80GB 1.8 PATA. In short, computer did not recognize drive. May have damaged zif ribbon. Where can I get another one? Do I need zif to lif or just zif cable? Need Help. SOS.
May 10, 2009 at 3:23 am
Hi Mark
Did you get your 80GB 1.8 HD to work? I had a Toshiba with LIF but can’t get the One to recognize it. It have ordered some more ZIF cables from ebay. My understanding is that the ZIF/LIF are just different socket types. Would love to get rid of this damn SSD! Thanks.
May 12, 2009 at 4:33 am
Finally up and running. New zip to lif cables ordered from ebay came yesterday. Installed new cables and drive was recognized first try… I had a feeling I damaged the original ribbon when forcing into the samsung drive. Anyway, I am greatful to be up and running and the computer is running smooth with a fresh copy of xp home. Going to install linux ubuntu 9.04 since I have a bigger drive now. Thanks again for all your suggestions out there. Without these posts, and tnkgirl of course, I would be in the gutter…lol…
June 3, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Hi Mark,
Where did you order your cables from on ebay?
I have the same problem
Thanks
June 9, 2009 at 11:58 am
Hey Keith, I had the exact problem as Mark, and had to order some flip cables from eBay as well. I haven’t received them yet (Hong Kong to Canada takes a while). Anyways, I’m sure this is what you’re looking for. Go to eBay and search for zif flip. You’ll find lots. I got the 3 pack 5cm, a 3 pack 10cm, and a 3 pack of original.
The original ones have Blue on both ends, flip have Blue (to the Acer) on one end, and White (to the HD). I hope I’m giving good advice since I didn’t receive mine yet to confirm, but I’m confident that’s the problem with these drives.
June 13, 2009 at 7:15 am
Hi Mark
I have a similar issue with a Samsung SpinPoint HS040HB – Hard drive – 40 GB – internal – ATA-100 – 7200 rpm – buffer: 2 MB.
I have tried 10cm zif cable and 10cm switch zif cable from eBay – the difference being the normal cable has contacts on same side the switch has contacts on opposite sides. Anyway neither works – disc not recognised and I have damaged original cable.
Any ideas please.
June 14, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Hi Mark and TnkGrl,
I am having the same problem with my connector. I was trying to connect the original zif cable from my Acer one to the new hard drive that tnkgrl is using. 60. GB Samsung HS06THB. And yes it was cheaper getting the drive from Ebay. Ok, so my problem is the cord will not fit the drive. I tried to force it in and only the corners of the cord fits. In doing so, I bent the cord too, trying so hard to get it fit. Mark you were able to buy a new zif cable. What cable did you buy exactly. You ordered a zif (zip??? guessing that was a typo) to lif cable. What is the name of the zif cable or brand. I guess I am asking where you got yours I would like to get for there are so many cables and I am not sure what to get. I would like to get my Acer up and running too!! Please help!! Sincerely Keeya
June 14, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hello. Keeya. I would reset the cmos(bios) to your motherboard. You will fund battery under the mother board that looks like a watch battery. Take it out carefully without damaging the battery holder. Leave battery out for 5 min. I would than get a new zif to lif ribbon for 1.8 pata drive. Ebay sellers are selling these for samsung and hitachi drives. Again, read the description carefully. You want a zif to lif cable for hitachi or samsung 1.8 pata drive. Once you get the new cable insert it carefully into the motherboard and the opposite side pata drive. If computer does not recognize, try flippon the cable over on the pata drive and try agin. It might take a few tries but shoild work. Resetting the cmos might help so try doing this first than trying the new cables. If you need a cable I can send u one since I have some left. I ordered from ebay and they came from Hong Kong in about a week. Hope this helps.
June 15, 2009 at 12:36 am
Mark
THis is item number from EBay of the cable I originally bought
220285603455
10pcs FPC ribbon cable for Toshiba 1.8″CE(ZIF) HDD
And I also bought 350200114133
3x FFC 10cm flip cable for 1.8″ Hitachi ZIF Drive HD
One of these must work?
The battery remove/replace did not work for me
Thanks
Chris
June 15, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Hi Mark,
Thank you so much for the speedy answer. I will try this. Good thing the acer one is so cheap. If I totally destroyed maybe i’ll get another with hard drive built in. How much do you want for the cable? You can hit me up at mizkeeya@gmail.com.
This gives me hope!
June 15, 2009 at 8:04 pm
LOL.. However, I would love to get this to work, because I would have learned something new!
June 24, 2009 at 8:45 pm
For all of you looking for zif to lif cable on e-bay, I bought mine from E-Bay user i88990. These cables work on samsung and hitachi 1.8 pata drives. hope this helps…Again, alot of people having problems and I am sure its with the connection to the pata drive. Please insert the cables carefully without damaging them. Start with 1 end and work towards the opposite side. You should be able to insert ribbon without cutting or sanding. I have a samsung 80gb spinpoint and did not have to cut or sand the ribbon. It took several tries but finally worked. Also, make sure computer is unplugged and then insert ribbon. If nothing when turned on, power off and flip the cable to the pata drive over and power up…again, i had to do this several times and finally worked…
June 24, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Hello again. I also wanted to mention that I also flashed the bios with the most updated version (found here http://gd.panam.acer.com/home/ )I used 3309…..secondly, I had to reset the bios. In conclusion, one of these steps helped to get my motherboard to recognize the pata drive..(along with new ribbon)not really sure which one worked but i would try all that is mentioned to narrow down cause.. Remember, u do this at your own risk, I suggest reviewing articles online to get an idea of what your doing…its really not that hard and the more you understand the easier the process is…..here is some info I copied online…use it as a guide but might differ depending on your system….
:If the “Clear CMOS” jumpers are not present or not available:
The procedures for clearing a Bios/CMOS without jumpers is essentially the same as those given above when they are present, it just takes a little more effort.
Shut down the computer and disconnect the power plug.
Locate, if possible, the instruction booklet for your motherboard. If you cannot locate the booklet, then user the motherboard references on this site to locate the manufacturer and see if a manual is available there. You may also want to closely examine the motherboard itself.
Now identify where the battery is located on the motherboard. It will be approximately 1/2 inch in diameter.
Normally these batteries are held into place with one or more small clips over the face of the battery. Carefully lift the battery out of its socket and set it aside. Note: Some batteries are actually soldered to the motherboard, so take that into consideration and be careful.
Leave the battery our of the computer for about 20 to 30 minutes and then return it to its socket.
Now plug the power cord back in and restart the computer.
When the computer begins it’s startup (boot) process, tap the DEL, F10 or F1 key, (whichever is appropriate for your computer) to get into the Bios/CMOS setup. If you need more detailed information as to how to get to the Bios/CMOS setup, follow this link. Bios Basics
Once into the Bios/CMOS setup, look for a section or area to set the Bios/CMOS to its default settings. This will return the motherboard to either its basic or optimum settings depending upon the motherboard manufacturers settings. You will then need to verify certain settings, such a CPU and memory as well as hard drive type and size recognition. If you need more information regarding these settings, follow either of these links: For an AMI Bios or for an Award Bios.
After making any final adjustments, save your settings and restart the computer. The Bios password should be gone and the Bios set to its optimum settings.
August 16, 2008 at 3:56 am |
Hi tnkgrl!
I must say you have won another follower.
I am going to buy a One next Monday for my girlfriend and another One for me after that will have this HDD mod and the RAM mod also.
I live in Portugal, so I was worried because I didn’t wanted to give my girlfriend something that could be limited, but she liked it so much and the screen is big enough for web surfing and take to university/work.
With this, I have just a couple of questions>
- How fast is your HDD compared to the stock SSD?
- Is the power consumption bigger?
- Can you point me where to buy exactly the same model as you? I don’t live in the US, and I am sure I will have to find some way to import one or two of those, but I don’t know if the sources I may find will be from good places.
- What would you change in the One?
Well, that it… I think! :)
Thank you very very much for sharing your knowledge and also, for being so cool! ^_^
Cheers from Portugal!
Deoki (Jota)
P.S. – Sorry for the mistakes… my Engrish is far from perfect. :P
August 16, 2008 at 5:30 am |
[...] tnkgrl legt nun richtig los, nach dem Bluetooth Mod hat sie nun auch eine 60GB 1,8-Zoll Festplatte in ihren Acer Aspire One A110L eingebaut. Der Einbau erwies sich also nicht ganz so kompliziert wie erst angenommen, die Festplatte hat genügend Platz unter dem Mainboard und kann mittels dem ZIF-Kabel auch einfach am Mainboard angeschlossen werden. Als nächsten Mod hat tnkgrl 3G vorgesehen. Vom Einbau hat sie ein Video und zusätzliche Bilder gemacht. Socialnetworks: [...]
August 16, 2008 at 7:22 am |
[...] is at it again with part 2 of her modding of the Aspire One. In this part she has added a 60 GB Samsung hard drive to replace the little SSD that the [...]
August 16, 2008 at 7:31 am |
Um, would you be willing to sell your old SSD? I have a Samsung Q1b, with the ZIF connector, I’m guessing it would work…
August 16, 2008 at 8:30 am |
When do you will try the msi wind?
I don’t know what to pick… acer or ,si :)
Good job
August 16, 2008 at 12:57 pm |
[...] under: laptops hacks, pcs hacks, dailyAs promised, [tnkgrl] has published part two of Acer Aspire One upgrade. In part one she added Bluetooth and more RAM. This time around she focuses on the storage. The [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:09 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:09 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:10 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:11 pm |
[...] 20080816 Ya tenemos cómo montar un disco duro dentro del AA1: entrada de blog y vídeo. En el sigiente capítulo, módem 3G interno… Comenta | URI para [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:11 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:19 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 2:57 pm |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 16, 2008 at 3:42 pm |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 16, 2008 at 4:31 pm |
you dont want to buy that ssd..i have one to sell but as others will tell you its slower than hell
August 16, 2008 at 4:35 pm |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 16, 2008 at 4:37 pm |
Yore’ right about it being so slow – I realized that after watching the video again. I will probably go with using the new STEC Mach 4 Compact Flash as a drive. Only 8G (though larger is available , but costs more) – but should be very quick.
August 16, 2008 at 5:43 pm |
[...] you’re not, because she’ll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 16, 2008 at 6:00 pm |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 16, 2008 at 6:17 pm |
[...] Read: tnkgrl Mobile [...]
August 17, 2008 at 12:49 am |
[...] tale scopo ci da una mano il sempre vulcanico tnkgrl Mobile che ci spiega per filo e per segno come smontare, togliere la ssd e ricavare lo spazio per [...]
August 17, 2008 at 1:49 am |
[...] tnkgrls Blog gibt es eine schöne Anleitung wie man die im Acer Aspire One verbaute SSD durch eine 1,8 Zoll HDD [...]
August 17, 2008 at 3:28 am |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 17, 2008 at 9:25 am |
[...] Published on tnkgrl.wordpress.com [...]
August 17, 2008 at 3:28 pm |
[...] tnkgrl Share and [...]
August 17, 2008 at 10:13 pm |
I am wondering about the HDD’s performance, too.
It will be faster than the SSD, yes, but does it worth it?
The same 60GB Samsung will cost me about the same as the 45MB/sec 8GB CF cards and I just can’t decide which of the two is the best (for me), as I don’t care enough for the missing storage space.
August 17, 2008 at 10:25 pm |
@stavrosg, since the SSD in the Aspire One is pathetically slow, the 1.8″ PATA hard drive is significantly faster (it’s an ATA/100 UDMA 5 device).
Keep in mind that most current 1.8″ PATA hard drives are as fast as 4200 rpm 2.5″ PATA hard drives used to be a couple years ago, and are greatly more power efficient and shock resistant.
August 18, 2008 at 12:41 am |
[...] WWANモジュール内蔵編。Read | Permalink | Email [...]
August 18, 2008 at 3:27 am |
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
August 18, 2008 at 2:41 pm |
[...] basic version, with the SSD and add a bluetooth receiver to it. But she doesn’t stop there! She then add a 1.8″ HDD to it. With pictures and a clear walk-through, very well done [...]
August 19, 2008 at 6:46 am |
I hope you’re gonna use the MC875 (the mini pci card from inside the Sierra Wireless 875U)
If so Acer got an extra customer!
Is there a difference in upgrade possibilities between the 512mb and the 1gb version?
August 19, 2008 at 10:34 am |
[...] http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hard-drive/ [...]
August 21, 2008 at 5:37 am |
Hi tnkgrl,
I already upgrade the memory and im installing the bluetooth now, im buying the hard drive a toshiba 60GB driveand i want to know if is possible to install two hard drives (dont keep in mind space problems), there are other ZIF connector? im reading somehting about eSATA missing connector maybe on it? connect other ZIF or IDE (2,5″ or 1,8″) hard drive on it?
The aspire one 150 have a 2,5″ hard drive, is ZIF too?
Thanks!
And good job!
August 21, 2008 at 9:16 am |
Thank you for keeping us updated tnkgrl! If some of you are IRC users, drop by #onelinux on irc.freenode.net. A channel for hacks/mods and Linux.
August 24, 2008 at 7:01 pm |
Hi tnkgrl,
I’m still wating for part 3 (adding internal 3G to the Aspire One)
August 24, 2008 at 10:34 pm |
So i tried installing a 2 gig stick just to see if it would work, it didn’t. In case anyone else was wondering (like I was) the board will only support a max of 1.5 gigs of ram.
Thanks so much for the video on the installation, that keyboard had me completely stumped! I look forward to seeing whatever new ideas you have,
Jason
August 25, 2008 at 12:28 pm |
Hi tnkgrl,
I was thinking about adding the 3g to the acer aspire one. I’m looking at the available 52p and sim card holders on mouser.com. Is there a specific one you ordered and why.
I was looking at getting this one for the mini pci-e slot
http://www.molex.com/cgi-bin/bv/molex/jsp/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active/0679100001_EDGE_CARD_CONNECTO.xml&BV_SessionID=@@@@1129443022.1219692344@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadeemilllhkcflgcehedffgdfmk.0&channel=Products&Lang=en-US
and this for the sim holder
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=VZ9FDhhp7Slk5UkfNSMdKQ%3d%3d
August 25, 2008 at 1:59 pm |
Any idea if Intel 3945abg wireless card is compatible and could replace the crappy Atheros? Heard of Linux nightmare with Atheros setup and thought we could use some Intel help. Now with the introduction of AOA150-1577 in BestBuy there will be a whole lot more WinXP users/modders. Also, is there a mini-PCI wireless card where 802.11 co-exists with bluetooth 2.0 ? This way, there is no need to fork around with soldering gun. Please update us.
August 26, 2008 at 6:37 am |
[...] tale scopo ci da una mano il sempre vulcanico tnkgrl Mobile che ci spiega per filo e per segno come smontare, togliere la ssd e ricavare lo spazio per [...]
August 28, 2008 at 2:26 am |
@eraser
I think you mix up the Broadcom chipset Linux headaches with the Atheros one. Atheros chipsets are widely supported from kernel 2.4 on.
August 28, 2008 at 7:39 am |
Hi tnkgrl! Thank you for posting these very good guides. I’m really looking forward seing the 3G modem guide..
September 2, 2008 at 1:00 am |
Hi tnkgrl!
I love your video verrrrrry much! I have install the bluetooth to my aspire one and my friends r kissing the ground I’m walking on :), but I have problems locating a 1.8 inch hard disc drive. Is there any way I can use a 2.5 harddisc…via adapter or something?
Thanks really looking forward to the 3G mod!
September 2, 2008 at 8:55 am |
Good work, imlooking forward too see the 3G mod. What modem are you planning on using?
September 3, 2008 at 11:01 pm |
Hey tnkgrl,
Great work with the Aspire One. I bought it a few weeks ago and I’m thinking of putting in the PATA drive mod and the 1 gig upgrade like you did. You said you were going to put XP on it… how did that go? I tried putting XP on the 8GB SSD card and it was terrible. To slow to even run properly so please let me know how well it works, or if anyone else on here has experience with the mod please post. Thanks!
September 7, 2008 at 4:04 am |
[...] vez lo hemos recibido nos disponemos a desarmarlo, en este link podéis ver las fotos de todo el proceso de desarme muy bien explicado. Luego quitamos el disco SSD y como veis en el anterior link debemos [...]
September 16, 2008 at 10:12 am |
hi! i’ve recently upgraded my one’s memory and now i’m thinking to upgrade the slow ssd to a hdd. i can get a 60gb toshiba zif drive but this one is 8mm thick not 5mm. will it fit? and is the ribbon on the picture the original one? thanks!
September 16, 2008 at 12:49 pm |
yeah and let me say a big thank you tnkgrl the stuff is brilliant!
September 20, 2008 at 11:46 am |
Great work tnkgrl! Now, where can you find a suitable HD? No Samsung anywhere and Toshiba MK6006GAH wouldn’t work. I ended up breaking the connector on the Toshiba. The existing flex cable would not insert. It was a bad day. Any thoughts anybody?? Thanks
September 20, 2008 at 9:37 pm |
Dear Tnkgrl,
I just got a Bestlink Alpha 400 Netbook. It’s fine for wht I want it for, which is checking the net and my emails.
It comes with wifi and it’s relatively easy to get on the net provided I am in a wifi area.
I want to add bluetooth to it so when I’m not near wifi I can link up to the net thru my cellphone. It is a Nokia 6133. I have an acct eith T-mobile (USA) with unltd internet.
In the past I have used a Pocket PC to look at things on the net via my phone. But now I want to have a bigger screen and a keyboard.
I think I can find the right adapter to use. It’s the software that’s the problem.
From the info on the manufacturers web page The 400 uses a version of Linux called 2.4. And when I turn the nachine on, it says ‘Alpha 400 – V47′
What do I have to do to get bluetooth to work on my Alpha 400?
and will it work with my phone or other peripherals like a BT mouse?
Hope you are having a good week end!
Rob
September 23, 2008 at 12:15 am |
Hi Tnkgrl,
I’m just wondering how you were able to connect the original ZIF cable to the new hard-drive? I’ve tried to replicate your installation however I’m finding that the connector on the HDD is a lot thinner than the ZIF cable/ribbon. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Andrew.
September 27, 2008 at 1:26 pm |
I tried doing your mod, first time I tried anything like this it was a nice experience.
I was happy to see it turned on. anyway I had two problems that I couldn’t figure out, first the keyboard clips didnt come out once I pressed it in.
Secondly, when I went to install XP it says that the hard drive is not accessible I am guessing this is because the hard drive is bad.
Another possibility is that since I took it out of an IPOD it is in an unknown format.
can anyone help
September 27, 2008 at 2:13 pm |
I also would like to know if it is possible to put in a 2.5 inch drive. The only problem i see is the connection. I tried looking for adapters out there, but i couldn’t find anything, unless i’m looking in the wrong place. Anyone know anything about that?
THIS IS FOR SAHEB,
I found when removing the keyboard, you push the clip back towards the screen and stick the screw driver in and under the keyboard works better.
September 27, 2008 at 2:46 pm |
[...] Replace SSD with 1.8” PATA HD [...]
September 30, 2008 at 4:18 am |
In meinen Aspire One kommt jetzt eine HDD rein mit 80 GB 1,8 Zoll! Die Lahme SSD muß raus erst dann wird XP schneller laden und funktionieren! XP kann man per USB Stick installieren. Den Ram habe ich auf 1.5 GB erweitert. Evtl. kommt noch ein 6 Zellen Akku rein.
Dieses Moding macht echt Spaß auch wenn die Garantie die eh nur 1 Jahr betrug jetzt futsch ist.
Habe eine 80GB HDD bestellt Zif 1,8 ich hoffe es wird funktionieren. Die Teile am Gehäuse habe ich mit einem scharfen Messer und Schleifpapier abgemacht. Mal sehen ob es funktioniert und ob es mit dem Kabel hinhaut. HDD müßte noch diese Woche kommen. Man könnte parktisch wie bei tnkgrls Blotoothmod einen UMTS Usb-Empfänger dort einbauen wenn es von der Größe irgendwie da rein paßt!
September 30, 2008 at 6:31 am |
@ Jo
these should help you finding a Zif to 2.5″ drive converter.
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/
I know that now but its too late the clip that is supposed to be on the left most side is stuck in and can’t be reached, although the keyboard seems secure with two clips holding it down I feel uneasy about leaving it as it is.
October 2, 2008 at 8:12 am |
Hi tnkgrl,
Inspired by your mod, I ordered one of these:
http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/1.8-inchHardDiskDrives/MK2008GAL
When I attempted to install, the connector didn’t seem right. If you have an idle moment, would you tell me if I committed an ID10T error and ordered an incompatible drive?
You rock. Keep it up.
Jake
October 3, 2008 at 1:00 pm |
[...] giga. Ho scelto il modello Samsung non ha a caso ma dopo aver spulciato questo forum e aver letto questo blog dove è espressamente spiegato che i modelli di dischi Samsung zif sono quelli giusti per [...]
October 4, 2008 at 5:24 pm |
I’d just like to bump Meran’s question. I am trying to do the same thing and I am having issues sticking the ribbon into the zif connector. I have the exact same hard drive, just a smaller capacity. Obviously I am avoiding using any force but I can’t seem to find a lever or switch that widens the entry. There seems to be a black lever just above the zif connector but I can’t move it anywhere (using minimal force of course).
Any help is greatly appreciated.
——
Meran:
Hi Tnkgrl,
I’m just wondering how you were able to connect the original ZIF cable to the new hard-drive? I’ve tried to replicate your installation however I’m finding that the connector on the HDD is a lot thinner than the ZIF cable/ribbon. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Andrew.
October 6, 2008 at 12:35 pm |
Hey thanks for the great 411 on the acer aspire one.. just tried to do the 1.8 inch drive install.. no good so far.. i have a 30Gb Hitachi travel star.. and when i boot into the bios it does not see anything.. any suggestions? thanks Peter
May 15, 2009 at 12:22 am |
I too am sitting here with my Acer Aspire One dismantled and a Hitachi Hard Disk attached. (A/A0A6 A/A Model HTC426030G5CE00, 1.8″ 30Gb ZIF)
Like you, the BIOS reports nothing.
I’ve sent one back to the ebayer I bought it off, but it probably wasn’t faulty. I bought an IDE to ZIF adapter, plugged it into my desktop PC, and was able to initialise and format it in Windows.
There just seems to be some incompatibility between this drive and the Acer.
So, it looks like Tnkgrl got lucky with the Samsumg she had lying around. I’m hesitant to go and buy a Toshiba LIF drive (common on ebay) in case I have similar problems.
:(
October 7, 2008 at 9:54 am |
@Solidus: I had the same problem, the cable is actually pretty durable, I had to use quite a bit of force to get it in, it worked for me. Be careful with the edge of the hard drive. In a failed attempt from the reaction force u may scratch the cable with the sharp side of the drive, in effect you may pull out the pins of the cable, this can be fixed by applying force and pulling back. (Sorry it is hard to explain, it is easier to show how I did it, hope you understand)
@Peter: try reinserting the cable upside down.
October 7, 2008 at 5:20 pm |
yea tried it both ways.. nothing.. maybe i got a bad drive.. is there enough power from the zif cable to support the regular style this drive?? looks perfect but i just wouldn’t do anything.. I ordered a Zif to Ide converter to see if it works.. If not i will copy the current format from the SSD 8GB drive to another 1.8 drive and go from there.. Windows XP SP3 works pretty good.. added the 1 gig of ram and now waiting for a 16GB SDHC card so we will see.. overall pretty nice laptop..
October 7, 2008 at 8:56 pm |
@Peter: Yeah it probably is the Harddrive. The problem with these drives is that you can’t test them to see if they work. And majority of the people selling these drives are selling refurbished or one pulled out of an IPod.
I got it from http://www.getpartsonline.com/hs081ha.html , its a good price and they deliver worldwide.
October 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm |
I don’t know what you did but it simply won’t fit and I destroyed the zif connector in the process *tried to shave off the blue part on the top*. I didn’t try excessive force into the HDD, its worth too much compared to the zif ribbon (I presume) to risk that. In short, it simply WON’T fit. Not that connector anyway. I’ll have to fish out a new one on ebay or something.
If someone can provide an exact process of sliding the zif in, it’d be appreciated. I don’t know why this pain in the back process wasn’t described. Its not as easy as it looks.
October 10, 2008 at 5:56 am |
Wait which hard drive do u have?
I don’t know much about ZIF drives but I hear Toshiba Drives are tighter than the rest. Why would u pull the blue tape it would barely make a difference.
All I did was brute force it in. the problem is the cable won’t be an easy find. I had a Samsung it is a tight fit, I might open my laptop again I will try to record it for you.
October 10, 2008 at 7:22 am |
Very good work! I am waiting for the 3G mod. Is it posible to use the empty and not soldered pci e slot? some components are missing right? it would be perfect if there is a posibility of enabling and disabling 3G so as to save battery. Even the wifi switch if you move to the left on windows xp I have noticed that the OSD says “3G on/off”, of course this works with the board outside of the housing, otherwise you can only move the switch to the right and activates deactivates wifi. Please, when are you going to have ready this mod? Could you please advance something to us?
Regards from Spain..
October 10, 2008 at 10:08 am |
Saheb,
I am using a Samsung too. I was applying force but it still wouldn’t force in. I figured if I’m going to try and force something, screw up the 1 dollar zif cable and not the 90 dollar hard drive. I ordered a few zif cables off ebay (from HK so it’ll take forever).
I wouldn’t record it, I just need to know the following:
1. Did you flip that black switch before insertion? Was it up or down?
2. Did you align the cable, pins facing down (with respect to the logo and drive info sticker), and force it into that very thin slot?
I tried scouring google for some information on this and even the manual that is on Samsung’s website. I can’t believe there are no “idiot-proof” instructions for this.
Also did you use any tools to get the cable in? I found that when I tried to apply force, the thing would bend or slip.
October 10, 2008 at 11:18 am |
[...] Replacing the SSD with a 1.8″ PATA HDD [...]
October 10, 2008 at 10:41 pm |
Black switch was up, I don’t remember which way I inserted the cable, I did it both ways and checked which one worked.
I inserted the cable at an angle so when one Side went in I forced the other side.
October 14, 2008 at 2:02 am |
I added a 1.8 Pata Hdd 20gb but it seems Aspire one is not detecting it ! i put back the ssd and its also not detecting lol ! im not sure where i went wrong yet !
I was wondering there was something on the original ssd cable just something around the cable. what is it ?
October 14, 2008 at 2:46 am |
hi i am cuurently trying to replace the ssd drive of my acer aspire one to a 40gb hard drive.
one problem i had was that the ribbon connector frm mother board to hard drive was accidentally torn when i had wrongfully fiddled with it trying to get it slotted into the hard drive slot.
do you any soltuons to get around this? many thanks for any help u can give
regards
Don
October 15, 2008 at 2:15 am |
Hi. What are the chances of building in wireless for mouse and keybord? Something that can be switched on and off to preserver power, and which can easily be replaced if necessary? Regards
October 15, 2008 at 2:18 am |
@Veneto, it’s called Bluetooth.
October 19, 2008 at 12:11 am |
@Veneto , you could also just use normal RFID wireless keyboard and mouse setups. It will occupy one of your usb ports.
Although in my opinion a full keyboard and mouse defeats the purpose of a netbook (sub notebook or whatever you wanna call it.)
@Edward try inserting the cable upside down, don’t insert the MB side in the HDD (it doesn’t seem to make a difference, but what I mean is turn the cable upside down and reinsert the same side of the cable upside down).
October 20, 2008 at 3:31 pm |
Saheb,
Got my new cables and I tried forcing it in. It doesn’t seem to go in too far which is what I suspect. However, it didn’t seem to draw any power (it wasn’t recognized in the BIOS. Did you put it pin-side facing the harddrive?
October 21, 2008 at 10:02 pm |
Wow! I am so excited to have stumbled across your fabulous upgrade montage! You are awesome, girl! I just happened to have bought the 2.5HD XP version from WallyWorld and am increasing the hard drive capacity. I had no idea your wonderful tutorials were even here till I Googled for help in opening the case. Thank you, TY, TY!
I’m so encouraged to try to follow along with you. Some questions, if you have time, please?
- What max capacity SODIMM can be recognized? >1GB?
- What MiniPCIe & SIM connectors should I order? (And who will sell just 2?)
- What thickness Kapton tape do you use? (sorry to sound like such the noob, but I am!)
Thanks again for such a great tutorial on what’s already the cutest lil laptop going.
(BTW, I like your new Honda too. Call me a copy cat, but now I’m looking at that too!)
/T
October 22, 2008 at 1:20 am |
@Tarina
The Limit is 1GB DDR2
as for 3G try this “http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-bluetooth/#comment-9947″ – click on the HSDPA (http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=232&t=724057) – I don’t wish to take credit from “SS”
@Solidus
I will try opening the case today to see how I inserted the cable. When I inserted the cable the black lock on the hard drive (for the cable) was a little hard to close.
Try inserting the cable by pressing on each side until you can see about 1~1.5 mm of the blue tape. Also try flipping the cable.
October 22, 2008 at 4:23 am |
I tested the actual depth and I did get the wire all the way in. I then flipped the cable and it was detected by the computer (I left the case open to do the tests). After putting it all together I was able to boot it up and install WinXP so all seems to be working.
I noticed that having that double-sided padding tape raises the motherboard slightly on the HDD side. It does so enough that the board needs to be screwed down to connect to the battery. I wonder how much stress this will put on it.
Either way, I was able to replicate the work above. Its just tricky. [=
October 22, 2008 at 6:24 am |
Solidus if you watch the Video again you will notice that tnkgrl pads the disk from what used to hold down the SSD drive, just cut it out and the drive will settle down nicely, personally when I found out that I will have to force the drive down, I didnt trust it. But I guess its up to you. (For anyone else trying the mod, for the 8mm HDD you will have to cut the SSD screw socket.)
Grats on completion of the setup, I was just about to open my laptop up.
October 22, 2008 at 1:54 pm |
Hi,
Excellent site and post on modding my new Acer Aspire One. Just a quick question on the Part3 for Adding 3G – any news on when this maybe coming? Pretty please :)
Thanks and keep up the excellent work!
October 22, 2008 at 2:01 pm |
@Wayne, I got the parts and installed them – the mini-PCIe card is being recognized, but I’m still working out some kinks with the SIM holder… It turns out there are more parts missing than just the mini-PCIe connector and SIM holder – I plan to have part 3 of the mods published by the end of October!
October 23, 2008 at 2:26 pm |
Excellent news – will keep me eyes posted on your site. Whilst also spreading the word of the good things your doing. :)
October 26, 2008 at 12:05 am |
Nice video. Very informative. Wish I found you before I added 512RAM to mine. Interested in replacing the SSD like you did. Was wondering if you think an 8mm thick drive would fit? There are more of them out there that I found in a quick 5 minute search. Also, do you know if the 6 cell battery will fit on a system that came with a 3 cell? I called acer to ask them and they said the product is still to new for them to have any info like that yet!?! After an answer like that I am not even sure they sell replacement parts like a battery or power cord yet.
October 27, 2008 at 9:28 am |
@Brian, The 8mm is a little harder to close, other than that there doesn’t seem to be a problem. I recommend the 5mm (I got it from http://www.getpartsonline.com/hs081ha.html).
I am pretty sure the 3-Cell and 6-Cell are interchangeable.
Parts Manual:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2aed0e/n/SG_Aspireone_BOOK_081408_techincal_pdf
Part Supplier:
http://sourceits.com/need_parts
October 28, 2008 at 8:52 am |
Saheb, thanks for post the manual. im interest to read about Acer one
October 28, 2008 at 11:17 am |
I tried using my mic today and I found out that it isn’t working, its giving some scrambled output. I think maybe the sound cable is loose, maybe I didn’t refit it back correctly can anyone check their mic works, I don’t feel like opening it up and finding out its some software issue.
@Info Media: No problem I found it at: (I forgot to give the source)
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/09/how-to-order-spare-parts-for-an-acer-aspire-one.html
October 28, 2008 at 3:14 pm |
hi this site is great i am thinking of upgraging my acer aspire one but i am a little worried about getting the wrong drive so i was wondering if someone could tell me if the toshiba MK8022GAA 80gb hard drive will fit in ok it is 5mm thick but i am not sure that the connector is correct i think that it is a zif but i dont know weather it is a thick or thin type or if this matters??????
October 29, 2008 at 11:53 pm |
It’s just that the 8mm drives have such better performance like 5200 rpm and 8mb cache. I think I’ll try the faster first. Thanks for the input! I’ll let you know how it goes.
October 30, 2008 at 2:11 pm |
[...] to check out tnkgrl’s other mods for the Aspire One: installing extra RAM and Bluetooth and replacing the SSD with a PATA drive. I may attempt the RAM upgrade, but after that, my hardware hacking skillz will be have topped [...]
October 31, 2008 at 11:25 am |
[...] Modding the Acer Aspire One – hard drive « tnkgrl Mobile Blog Eintrag verbreiten: [...]
November 2, 2008 at 10:31 am |
I finally got an 80 gb hdd that fits with new zif ribbon, but it isn’t recognized by the laptop at boot up. Nothing found in the bios. I’ve got a samsung model: HS0-81HA. I’ve formatted in NTFS and activated the drive. It is recognized by other computers I have, but the Acer just can’t see it as a viable hdd. I’ve been working on this project for months and think I’m really close, but just can’t get through this last problem.
I initially got an 8mm thick 40 gb drive, but the zif ribbon wouldn’t connect. Found some zif ribbon that worked online, but didn’t like the bow on the motherboard because of the extra thickness. Got the 5mm thick hdd, but broke the external hdd enclosure during the formatting process. After a new zif to usb connector arrived, and a double check on the format, I can’t get the laptop to even see the hdd.
Please help, I’m at a loss!
November 4, 2008 at 4:44 am |
Thnx’s for the manual.
Gonna try kicking out the SSD and put in a high speed CF card
Chucking in a 16GB tonight.
Actually wanted to use an SD card (lower power consumption) but couln’t find a ZIF2SD adapter.
Also found out a ZIF2SATA with a SATA harddrive works oke. Need to fiddle a bit, and it’s a tight fit. Need to really check the power consumption on the hard drive. Especially Spin up and idle power consumption influence battery capacity.
FYI (for your information)
http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adzifcf.asp
http://www.cf2ide.nl
November 4, 2008 at 4:49 am |
ZIF connectors:
Okay beware there are three different kind of ZIF connectors.
(Yeah marketing and competition, we found out the hard way last year upgrading mini notebooks…..)
For the One you need the Toshiba/Hitachi variant.
November 4, 2008 at 7:09 am |
Got the 80 gb hdd samsung model: HS0-81HA,
problem is the ribbon will not go into the holder in the drive.
Any ideas and where can I get a replacement ribbon from as this one may have got damaged!
November 5, 2008 at 12:31 am |
cool Great thanks for the video on how to do this. Going to try it next week.
Satellite TV on PCs Today
November 6, 2008 at 9:38 pm |
Here’s a article on the different type of ZIF connector, that explains the issues with some installs:
http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12497
“One other important note – there are two different types of ZIF
ribbon cables, which differ only in the thickness and color of the
ends. Hitachi ZIF drives, and most adapter boards, take a thicker
cable end which locks into door-type card connectors that roll
toward the card edge. This end is the blue one.
Toshiba ZIF drives, and pretty much all others, take a thinner,
white cable end, and have a different type of cable lock
which rolls down away from the card edge. This is usually an
extraordinarily thin black bar which at first you’d mistake for
part of the connector. Here it is open, and closed – look carefully!”
November 14, 2008 at 7:12 pm |
Does anyone have some idea about getting the motherboard to recognize this newly installed hard drive? I’m using a Samsung HS081HA. It fits properly, the zif ribbon connects to the board and to the hdd right, but during the boot process, there is no hdd recognized.
November 14, 2008 at 11:22 pm |
my 20gb HDD does not work… I tested the HDD with another UMPC (samsung Q1U), with Acer One the hdd probably does not get (enough) power ??? it does not even spin…
did you resolve the issue somehow ? maybe it is the cable ? (however it works fine with th original SSD)
November 15, 2008 at 12:24 pm |
[...] Aspire Web Site. Tnkgrl Hard Drive Upgrade. Tnkgrl Bluetooth and Memory Upgrade. Aspireoneuser.com, Forums. Ubuntu Community Page for [...]
November 24, 2008 at 2:34 pm |
just changed hard drive in my new Aspire one with hard drive from Walmart. Used drive from 320G Free Agent Go also from Walmart.
Downloaded Seagate Disc Wizard to clone installed drive. Pride open side of agent’s disc case, Inserted guitar pick and ran it around case to break tape glue joint.
Not too much trouble getting keyboard off computer. The key board surround came off easy after I figured out it had to come off with aluminum shielding under keyboard.
Everything else is like tnks pictures except for missing jack for SSD. I have some pics my computer apart if you want them.
Thanks for help.
November 29, 2008 at 5:42 am |
Great post! Thank you very much for the pictures. If you wouldn’t have posted them I wouldn’t have opened my netbook to insert a hard drive. The change was quite easy to do and now I am able to use my Aspire One like a real notebook. Thanks!
December 13, 2008 at 9:11 pm |
I replaced the wifi card that came with my A150 using an Intel 3945 card. Worked like a champ with Ubuntu 8.04. IT was much better than the hit or miss wireless the original card had. After all what good is a netbook with no net?
December 15, 2008 at 1:51 am |
Hey there , what your doing is awsome, i live in australia and for the life of me i cant seem to find anywhere to buy the ’samsung 1.8 inch ‘ hard drive ,,,,, can you please recomend a site ,,, thank you
cheers
December 16, 2008 at 4:48 pm |
I accidentally broke my screen. Of you or anyone you know knows of a place to get free replacement screens for aspire one I would be very happy. And when my bonus comes in I will give to that person.
Aak.cowboys@ gmail.com
December 17, 2008 at 9:01 am |
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1927
<touchscreen for Acer Aspire one…!
December 18, 2008 at 10:36 pm |
Actually, if you have a SSD version of acer Aspire One, to tweak the slow SSD, you just need to is (1) format your XP with fat32, not NTFS (2)disable the paging file in XP, (3) upgrade the ram to a total 1.5GB, (4) go to task manager and click “view” tab and update the speed to high. (5)Install ‘Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs’ is the best choice as it is the lite version of WinXP debutted originally by Microsoft’s folks, unlike those done with nlite.
If you don’t know how to disable paging file, do the two things as follows:
(1)
1. Enter System Properties, either by right-clicking the My Computer icon on the desktop and selecting Properties or by doing the same to the My Computer icon in the Start Menu.
2. Once the System Properties window has loaded, click the Advanced tab and then click the Settings button under Performance, as shown in Figure 11-4.
3. Once you are in the performance options, click the Advanced tab again.
4. Click the Change button that is located under the Virtual Memory section.
5. This will load the Virtual Memory screen. Locate and select the No Paging File radio button, as shown in Figure 11-5, under the Paging File Size for Selected Drive section.
6. Click the Set button and then click OK three times and you are finished. After you reboot, your page file will be disabled.
(2)
Go to Start>Run, type in: regedit
Follow this string to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Double click DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Restart your computer for this to take affect
That’s all. Afterall, you don’t need to sell your Aspire One. Follow my instructions and you get the rarest lag with your One.
December 18, 2008 at 10:55 pm |
Olivia you do know that “4) go to task manager and click “view” tab and update the speed to high.” makes your computer a little slower nothing noticeable, its just makes the performance chart update faster.
December 19, 2008 at 4:19 pm |
FYI to all….
I recently upgraded my Linux ssd Aspire One using a toshiba hard drive and a 3945abg (after trying to get ubuntu to play nice with the atheros) and thought I’d out in my 2 cents. My battery life was pretty good until I upgraded to the Intel 3945abg. I also dual boot with xp pro and found that if I tweaked the 3945 ’s “advanced properties” and set it up for max pwr savings as well as lowest xmit pwr, my battery life is back to 2hrs 30 mins (in XP) on a standard battery. Seems to have done wonders.
Haven’t found the tweaks for ubuntu power savings yet.
I’m using the GOS gears (ubuntu 8.04.1 with a fancy ribbon interface) and can say that everything works , including the wifi switch in both linux and win xp using nothing more than the default settings in GOS and the latest wifi drivers from intel. Even the network led works.
The 3d performance is really good in Linux with the export INTEL_BATCH=1 tweak.
December 25, 2008 at 4:12 pm |
For the for the ipod hard drive mod, how did you reformat the hard drive to run an operating system?
December 30, 2008 at 2:06 pm |
Hehe, I tried out this mod today and here I am typing with my new modded One. :) I cut some plastic to make the drive fit even better under the mobo. The drive I have is pretty much same 60GB Samsung like you have, but I think a bit newer model (a bit less than 5mm thick), and it works like a charm! :)
I wonder what causes a bit nasty sounding clicking sound when the drive idles a while? maybe a driver problem? The drive ain’t falty at least, at least I haven’t damaged it and it’s brand new :o
December 31, 2008 at 5:50 pm |
[...] Modding the Acer Aspire One – hard drive [...]
January 1, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
ChrisW
I’m having the same problem with my ipod hard drive. I can’t seem to get an operating system installed on it so that the Aspire One will recognize it. I’ve posted a couple of times on here, but no helpful information yet. If you learn anything, please post here.
January 1, 2009 at 4:23 pm |
[...] § Modding de disco duro en Acer aspire one (inglés) [...]
January 2, 2009 at 11:07 pm |
@Eric Try using the ribbon upside down, read my earlier post.
January 3, 2009 at 11:16 am |
About the clicking sound with the Samsung drive I mentioned earlier:
There is a problem with APM with certain HDDs (Samsung ain’t the only one). I haven’t found a permanent solution to this problem, only temporary solutions like “hdparm” in linux. The main problem is that the drive unloads its heads repeatedly when idling. That shortens the drives life span dramatically. Any help to solve that problem appreciated :)
January 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
@Jack The clanking sound you speak of is the Drive being under pressure, which can mean that your hard drive is a very tight fit try making it loose. so there is a little space to breath.
January 3, 2009 at 8:08 pm |
Hi
I actively follow your Aspire one mod blogs. Can you add a GPS to it? I found a CF card based GPS and did some research but no one had luck so far…Would be a good idea for your next tweaking of aspire one
Enjoy your trip
January 3, 2009 at 8:11 pm |
http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/01/android-netbooks-on-their-way-likely-by-2010/
Google’s Android modified for a Netbook..you might be interested
January 5, 2009 at 3:22 am |
@Saheb
That was my thought also in the first place, but that wasn’t the problem and yes, I arranged a plenty of room for the drive inside ;) It’s the APM (Advanced Power Management) I mentioned earlier that is causing the clicks. Known issue with some hard drives. Why I know? Because the temporary solutions mentioned here: ( http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_hard_drive_clicking ) are working and stops the clicking. I think if the drive would had been under pressure it’d be dead by now already :)
January 5, 2009 at 5:52 pm |
Well I did the upgrade on mine today and now it won’t do anything. After I put the memory and hard drive in I tested it before I put it all back together and it worked. Then after I put it back together it doesn’t. I don’t get any leds at all. Looks like I’ll have to RMA it and hope they don’t notice I had it apart. In the meantime I’m going go pick up a Lenovo S10 and if they fix the acer I’ll put it on ebay. I hate days like this!
January 6, 2009 at 9:10 am |
@Jack
Thanks for the enlightenment didn’t know about that.
@Ken
Did you try and open it again and see if it works?
January 6, 2009 at 9:51 am |
The videos from part 1 and part 2 are not working :(
January 6, 2009 at 1:05 pm |
Yeah I took it all back apart, took out the new RAM, put the old drive back in… no luck. I’m trying to RMA it today. In the meantime I purchased a Lenovo S10 and will be selling the One when/if I get it fixed.
January 9, 2009 at 4:06 pm |
I did this hack(1.8 toshiba 30gb hdd “mk3008gal” from ipod video) to my One like two months ago with no problem at all. Then decided to upgrade it with a larger capacity disk(1.8 toshiba 80gb hdd “mk8022gaa” from an ipod clasic) without no luck this time… Hard part is done, as I installed it the same way, but when i try to install the OS(XP), the Bios recognizes it but the OS Setup states that it cant find a disk. I’ve searched and found some people having their disks recognized by the bios but not by XP setup, but no answer to them has ben posted…
Any help will be realy apreciated…
January 14, 2009 at 7:23 am |
The link to to the 60GB hard drive samsung dont’ work
January 14, 2009 at 11:58 am |
@Carmelo Samsung changed their website… I fixed the link!
January 14, 2009 at 12:58 pm |
I also have a hs081ha. I don’t understand why it won’t recognize. Saheb says turn the cable upside down, but why? It works fine in my external enclosure. So how does flipping the cable help? Which side do I flip? The one on the mother board or going into the drive itself? My hard drive has an Apple logo but I formatted to NTFS. Is there any other setup needed for the drive to work?
January 14, 2009 at 3:44 pm |
Anyone know what the default included brand/model SSD comes with the Aspire One and its read/write speed? Obviously its painfully sluggish.
Would this one be compatible and much faster?
MTRON MOBI 1.8″ 16GB PATA ZIF SLC SSD
January 15, 2009 at 1:25 am |
follow-up: Saheb, can you show a photo of your bios confirming the hs081ha is working in your aao?
January 16, 2009 at 12:34 am |
@ Robb,
I will take a picture for you tonight.
January 16, 2009 at 5:16 am |
@Saheb,
Thanks. And in case it doesn’t show up in the photo, what BIOS version are you running?
Also, thanks to tnkgrl for making this thread available for stuff like this.
January 16, 2009 at 10:26 am |
@Saheb
Please show if your Samsung 80gb is working, I want to buy one!
Thanks
January 16, 2009 at 1:58 pm |
Hey everybody!
Could anybody tell me which 80gb 1.8 inch 5mm hdd is best for the aspire one?
And it is tested.
Thank you, Saheb how can I contact you?
January 17, 2009 at 12:44 pm |
@Saheb
Forgive my impatience, but still waiting on BIOS photo and version number…
January 18, 2009 at 2:08 am |
Sorry I completely forgot I got drowned in work I have a clear schedule today.
January 18, 2009 at 10:54 am |
http://njabi.net/etc/ for the pics
January 18, 2009 at 12:13 pm |
Thanks Saheb. I’ll try again ;)
January 18, 2009 at 12:26 pm |
@Saheb
Success! It recognizes now because I “flipped the cable”. I had tried it before but I flipped the wrong side. For some reason when I connect to my external case it goes in one way, but when attaching to the system it goes in the other…but not on the mother board end. The actual hard drive connection to the zif wire needs to be the opposite way. Strange but true. hs081ha is recognized by bios 3109.
January 18, 2009 at 4:41 pm |
I have a Toshiba 80gb(mk8022gaa) disk and it shows in the Bios but i can,t install the os since it wont recognize it…. maybe some drivers are needed but I can’t find any for this disk. I saw some posts on an Asus eePc forums with others having the same problem…
January 18, 2009 at 8:22 pm |
@ Rick, I had that problem I gave the drive back as DOA. it was a 80GB Toshiba 8mm I don’t remember the model number. if you can just return that drive and get another one.
@Robb, glad I could help.
January 19, 2009 at 12:36 am |
@Dan I have a spam email fraget80@yahoo.com please use a meaningful Subject I check it every week so be patient for a reply.
January 19, 2009 at 11:31 pm |
@Saheb:
so 8mm drives work ok? has anyone tried the new toshiba 100gb drive? trying to find a good disk to put in place of a stock ssd aspire one (thin cased version)
t
January 20, 2009 at 3:18 am |
hi tnkgrl, thanks for sharing the mod processes. By the way, the part 2 video seem to be unavailable. I’m getting a:
500 Internal Server Error
when downloading the video.
Thanks!
Jake
January 20, 2009 at 11:24 am |
[...] http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hard-drive/ [...]
January 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
Olivia – turning off all the extraneous journalling and paging options doesn’t make *that* much difference – I’ve been building cut down images for ages [mainly for workplaces with old PCs, etc] so I have a decent idea of what to do, and your list covers 99% of it [you can also use bootvis [google it ;) ] to speed up boot times etc but it’s still annoyingly slow, and having the SSD with the jMicron controller means that it craps itself every time it fills/clears it’s cache.
I have been concerned about getting the right HDD for the AA1 I have [mit +1Gb RAM] and now having read aaaaalllll the way to the bottom of this page, I think an Intel 354930503AGBG11!!1!1LOL Wifi card might be on the order books too so that I don’t have to mess about with NDISWRAPPER on *nix either. Think I’ll ignore the 3G card though, that’s what bluetooth and a good 3G enabled phone are for. Would rather hammer the battery on my Nokia than on the laptop when attempting to kick servers in VMWare Infrastructure from the train/pub/bath etc.
Nice work tnkgrl – keep it up, and keep getting your hands dirty.
Steven R
PS: Saheb, you really know *far* too much about this stuff – I’ll check your pictures in the future should my HDD plans suffer EPIC FAIL…
January 20, 2009 at 9:38 pm |
[...] ja sofort alles auseinander was ihr in die Fingerchen gerät, gucken wir mal, oder besser hier, da gehts konkret um die Festplatte. Oder wir gucken hier bei den Kollegen aus [...]
January 21, 2009 at 7:20 am |
@ thomas : I am saying I don’t know if 8mm works, from what I read it doesn’t seem to work.
@ Steven Raith : Actually I don’t know that much, but I do share what I know. Seeing how tnkgrl stopped responding to this thread, I thought I could help.
January 21, 2009 at 2:18 pm |
Try installing a SSD instead, result is awesome, even with a (cheaper) MLC-Drive.
Total transfer is slower than SATA-HD, but 0.6ms accesstime is very nice, especially while booting or other access to many small files. (Win7 about 25 seconds from power on until WLAN-Connection established!)
Just tTry it, such a 64GB MLC-SSD is about 100€ in retail-stores.
SLC would be better but still inaffordable, about 300€ / 32GB.
Greetings from Germany
Marie
January 23, 2009 at 11:09 am |
Rob and Saheb:
I too have the Samsung HS081HA, working and all well except that win7 will not let my aao sleep, hibernate works though.. If you can confirm that sleep works then i know for shure it isnt my HDD, and can move on to check if it is my DW1390 or my BT dongle that i soldered onto the motherboard at the same time.
TIA
January 23, 2009 at 7:55 pm |
@ RoosterX,
I cannot confirm that as I don’t use Win7.
January 24, 2009 at 10:14 am |
I have the HS081HA like Saheb, and it works although it seems sort of slow. Mac OS X took 3hrs to install.
I had a hard time getting the stock ZIF cable plugged in as it seemed the blue lining of the stock cable was too thick to fit in the connector. Instead of cutting the cable, I just used a little sand paper to make the blue liner thinner. All seems to work fine now.
I have my triple boot goal accomplished, Fedora 10, Win XP, Mac OS X
January 24, 2009 at 10:57 am |
bwlinux: yes indeed it is a really slow hdd, around 30MB/s read(write i dont remember from when i tried HDtach on winxp), me myself are running Fedora 10 XFCE, Mac OSX and Win7, of all these OS i found that Win7 actually is the fastest one, though i have not installed any antivirus(that would probably suck out 50% of the cpu ;))
Maybe you too uses a DW1390 (since you also are running OSX), do you get sleep under WinXP to work?
January 24, 2009 at 12:13 pm |
I need serious help here. I’ve taken my Acer Aspire One apart (8GB SSD model, not 120GB model). I bought the Toshiba 1.8″ 20GB MK2006GAL drive. Its too big! I had no idea it was too big and the connector is totally different. I thought its supposed to be a PATA/ZIF, but its not compatible.
I need to know what speedy SSD brand/model is compatible with this netbook version with proper connector.
January 24, 2009 at 1:03 pm |
I cannot even figure out how to get the keyboard clips out so I can snap it back in.
January 24, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
Thanks for posting this!
January 24, 2009 at 7:54 pm |
@ Chads take a slim object or a minus screwdriver and place the clip back in from behind. You will have to left the tape a little.
January 26, 2009 at 3:15 am |
[...] I have challenged tnkgrl’s 1.8′ HDD mod [...]
January 26, 2009 at 3:31 am |
hey tnkgrl, I followed this guide long ago, but some how my 1.8 HDD died on me, buying another 1.8 HDD was really not practical for me with the 2.5′ HDD on the side with 250GB, looks very tasty for some modding, so i did this http://www.theacerguy.com/2009/01/aspire-one-a110-25-sata/ hope you like it!
Morris Lee
January 26, 2009 at 10:47 am |
@Morris
That’s an awesome mod! Congrats…
January 26, 2009 at 12:52 pm |
Thank you, I am hoping to to a bluetooth mod on here, but then I need to get another bluetooth dongle, then i will have both my 5920 and aspire one equipped with bluetooth. but I can’t seem to understand where you have soldered the 5 volts for the bluetooth, can you shine some light for me?
January 30, 2009 at 2:52 pm |
[...] can purchase high capacity SSD (they are quite expensive) or install 1.8” PATA drive as shown by tnkgrl. Although while searching i also found a 1.8” to 2.5” IDE connecter here. AAO 110 comes with a [...]
January 31, 2009 at 10:10 am |
What SSD replacements work and/or improve the acer one? I replaced the 8gb sdhc with 32gb sdhc and am now turning my attention on the inside. I found that intel is supposed to come out with a 16gb version any day now that could be a replacement for the 8gb but have also come across other PATA SSD drives. Would they work? What do I look for in PATA SSD drives for upgrading the ACER ONE. Thanks!
January 31, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
@Terry,
as long it is PATA with ZIF connector it should work as plug and play.
the 8GB SSD on aspire one is really slow, 24MB/s read, 5-7MB/s write(I recall) with the 2.5′ I added, I am getting 48mb/s read(write is botu 25MB/s) much much better performence increase
February 1, 2009 at 10:20 am |
Hey guys/gals i could use some help. I have done the ram and bluetooth upgrade, and am trying to do the HDD swap.
I’m running the latest bios, 3304 and trying to use a toshiba mk3008GAL 30GB drive. Now i had this driving running jusit fine in an external enclosure, and have attempted to use the thinner cable from my enclosure to connect it to the aspire one. My drive will not show up in the bios….i havent bothered to attemp to load windows xp installer, as i’ve read other people can see it in the installer, but the system never boots to the drive because its not recognized in the bios.
Is this an issue with the current bios, or my drive? or do i technically need to be using the zif to lif style connector. I’ve tried flipping the cable every which way, but im sure i have it installed right.
Any advice would be great, i’ve read other people having luck with this same drive.
I have the aspire one, aoa-110-ab
February 2, 2009 at 1:22 am |
Hi Tnkgrl,
I’ve bought myself an Acer Aspire One, and plan to add a hard drive.
I found that 8mm drives are easier and cheaper to obtain than the 5mm you used. Do you think it will fit?
If not, i’ll just shell out the extra cash and get the 5mm one.
Cheers
Iain.
February 2, 2009 at 11:51 am |
@ Iain,
It is a safer bet that 8mm drives don’t work, they fit OK though. I would suggest you get a 5mm Drive.
February 2, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
@Iain,
In Europe all A1 are equipped with standard 2 1/2″ (inches) drives.
As far as I can see there is no difference to tnkgrls images concerning the available space inside the A1.
Maybe the connector could be a problem, european A1 have a standard-SATA connector onboard.
February 2, 2009 at 11:56 pm |
@floehchen,
maybe you should take a look at what I have done http://www.theacerguy.com/2009/01/aspire-one-a110-25-sata/
XD, Cheers!
Morris Lee
February 3, 2009 at 12:48 am |
To floehchen,
There are two models available. The A110 which is the SSD version, and the A150 which is fitted with a 2.5″ SATA drive. On the A150 the bottom of the casing is different in that it has a ‘bulge’ to accommodate the hard drive. I have th A110 which is exactly the same as the one in Tnkgrl’s video. (Except mine has a UK keyboard).
Iain.
February 3, 2009 at 12:55 am |
i put an 8mm drive in my acer that came with an 8gb ssd.
the cable is a hassle to get to fit but the drive fits no problem. there is just enough room for double sided tape and thats about it.
t
February 3, 2009 at 1:03 am |
Thanks tmo. :-)
February 3, 2009 at 4:33 am |
@tmo Thank you for clarifying that. Can you please name the model and brand for future reference.
February 4, 2009 at 9:52 am |
Really? no one has any advice for my question?
February 4, 2009 at 5:18 pm |
60GB ZIF Toshiba HDD1724 4200RPM 2MB 1.8 in. MK6008GAH
bought it on ebay and i thought it was a 5mm drive, but it 8mm for sure and fits fine
t
February 4, 2009 at 5:22 pm |
adam
does the drive spin up when you power on the computer? try plugging it all in but dont reassemble it. you shoud be able to hear the drive spin up.
the cable can be very tricky to get in. you have to sand it down and if you sand down too much it will slip right out. pain in the ass to get it right thats for sure.
February 5, 2009 at 1:15 pm |
I actually have this LIF cable that came with the drive….i had read someone else using one of these thinner cables on both ends and it working.
I have not sanded down the original cable yet….do you think this is the problem? trying to use the LIF cable in the ZIF connector on the board? Seems like a pretty secure connection.
Would i just simply need to get a lif to zif cable from ebay?
I haven not tried booting the drive with the case open yet, i’ll do that tonight when i get home and reply back
February 6, 2009 at 12:46 am |
Heya, for all those people who have a bad hustle with screwdrivers.
Thus how about installing ur Acer Aspire One without even having to open it, I got it running with a s-ATA 250Gb 7200 16Mb cache 2.5 inch HD. I put this all in a pink vento Asus casing. connected with 2 usb cables on the right side of the device.
It runs fine with 512Mb ram on Vista Ultimate (ofc the 1.5Gb showed here is allways the better. But 512 doesnt bugg.)
Able to run movies (DVD) smooth in a virtual DVD device setup with 4example(daemontools).
Ofcourse you set the SSD to second boot in Bios.
And let it boot with ur USB-HDD which will work fine.
I recommend setting ur (usbHD) as plain default like any other sataHD on another Desktop pc to just hook it up to complete ur S-ata install Vista (like u normal would) (default without adding any drivers ofcourse) after thats done u run a small hack to bypass the BOD ( simply cus Vista wont setup on external drives ) And start the disc connected to ur Acer when you installed the *.inf shown here:
To save u from the research use this string as an *.inf file
[version]
signature=”$CHICAGO$”
SetupClass=BASE
[DefaultInstall]
AddReg = usbservices.Addreg
CopyFiles = usbstordr
[SourceDisksNames]
1 = yourcdrive,,,\windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_bb2778a0
[SourceDisksFiles]
usbstor.sys = 1,,
[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 12; DIRID_DRIVERS
[usbstordr]
usbstor.sys
[usbservices.Addreg]
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”USB parent Driver”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbccgp.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”USB Mass Storage Driver”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbstor.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”USB2 Enabled Hub”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”DisplayName”,0×00000000,”Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”ErrorControl”,0×00010001,1
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”Group”,0×00000000,”boot bus extender”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”ImagePath”,0×00020000,”system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys”
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”Start”,0×00010001,0
HKLM,”SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci”,”Type”,0×00010001,1
Thats all you need to do to complete ur Vista install on an AcerAspire One ( I had the linux version to try the upgrade on same like the one worked on here.)
ps. Dont forget before you finalize the USB disk & close it that u did pass the point that you installed SP1 & hotfixes and from there, created a restore point with the bypass ‘to make USB-vista boot work on ur PC with the *.inf (copy&paste into a *.inf ofc.) that file I have shown you above.
This to avoid the part were you get stuck on BOD with an update that changed the usb ‘hack’ and can simple redo the inf before you boot or have ur HD allready in the usb casing basically*!?!.. (then restore to previous working will keep ur system just run fine on boot thats ur (F8), if for any reason is my point.)
ps. In the end you can to my opinion turn of windows updates automatically untill you say so!
Also making a complete backup should be done b4 connecting to usb (that is if you want to, I skipped it.)
Have a nice day.
Vista drivers used:
wlan is the basic ‘were to start with’ the Atheros_v7.6.0.154-whql for vista32 dwnl on Atheros.cz AR5007EG
Lan = Realtek RTL8102E
ur Vga = Mobile Intel(R) 945 grab the file called winvista_1583 from itel’s site.
The webcam will work no specific driver needed.
sound idem.
Ur usb cable to ur usbHD will be the Aorta of ur pc so I dont recommend unplugging it untill ur pc is totally turned off if not just leave it there ;)
February 8, 2009 at 9:07 am |
Hey people, if you have the Acer Aspire One and want a decent operating system on it, I recommend the HP MIE:
take a look:
February 9, 2009 at 7:44 am |
Ok, got my problem fixed, i would have needed to pickup a LIF to ZIF cable for the toshiba drive, or i took the cheap way and sanded the one end of the cable that was used for the SSD. Works perfect….this netbook is blazing fast by comparison now, i love it…i can even get some decent games to play on it :-)
February 9, 2009 at 11:10 am |
Also, i opted to use a 60GB toshiba drive, that is 8mm thick….fits just fine, you just have to cut off a couple of the screw standoffs used for the SSD drive, then i secured it in place with some sticky tack…which does a nice job keeping it in place, and reducing noise vibration, can’t hear the drive no matter how hard i try to.
February 13, 2009 at 12:40 am |
!! Important.
On my post above.
ps. To avoid large filetransfers to be cutoff/discontinued with a [Vista bugg] happening for example large ISO files, I recommend setting the wireless vista32 Atheroz AR5007EG manually on ur AcerAspireOne 110 :
To a [ AR5006X 7.6.0.154 ] that fixes the problem of cannot acces source file through ur wireless network.
This problem didnt occur on winXP drivers (if you use winXP ofc.) this problem occurs only when you have any vistax86 AR5007EG drivers for this device.
And will solve that you can complete large filetransfers, without the cannot acces source file randomly on //..network.
Have a nice day anyways.
February 19, 2009 at 2:10 pm |
Hi. I’ve found this Samsung M5 160GB 2.5″ PATA 5400RPM 8MB HDD on http://www.ox.lt/lt/product/48931 and i’m wondering could i replace the crapy ssd and put in this hdd? i’m from Lithuania, so sorry for my mistakes if there is any :)
February 26, 2009 at 5:21 am |
I have a Acer Aspire one. I wanted to know what it looked like inside and this video showed it super good. The taking very good too! I can see how to open it now. Some time I my for somthing.
Very good video of the inside of the Aspire one! Thank you!
-Raymond Day
February 26, 2009 at 12:31 pm |
Tried installing a Hitachi 20gb 1.8 hard drive the my aspire one but I get no power to the hard drive. Anyone know if the cable needs to be flipped? where is pin 1 on the board? I see pin on on the hard drive, but I see nothing on the board.
February 28, 2009 at 4:09 am |
Replacing the hard drive was a tough mod and will totally invalidate your warranty! I found a Toshiba MK3008GAL for an OK price. I disassembled the Aspire One and installed the hard disk. As per tnkgrl, I placed the hard disk where the old SSD was, this required that some parts of the case were cut off to make room. The biggest problem I found was the cable. The Aspire One SSD has a different ZIF socket to the Toshiba ZIF socket. So, first I had to remove the blue strengthener, but then the cable was too thin so I had to add some tape. Then it all seemed to work. I didn’t re-use the ferrite, hopefully this won’t be a problem in the long term. Reassembly was straightforward. Of course, all software needs re-installing.
March 4, 2009 at 6:34 am |
hey,
when I connect my mk3008gal to the connector and start de AAO, I`ve got a blank (black) screen. I have the right cable (lif to zif). If I take the SSD all is ok.
is the hdd crashed?
lg
June 13, 2009 at 3:53 am |
I was having this problem too – im hoping my HDD hasnt crashed, maybe I’m not using the correct cable as Toshiba apparently uses smaller ones? Worst case senario I will use a flash card with fast write time and sell my HDD on ebay.. Anyone else have this problem?
March 4, 2009 at 11:10 am |
sorry about my poor english, i upgraded my aspire one with an ipod 80gb 1,8″ hdd.
the bios recognize it but the xp installation says can´t acces to disk and sow an blue screen of death.
i try low level format the drive but i can´t cause an error says password protected, i don´t put any password and the ipod runs ok.
March 6, 2009 at 7:56 pm |
Hi, last time I opened up my AA1 to change the ssd with a 1.8″ hd…I had a friend which owns a 5g ipod which he doesn’t use anymore…I decided to test the drive. It was an hitachi 30gb drive…Unfortunately, the bios doesn’t recognize it. I already inverted, and flipped the cable but still no luck. There was no sign that the drive was spinning at all..I placed back the ssd and it was working fine…Am I missing something? Thanks alot
March 8, 2009 at 8:46 pm |
Hi Tnk girl
Just wanted to say thanks for the videos thanks to this my Aspire One (110A) now has a 60 gig internal HDD and 1.5 Gig of ram a huge improvment
thanks again for shareing this
March 9, 2009 at 3:03 am |
I ordered the MK3008GAL from ebay but I really cant see how the hell I can make the cable plug in the hdd.
Its a zif drive ok, looks ok but I cant plug in the existing cable. Also since the cable is symmetrical, which is the right way to plug it?
please tnkgrl or anyone else help me
March 11, 2009 at 7:52 am |
[...] the Aspire, upgrade the RAM, and add a notably absent feature: Bluetooth. Part 2 teaches you to replace the Aspire’s solid-state drive (SSD) with a hard drive. Part 3 is a biggie, covering the addition of an internal HSDPA 3G modem. The latest part in the [...]
March 12, 2009 at 6:03 am |
Anyone manage to use a HITACHI 4200 RPM disk on their AA1? Please confirm…It is a Hitachi Travelstar with zif socket used by ipod 5g model… :( I’m having difficulties making it work…
March 12, 2009 at 3:42 pm |
@Flo – I have the exact same problem you do. This is the 3rd hard drive I have tried and I cannot get any of them recognized. The latest is a 60GB Toshiba that I have the ZIF/LIF connector for but the bios won’t post, it just leaves a blank screen but the drive spins up. Anyone solved this?
March 17, 2009 at 12:32 am |
*Update* I reflashed to every previous bios and tried 2 separate Toshiba HDDs trying every cable arrangement. How the hell did any of you get a Toshiba drive to work in this piece? Please someone help me!!! I have run out of ideas!
March 18, 2009 at 7:55 am |
archer, you need a flip cable for hitachi zif hard driver.
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=9704
March 19, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
Can someone explain what is the purpose of the flip cable with the Hitachi ZIF drive. The pin out between both the SSD and Hitachi drive are the same?
March 21, 2009 at 6:19 am |
MY FAULT – Why ohh why did I not read the full post!!
Tried to force the ribbon in and in the process broke the ribbon and even worse the ZIF connector on my newly ordered Toshiba 60G 1.8″ PATA. :(.
Can I suggest that we flag the ribbon issue at the top of the page, so nobody is as foolish as I.
For info and detailed shots on the ZIF connection go here – http://www.ji2.com/products/adapter_images/y6401/1.8Toshiba_Drive.jpg
New ZIF cables and drive ordered an expensive lesson learned.. Velcrow
March 22, 2009 at 2:52 pm |
Hi all, I just successfully installed a MK2008GAL that I ordered new for 25$ including shipping. The ZIF cable was a tough fit, but I was afraid to modify it in case I needed to revert back to the crappy slow 8Gig SSD it came with. I found the end of the cable which was originally attached to the mother board was stiffer than the end which was originally in the SSD so I switched the ends. I was also surprised that the contacts on the cable needed to face away from the main body of this HDD, that seemed counter intuitive. Anyway, I just lined up one corner of the cable and pushed it in a bit, then worked my way across the rest of the cable until it was barely in across the length of the cable, then I just pushed harder and bit by bit forced it in. I did try to use my thumb to push down on the connector on the HDD to try to keep it from breaking. I worked slowly and walked away when I began to get frustrated. It took about 15 minutes for me to get it seated and then press the thin black bar down to lock it into place (though it was tight enough not to fall out before). The acer runs soo muc better now, no more pauses to write to the drive. I know 20Gigs isn’t much but it is plenty for this little machine with Linux Mint installed. If you are looking for a linux distro I definitely recommend Linux Mint, its powerful, yet really newbie friendly and works great on the acer, though I did have to follow the directions on the ubuntu acer one site to get the wireless working.
April 2, 2009 at 3:22 pm |
hey, I just got my aspire one and I was thinking, is it posiblr to add more HD, mine has 160g(144g) can I add more to it?
April 2, 2009 at 3:29 pm |
@M0nk0,
you “could” but you will loose your recovery partition. 160GB format to NTFS only gives you about 149GB, and couple more used up for the eRecovery system. it is in your best interest to keep it if you don’t have backup cd’s
April 6, 2009 at 5:03 pm |
I’m really glad that I installed MK2008GAL. Original cable is used to sand out one end to squeeze it into the HDD. It was just a matter of one to one mapping of the zif cable and sanding out and squeezing it. That took 3 days to figure out. Hugh..
April 7, 2009 at 3:24 pm |
Hi Installed a Toshiba 30 gig MK3008GAl but i cant get it to be regognized by the a one 110. What is it i should do to make it work.I think the cables right,it just wont be seen. Bios 3309 i think.
Please help.
Pelleplutt
April 12, 2009 at 5:46 pm |
I tried adding a CF card on an adapter board.
The board shows a red light, but it doesn’t detect.
Any ideas?
Thanks
April 12, 2009 at 9:31 pm |
Pelleplutt : When you open the case, try changing the cable arrangements and turn it on without closing the case until you get it to work. Sometimes when you close the case something goes wrong, like a cable gets crushed or loosened cause of a tight fit it has happened to me a few times.
Lasivian: not sure what you mean by adapter board, are you talking about the built-in card reader, or did you add a ZIF to CF adapter.
April 13, 2009 at 3:10 am |
I added a ZIF/CF reader.
I think the issue is I need a flipped zif cable.
Now, to find one.
April 14, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
Thanks for the info. I just installed a 20GB Toshiba and had the mod done in about 30 min! Much more responsive now!
April 15, 2009 at 9:13 am |
I did a low cost upgrade from SSD to 1.8 HDD. Got a new Samsung 40gb from http://www.overstockdealz.com/products.asp?id=HS040HB for $19 US. My AA1 running much faster, no more lag as with the original 8gb SSD.
April 19, 2009 at 8:25 am |
[...] Replace SSD with 1.8” PATA HD [...]
April 23, 2009 at 10:36 pm |
Okay now I have also tried the 40GB Samsung drive that Jim S got to work but no dice. What revision/model number A110s are you guys using that have gotten a hard drive to be recognized?
June 13, 2009 at 5:07 pm |
Scott
I assume yours is the same as my Samsung SpinPoint HS040HB – Hard drive – 40 GB – internal – ATA-100 – 7200 rpm – buffer: 2 MB?
Did you ever get it to work?
Thanks
Chris
April 24, 2009 at 9:24 am |
Scott,
I think my Acer is a model ZG5, but I’m at work right now. But the Samsung should work with any AA1 that uses a 40 pin ribbion. Make sure pin 1 of the motherboard follows down the edge of the ribbon to pin 1 of the hdd. MB pin 1 is closest to front of the computer. Pin 1 of the Samsung drive is closest to the three brass connectors on the bottom. Pin 40 would be near the two brass connectors on the opposite side. See photo at the top of this thread. The Samsung drive has double sided jaws and can be flipped over if nessesary to get pin 1 lined up with pin 1. The motherboard connector is one sided only so the ribbon must go connection side down.
May 11, 2009 at 12:24 pm |
Hi,
could anybody tell me what the best HDD is to replace the SSD with? i have notice some dont work…
May 18, 2009 at 3:31 pm |
Hey folks!
Thought I would let everyone know that the AA1 units with the .3MP webcam can be self-upgraded in 15mins or less to a 1.3MP webcam. (No Soldering Required) I will be setting up a website with the processes and part numbers to show you how.
Chris
May 22, 2009 at 10:42 am |
There are 19 screws removed to disassemble the Acer Aspire One (I have the XP hard drive version). There are 4 different sizes of screws among the 14. Somewhere we need to document which screw sizes (short, medium & long black) go where (the 4th size is the silver screw under the keyboard on the right side).
May 22, 2009 at 11:15 am |
Can anybody tell me if replacing SSD in Acer Aspire One is the same as in Asus R50A? Also SSD 1.8 PATA.
Thanks in advance.
May 24, 2009 at 2:19 am |
[...] The Acer Guy Blog Archive Aspire One A110 2.5′ HDD SATA MOD – IT WORKS! Modding the Acer Aspire One – hard drive tnkgrl Mobile [...]
May 26, 2009 at 9:49 am |
Hi, I have successfully replaced old ssd with CF card and everything works OK. But I have problem with reassembling. Those three plastic “things” that should hold the keybord in place (those under F2, F8 and Break keys) wont pop up. They are stick inside and I can’t find the way how to get them to the right position.. Am I doing something wrong? BTW.. i tried to force them from the other side (but gently of course) and that didn’t help either.. I would appreciate any help.. Thanks.
May 30, 2009 at 9:31 am |
Well, I had am Apple iPod’s Toshiba 1.8″ drive handy, but no way could I fit it into the A110 so I gave up! I’ve ordered an external enclosure for it now and will use it to house virtual machines.
June 2, 2009 at 3:13 pm |
Anyone know where i can get a replacment Pata cable for my acer aspire one ?
June 11, 2009 at 2:24 am |
Hi, Very good instructions. I tried the Hitachi C4K60 20gb hard drive and it did not work as others have said, so recommend not to try this hard drive for this task as very strong evidence is not compatible. (I have relegated it to an external hard drive enclosure where it works fine). If anyone got the Hitachi to work would be very interested.
I did get a Samsung HSO82HB 80gb to work no problem but it failed after 2 weeks, which was a worry. A replacement is on its way. When I took out the original 8gb Intel SSD there was an Iron “balun” on the ZIF cable which I removed at the time. Suspecting this may reduce interference or signal spikes I will replace it when I fit the Samsung hard drive to see if that prevents it failing. Has anyone had a Samsung harddrive working for over 6 months without failing?
Cheers
Stevejgb
June 11, 2009 at 4:29 pm |
@SteveJGB: I have been using it since October without a hic.
June 12, 2009 at 5:31 am |
Great performance improvement mod. Inserting ZIF (HIF!?) cable in 60 GB Samsung HS06THB ($60 on eBay) a bit tight. SSD seems to be a promising technology, but is still in its infancy, ridden with problems.
June 16, 2009 at 6:10 am |
I got the Hitachi C4K60 20gb to work after all. I got a “flip” zif cable off ebay and it fired up.
this has the exposed wires facing the other way at one end. Certainly could not get it to work with the original ZIF cable that came with the Acer. Works very nice, though not at fast as the Samsung
June 17, 2009 at 10:29 pm |
Well,do the files on the original SSD drive are lost?
I.e. do I have to install Windows XP(i know it suxx,still) after the mod?
Thanks^^
June 17, 2009 at 11:04 pm |
@Dizwix The files on the SSD are still on the SSD, The files that are one the HDD (Hard Drive), if there are any, are still going to be on it. So if you have an empty Hard Drive logic dictates that you will have to install an OS again whether it be Windows or Linux. Now if you get a hard Drive that already has an OS on it you may not have to install it, but it is always recommended to have a clean install with a hardware change. Hope this helps.
June 18, 2009 at 8:47 am |
Thanks^^
And do the OS consider that there are one or two hard drives?
June 18, 2009 at 3:55 pm |
@DizWix I am not sure what you mean. OS is an Operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc). I don’t think there is enough space in an aspire one for 2 hard Drives.
If you are asking if it matters that there are 2 hard drives, then the answer is no.
June 18, 2009 at 10:06 pm |
No,i asked if Windows considered that there were two disk drives (C: and D: i.e)
June 19, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Hey guys is it impossible for a 2,5″ inches hdd to fit in?
June 19, 2009 at 7:04 am |
Hello Tnkgrl,
Can I upgrade the aspir one A0A 110 HD to 2.5″ harddrive?
June 19, 2009 at 9:48 pm |
@Fot and Earl Davis: Please read the blog. These links are from this page.
http://www.theacerguy.com/2009/01/aspire-one-a110-25-sata/
http://khandotazee.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/acer-aspire-one-hdd-mode/
@Dizwix: you mean partition? if so, yes it can be done. You can maybe put to physical drives in but it will be a tight fit.
June 19, 2009 at 9:58 pm |
After searching some more try these as well:
http://www.darkwire.com.au/html/zif_to_2_5___ide_adapter.html
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aaedt18ide25.asp
June 22, 2009 at 10:54 pm |
Hi,
I swapped out my SSD with a 60gb Toshiba MK6208GAL drive but its not recognizing it. After numerous tries, i thought i damaged the original cable so i ordered “FPC ribbon cable for Toshiba 1.8″CE(ZIF) HDD” from ebay and when i tried those, it’s still not working.. What should i do? I tried the SSD again with the original cable and it’s working.. I’m out of ideas. Any help would be appreciated.
June 23, 2009 at 12:28 am |
Hi
Have posted above – same thing happened to me – can anyone confirm that they have had success using a cable from Ebay and if so which cable – there is a flip and a non flip cable on Ebay
Thanks
Chris
June 26, 2009 at 5:07 pm |
Hi,
I just recently bought an acer aspire one d250 and after reading your guide on integrating bluetooth I wanted to do the same but I have a slight prob that I wanted to know if you had a solution for so here it is:
I have a broadcom BCM92045NMD BLUETOOTH MODULE from an parted out HP notebook, problem is that the module has an 8-pin connector with cable and the aspire one has a 4-pin connection, my question being is there anything I can do with that or should i just go buy a usb one for easier install?
any help is appreciated
June 28, 2009 at 9:22 am |
@Chrisd, Shinrmc:
What you need to do is have the laptop open have and have access to the hard drive and mobo zif port, then keep checking different cable combinations on both sides. Toshiba has a different cable type then the original cable that comes with the Aspire One. Try flipping the cables and try different sides.
@Salty:
I think the BCM92045NMD takes extra power with the extra 4 pins, Its easier and maybe cheaper to buy a new usb bt module. From what I understand it seems you need to buy a different cable to make the device work, and you will also have problems with drivers there is a serial lock on these chips so will need to make the chip believe that you are using a HP and not an Acer.
June 28, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
um i have a question how do i mod a Acer Aspire one (the ones they sell at radioshack) from HDD to SSD?
thank you.
June 29, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
@Zack
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=356421
July 1, 2009 at 3:16 pm |
Please could someone confirm if a Acer Aspire ONE will work with a TOSHIBA MK6006GAH 1.8″ 60GB 50pin ATA IDE HDD? I see plenty of those on eBay for ok prices.
Before I commit I just want to make sure it works and if I need anything else to get it working, like this flip cable I keep hearing about.
Thanks in advance
July 2, 2009 at 5:26 am |
@Alex:
From what I understand this hard drive requires a different cable than that which is received with the Aspire One. Note: I have not personally tested it.
I am using this:
http://www.getpartsonline.com/hs081ha.html
July 2, 2009 at 12:51 pm |
Ok thanks, I’m going to get a Toshiba MK3008GAL to play it safe.
Now do I need a new cable when I get this drive? If so could someone please just tell me the type I need so I can buy both items at the same time :)
Again thanks in advance.