Welcome to part 4 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. In part 2, I showed how to replace the SSD with a 1.8″ PATA hard drive and how to reassemble the Aspire One. In part 3, I showed you how to add internal 3G (specifically HSDPA)…
In this final part, I demonstrate how to add eSATA to the Aspire One. Here’s another video and additional pictures that cover the process. As usual, I’m not responsible if you damage anything.
There are two basic versions of the original Aspire One – both use the same motherboard, and both support a PATA interface and a SATA interface. The SDD version features the same ZIF connector found on 1.8″ PATA hard drives, but no SATA connector. The HDD version features a standard 2.5″ SATA hard drive connector and a modified casing, but no ZIF connector…
Since I replaced the slower 8 GB SSD with a faster 60 GB hard drive on the PATA interface and the SATA interface was still unused, I decided to add an external eSATA connector to my Aspire One :)
This mod was pretty simple. Basically I salvaged an eSATA socket from a desktop bracket and some thin 2-conductor shielded microphone cable from inside a broken laptop – shielded cable is important because SATA uses LVDS. Then I connected the eSATA socket to the traces of the missing SATA connector – that’s it!
The tricky part was to find a good location to cut a hole in the case and mount the eSATA socket without interference. I picked this nice spot right above the left SD card slot (appropriately labeled “Storage Expansion”) and soldered the eSATA socket to the ground plane (structural).
The result is very clean and functional – of course, a reboot is required to register any connected eSATA device with the BIOS.
I hope you enjoyed this multi-part post on hacking the Acer Aspire One. Originally, I was thinking of doing a touch screen mod for part 5, but scrapped the idea because it impacted screen readability.
Hmmm, I wonder how much this really cool Aspire One is worth :) Any buyers?
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March 10, 2009 at 4:23 am |
[...] posted here: Modding the Acer Aspire One – eSATA « tnkgrl Mobile Category : Acer Aspire One / Uncategorized / [...]
March 10, 2009 at 4:27 am |
banalny mod . tylko troche bezsensu. lepiej wcisnąć hdd sata do środka
March 10, 2009 at 7:04 am |
[...] is one of those folks leading the way in netbook hacks and today she wraps up a four-part series on her Acer Aspire One. In the first three parts, she added Bluetooth, 3G, and more RAM while also swapping out the Solid [...]
March 10, 2009 at 10:53 am |
That is a very cool and I think useful mod. Kudos!!!
March 10, 2009 at 11:34 am |
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March 10, 2009 at 11:34 am |
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March 10, 2009 at 11:34 am |
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March 10, 2009 at 11:36 am |
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March 10, 2009 at 11:40 am |
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March 10, 2009 at 1:00 pm |
[...] tnkgrl Share and [...]
March 10, 2009 at 1:02 pm |
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March 10, 2009 at 3:03 pm |
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March 10, 2009 at 3:03 pm |
[...] another installment of her ongoing efforts to mod the Acer Aspire 1, [tnkgrl] has added eSATA capabilities. During the hard drive upgrade she did, she used the spare PATA connection, leaving an SATA [...]
March 10, 2009 at 3:49 pm |
[...] – how to do it here Source - tnkgrl Related product from Amazon.co.uk Acer Aspire One A150 Netbook, Windows XP Home, 8.9-inch [...]
March 10, 2009 at 4:25 pm |
[...] To check out the whole process check out Tnkgrl’s blog. [...]
March 10, 2009 at 4:40 pm |
[...] Modding the Acer Aspire One – eSATA Welcome to part 4 of a multi-part post on moddng the Acer Aspire One! In part 1, I showed how to take the Aspire One [...] [...]
March 10, 2009 at 4:51 pm |
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March 10, 2009 at 8:12 pm |
just wanted to say thanks for the videos. I picked up an aao a few weeks ago, and have been looking for some pointers on mods. These are great. already added 1gb memory (1.5total), and just ordered a samsung 80gb pata/zif 1.8″ drive for it. the videos really help to see what’s possible and what’s not. I’ve go at bluetooth dongle (from dealextreme), and i MIGHT attempt to internally install that, but keeping in it’s usb dongle means I can move it around when i need it.
thanks again, tnkgrl.
dwight.
March 10, 2009 at 8:37 pm |
you may be able to get eSATA hotplug to work — from a brief google of the acer aspire one’s bios, it looks to be an Award bios – you may be able to hack the bios with one of the award tools – it also looks like an ICH7 chipset, which is not _supposed_ to support eSATA hotplug, but which often ?always? does. I did a similar mod a few months ago, where I soldered an eSATA header onto the backplane of my mini-ITX motherboard (frankensystem) – they had an option for eSATA, but nobody stocked them and the minimum order was 500 :) anyway – long story short, ICH7 chipset, soldered the connector in and with a change to the bios (social hack – I begged them to give me the other version… ), i was able to hotplug under ubuntu (8.10)
I am long overdue for a writeup of my mod – maybe tomorrow.
you do amazing hacks – i am very impressed.
March 10, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
@w15p thanks for the tip! I’ll look into it…
June 30, 2009 at 2:23 am
I have an old fujitsu siemens lifebook “S” series circa 2003 and looking 2buy a new laptop soon.hacking a laptop appeals to me but im a raw novice.any clues /advice as to where I could start as a hack/learning curve project?
March 10, 2009 at 9:54 pm |
[...] another installment of her ongoing efforts to mod the Acer Aspire 1, [tnkgrl] has added eSATA capabilities. During the hard drive upgrade she did, she used the spare PATA connection, leaving an SATA [...]
March 10, 2009 at 10:06 pm |
[...] zusätzliches Loch in die Hülle des Acer Aspire One hacken. So oder so ähnlich dürfte tnkgrl sich gefühlt haben, als es darum ging, ihrem AAO einen eSATA-Port zu verpassen. Die Modderin [...]
March 11, 2009 at 2:44 am |
[...] modders, and the most recent hack makes the 8.9-inch netbook all the more data-friendly with the addition of an eSATA port. Piggy-backing over the Storage Expansion SD slot, modder tnkgrl used the netbook’s SATA [...]
March 11, 2009 at 3:13 am |
[...] la serie di modifiche apportate dai ragazzi di tnkgrl all’Aspire [...]
March 11, 2009 at 4:44 am |
tnkgrl, you’re great !! ;)
I’d like to be just a little like you, but I’m not … actually i tried to upgrade/mod my AA1 (replace the SSD with a hard drive and upgrade the ram). The ram was ok, now i have a 1.5GB AA1, but I bougth a couple of PATA drives and none of those worked to me… the HDDs I bougth had different connector, it does not fit :(
Any (tnkgrl?) one can help me to find an eBay HDD that will work with the ZIF connector found on the AA1?? I’m looking for something not much expensive, 20 or 30 GB will work for me.
Thanks! and again, good work Tnkgrl !!
March 11, 2009 at 4:44 am |
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March 11, 2009 at 7:40 am |
[...] Source [...]
March 11, 2009 at 7:52 am |
[...] when “modders” start going to work on it. And over at the tnkgrl Mobile blog, you can find a four-part series on modding the Aspire One. You won’t believe some of the cool ways you can trick out this tiny machine. In part 1, for [...]
March 11, 2009 at 8:54 am |
[...] tnkgrl Mobile has added an eSATA port to her Acer Aspire One netbook. The port is located on right above the netbook’s second SD memory card slot. You will need steady hands for this hack as it requires carving up some holes in your netbook’s case that will void the warranty. If you want to hack your Acer Aspire One, then you should do it on Aspire Ones with expired warranties. [tnkgrl Mobile] [...]
March 11, 2009 at 10:24 am |
[...] Source Share and Enjoy: [...]
March 11, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
[...] another installment of her ongoing efforts to mod the Acer Aspire 1, [tnkgrl] has added eSATA capabilities. During the hard drive upgrade she did, she used the spare PATA connection, leaving an SATA [...]
March 13, 2009 at 5:56 am |
Love your mod. This is an awesome machine and makes me wish I could even attempt something like this. Any chance you’ve gotten your hands on the 10″ version of the Aspire One? If so could you comment on the differences inside? Thanks much.
March 22, 2009 at 1:55 pm |
hello you know very good your page and all your changes! Congratulations! my suggestion is good if you plan to change the screen that has the acer aspire one of 8.9 to 10 and plug that size would have no problem I already suggested that I have seen the hp model is 10 inches and that is the same size, so I do not see the problem, since the connector is the same.
Think good .. is dismissed from Chile idjar
March 26, 2009 at 12:32 am |
I notice that you remove the ssd in favor of a hd. What about the newer models that have the sata hd onboard already. I notice that JKK prefers the ssd’s over hd’s for the speed and ruggedness. Would it be possible to install one of these newer faster ssd drives(such as the runcore) into the pcie slot occupied by the wifi card? The object being having the quick ssd for os and some programs and the hd for storeage ect. Or is the internal sata hd drive faster than these ssd’s? seems you could just wire a up an n wifi dongle inside that way youd still have the wifi and n speeds rather than g.
maybe i’m way out on a limb here and out of my mind.
March 27, 2009 at 8:44 am |
hi!
I got an aspire one 110 mod, I bought a lacie 60 gb disk and it has the same zif connector as the ssd disk, however connecting this only leads the disk light on, it seem it wont get a power, I did not use the original cable cause it felt abit to thick for the disk insertion.
I also updated the bios n the laptop without any progress..
disk is hs060hb, do I somehow need to draw some extra power elsewhere?
March 30, 2009 at 7:48 pm |
great! now i`d like to see the touch screen on this AAO! :D
April 1, 2009 at 8:41 am |
Hey tnkgrl…
thanks for the mod´s they helped me really alot…
By the way, you indeed must be a very cool person !
Keep it up ! Greetings from Germany
April 2, 2009 at 9:56 am |
I realize that this isn’t the most content-laden of comments, but I feel that I must say it:
Holy crap, you’re awesome.
April 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm |
@tnkgrl
Were you going to use one of those DIY solderless kits to add touchscreen functionality, or were you going to use a different method/parts?
I’ve been on the fence between an 10-inch aspire one and a eee 1000he for a while now and the factor I’m having the most trouble with is whether I’d have more fun with the touchscreen mod for the eee or your esata mod for the one. If I can do both on just one of them, that’ll make the decision a snap for me. I know the 8 inch kit for the eee 900 will work with the 8 inch one, but I haven’t seen anything about the 10 inch kit so far.
Also, how big a readability issue are you talking about?
I saw something on the eeeuser forums about removing the screen’s anti-glare layer because it eats up a lot of light and contrast, and some (if not all) touchscreen kits have one of their own. According to the poster, all you need to do is leave a wet paper towel on the screen for about 3 hours. That’ll soak up the glue holding the anti-glare film to the screen, which you can then peel off. I dunno if there’s a layer like that on the one or not, but I hope that helps.
April 12, 2009 at 4:31 pm |
Btw, if that does help at all, the solderless kits supposedly add two extra USB plugs (pins, not ports), which should make the bluetooth mod a bit safer, and would still leave room to add another mod without having to solder directly to the mobo (maybe to add an internal wireless mouse antenna, which from what I can tell would be the same exact mod as bt, but with a mildly different chip).
April 12, 2009 at 8:22 pm |
@Bob solderless is no fun :)
April 13, 2009 at 10:50 am |
@tnkgrl
I mean more fun with the finished product, not the installation of it. Besides, if you can get the same functionality from a solderless kit that you can from soldering straight to the mobo, then why not give it a shot?
Seriously though, how bad a visibility issue did you have? Are we talking a slight decrease in brightness, or does the screen look all dirty and grainy?
April 28, 2009 at 6:19 pm |
Girl;
May I say that I love your Acer one videos and plan to add ram to my acer one but does that (opening the case) void the warranty? If you can find the time to reply I would appreciate it. Thanks, Steve
April 29, 2009 at 12:07 pm |
Just typing from my upgraded a110l. Sporting a brand new Toshiba HDD and 1,5Gee of Ram. Running Vista as smoothly as anything. All needed is spit, grit and a whole lot of duct tape.
Thank you for the ideas an directions tnkgrl.
May 4, 2009 at 6:34 am |
I’ve aspireone 110, 1,5 gb ram and sata 250gb.
Can someone show me the eprom for upgrade bios on the mainboard to try upgrade directley, because my last recovery update by pendrive usb did’nt work.
Black schreen always and power led blinking.
Have you another way ?
Thank’s in advance.
May 4, 2009 at 8:42 pm |
hi wonder if someone could help .I tried this mod but broke the black clip off the hard disk samsung hs082hb..is this drive now useless or can i somehow salvage it..would love to get this mod going
May 27, 2009 at 8:01 pm |
For a touch screen, I prefer to use Tablo, using a pen though, not finger.
October 10, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
What you’ve done is so cool. My Acer Aspire is the model D150-1165. It has 2GB RAM the factory. How did you know where each wire connected to? I’d try adding eSata if I had better instructions. The only other issue I have is using an external monitor in 1680X1050 works but has ghosting of the mouse, icons and window edges. I have an intel 945 Express chipset Have you any guidance on using external monitors.