Aspire One modding continues: swapping SSD for capacious HDD

Oh sure, you're pretty 1337 if you can say you've got an SSD within your laptop, but if you've a need to store more than, say, 8GB of files, a bit more room may be desired. tnkgrl's Aspire One mods began earlier this week with the addition of Bluetooth and extra RAM, and today she's showing the world how to swap the built-in SSD with a 1.8-inch 60GB PATA drive. As expected, this one's remarkably easy to complete once you've torn the thing open, but she also explains how to best put it all back together once you're done. But you're not, because she'll be producing a how-to for adding internal 3G in the coming days / weeks.

[Rob @ Aug 16th 2008 4:27PM]

Why not just buy the model that comes with a hard drive?

[who? @ Aug 16th 2008 4:35PM]

Bah! Then they wouldn't be on Engadget!

[I Like Pie. @ Aug 16th 2008 5:00PM]

Becaus they wanted attention.

P.S. I like Pie.

[Sam Stone @ Aug 16th 2008 5:06PM]

"Man Buys Aspire One HDD Model"

Hmmmm...

Nah, your right, It doesn't have the same ring to it...

Great mod though :D

[AlphaTeam @ Aug 16th 2008 5:44PM]

Because modding is k00l

[tnkgrl @ Aug 16th 2008 10:57PM]

Because the hard drive version of teh Aspire One uses at 2.5" SATA drive that makes the computer heavier, thicker (the casing is different), and more power hungry.

[Syntax Error @ Aug 16th 2008 4:33PM]

IDE? Ew.

[Christian Martin @ Aug 16th 2008 4:47PM]

So after all this modding, will TSO's recognize the inside of my computer or will I have to remove it from my bag?

[Eddie @ Aug 17th 2008 12:51PM]

Welcome to Guantanamo, may I take your coat?

[ALPHONSE @ Aug 16th 2008 4:57PM]

It is ZIF 1.8" Hard Drive... ZIF!
Hitachi and Toshiba have some modes on ZIF.


IDE? It doomed by Hitachi for a while ago...

[Kspraydad @ Aug 16th 2008 6:04PM]

Oh...new comment system....very nice.

If a mod is accomplished at less than the price that you can buy it yourself at...cool.

This however, seems to be a more expensive route to HDD bliss.

BTW...coming soon Acer Ones will have 3G and WiMax all in.

I like pie too.

[tnkgrl @ Aug 16th 2008 11:05PM]

I already had the 1.8" PATA hard drive floating around, and the ready-made hard drive version of the Aspire One is heavier and thicker than my modded beast (see my comment above).

[AndrewAmazed @ Aug 16th 2008 10:22PM]

funkyness

[Michael Rose @ Aug 17th 2008 12:20AM]

Why is it that blatantly offensive and cruel comments that would be COMPLETELY inappropriate if they referred to a person's religion or racial background are "just par for the course" on tech blogs if they are talking about women? Or more specifically, gay women?

I'm embarrassed for my gender. Please, guys, grow the hell up.

[Michael Rose @ Aug 17th 2008 12:31AM]

*sigh* I think my first version of this comment got eaten.

Why, why, WHY must we do this? Is it necessary to make snide and derogatory comments about women in technology? Do we have to talk about how they look, who they sleep with, whether they are ILFs? Must we REALLY do this?

The kind of comments that get made about women (especially gay women) are stomach-turning. If this sort of offensive dialogue were aimed at religious or racial differences, it'd be completely inappropriate -- so why is this tolerated?

I just don't get it.

[bot @ Aug 17th 2008 1:00AM]

Very informative. Is the memory slot capped at 1GB, or could 2GB fit in there? It's a drag that the HDD model just has that extra 512MB in the slot instead of 1GB soldered on. The more I learn about this system the more I am intrigued but I really wanted my netbook to have ~20GB of decent SSD space. I wonder if the HDD version's motherboard is any different, like with that missing PCI-e connector or something.

[Manu @ Aug 17th 2008 11:30AM]

Pff. I'm now typing this comment on my new Acer One with a 500gig disc. Just replaced the original sata120 gig by a 500 gig disc. The machine is performing amazingly good with windows xp when I compare it to the poor performance I had with my previous flash based Asus One.

[Niz @ Aug 17th 2008 12:25PM]

Only good thing i can possibly guess is that its cheaper to buy a SSD with the laptop refit it with the normal HD, then sell the SSD making the laptop an overall cheaper purchase. Anyone know the prices to see if this is true?

[Mile @ Aug 17th 2008 5:56PM]

@michael rose

It just is, that's why.

[Hung @ Aug 18th 2008 2:22AM]

OP here. Can we get this thread deleted? It turned out worse than I imagined.

I heard tnkgrl and imagined a prissy scene chick with an SSD in her manicured hands. Then I realized that this wasn't a situation from bizarro world and that tnkgrl is just a regular chick who has mad modding skills.

BUT NO, YOU SUPERFICIAL ASSHOLES HAD TO BE DICKS. Why don't you go figure how to put cool shit in your laptop all by your lonesome? I'll stick with tnkgrl.

Again, mucho gracias to Myriam for the mods and tutorials.

[Me @ Aug 18th 2008 6:09PM]

Mike,

What "women" are you referring to?

It says "boi-grrl-thing":
http://profiles.friendster.com/tnkgrl#moreabout

[tnkgrl @ Aug 18th 2008 7:29PM]

Apparently you fail to understand nuance. So let me explain things in a language you understand. Not all women want to look like barbie, just like not all men want to look like Ken. As a result there are all kinds of women and men and others in the world, all shapes and sizes, with different looks and interests, that don't fit into neat little boxes...

I just happen to be a girl who likes hacking, who likes power tools, who likes tatoos and piercings and mohawks and combat boots. Deal with it!

[Max @ Aug 18th 2008 10:43PM]

Where did I say something about looks? [confused]

[ShadowKain @ Aug 18th 2008 11:27PM]

What the HELL is the point of this? A PATA DRIVE? So what if you hooked an ancient drive up to a SSD fuled system. Bah

[tnkgrl @ Aug 19th 2008 5:32PM]

The SSD used in the Aspire One is super slow. It's a ATA/66 UDMA 4 device. Read up about it. The 1.8" PATA hard drive I replaced it with is an ATA/100 UDMA 5 device. It's significantly faster, provides more stotage, yet remains extremely small, light, power efficient and shock resistant (500 g operating). It's the same model hard drive used in some iPods and in the MacBook Air (but 60 GB instead of 80 GB). Sure, it's not as fast as a 2.5" PATA/133 or SATA 1 drive, but it's totally adequate for a netbook, whereas the SSD was super slow.

[Greg @ Aug 24th 2008 2:00AM]

Thanks for the great info on swapping out drives in the Aspire one. But I do have a few questions. Will a 2.5" SATA SSD fit into the Aspire one? I thought the SSD was supposed to be faster than HDD. Is this not true? Do I have to put a PATA SSD in the Aspire one or can I put the SATA in. I am very new to all of this (Netbook technology) so I am still learning. I love the Aspire one and with the upgrades I will have a very mobile computer.

[gotwake424 @ Sep 4th 2008 4:18PM]

wait u said it was the same hd that they use in the ipod, well i happen to have an 80g video with a broken screen sitting around will that work?
only thing im worried about is if i would be able to reformat it once its in. So the max ram you can put is in 1.5g? Cause the 8g ssd version, witch im getting has 512 solder onto the board, and an empty slot? correct me if im wrong. Someone wanna link me to the correct ram to use in this>not sure what speed it should be running at :) thnaks

Gotwake424

[Javier @ Sep 5th 2008 11:06PM]

Hola. I just installed a Toshiba mk8022gaa 80gb zif drive instead SDD, the disk is recognized by the bios but I can't install any of Windows or Linux OS's.I've been reading a lot and it seems to be something called AHCI, and that can't be enabled in aspire one. So, I'm lost, I'd try everything, from MS-DOS, ubuntu, linpus, BartPE, but I'm a little tired and I don't know what else to do.

Please if somebody knows something about installing, I'll appreciate a lot.

Thank's

[CHC @ Sep 5th 2008 9:29AM]

Your ipod video hdd should work fine. 1.5GB is the max (512MB on-board + 1GB in the slot). According to Acer's website, it takes DDR2 533MHz (PC4200). Here's a link to newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=533+ddr2+sodimm

-Cedar Hill Computers