Click to see the video
Toshiba HDD I used
CF card adapter I tested
UPDATE: 8mm drive would work only if you cut the inner bottom away:
UPDATE: as you can read from the comments, some 901s don't have the connector anymore... solution coming soon..
Details, News and Links for Asus Eee PC 901
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
How to add more storage to Asus Eee PC 901
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101 comments:
Cooool JKK!!
I will have to reconsider the Aspire One versus the EEE 901 now once again ;-) Do yo have any idea if the Aspire can also be modded with a 1.8" HD drive?
The hdd won't overheat right? have you tested it
The aspire can even handle a 2,5" drive... you can get it with 8gb flash or 120gb hdd.
Hi, yes, but if you get the 8 GB SSD version isn't it soldered and is there any space and connectors in that version for the 2,5" drive?
Hi again - OK, I see that the Aspire One SSD drive is a "1.8" Intel Z-P230 PATA (SSDPAMM0008G1ES)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspire_One) so at least that should be replaceable with another 1.8" HDD if not a 2.5" drive.
thanks jkk that was simple and easy, i realy mean it thanks for the video.also the first touchscreen video was cool but if you would be so kind to make another video, slow and simple modding a 901 touchscreen i think we all will cast our vote for you to win the first ever 2008 Eee Oscar award. again thanks!
Looks like you can plug SDD and HDD simultaneously, one over one. JKK, don't you try to do so? And thank you for the cool vids.
Can this also be done on the 900??
can you also do this on the 900??
I tried to use all same time ( 4GB/8GB and zif HDD ) but it didn't work...
This wont work on 900 ( no room or connector )
It looks like you could add HDD to Acer SSD version too, but I don't have any confirmation yet.
Problem with room around the HDD i solved with some thicker cable tie. I cut pieces which fit perfect around the drive :-)
JKK, will a cf adaptor without a ribbon cable work? if not where do you get one that will work?
JKK,
bigger (80GB or 120GB) toshiba hard disk instead of 30GB HD possible/compatible?
possible to have multi-boot? like Xandros in the 4GB SSD, win XP and VISTA on two different partitions on the Hard Disk.
TIA
Bigger drives mostly are 8mm drives. 901 only supports 5mm drives.
Multiboot is possible, yes.
largest capacity 5mm drives i believe is 40Gig.
I remember seeing 60 and 80gb too..
here is one 80GB
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mk8022gaa
.. and yes, multi boot works fine.
I have XP on 4GB SSD and Vista on the HDD now.
Jkk couldn't you just install the MBR on the compact flash card but leave the operating system on the SSD drive?
Looks like if you removed that portion of the case you could fit a 8mm drive in? I haven't received my 901 yet so I can't measure, but if the 8mm drives are only 3mm thicker than the 5mm drives and if you remove that portion of the case(about half the size of the HDD) one would fit in.
could some one post a link to a hard drive that will fit? some one posted only 5mm would fit, also in the video it looks like ZIF conector, so 5mm with ZIF conector hd, link any one?
30GB 5mm HDD mk3008gal
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mk3008gal
80GB 5mm HDD mk8022gaa
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mk8022gaa
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/HardDriveReplacement#1_8_Drive_Comparison
Hi JKK,
Thanks for all the work you're doing, are you also planning on adding the touchscreen to the 901?
Regards, Martijn
Please note, as far as I remember the extension of GAA is 8mm thick while GAL is 5mm which should be perfect fit on 901. Not sure if the new version of GAAs are now 5mm.
rgds
120 gb on 5mm
120gb on 5mm
http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23_504_1803&products_id=13931
(the link was forgotten) ;)
where can someone get the right cable for these hdd's i can't seem to find one. Well whatever the correct one is. Lol
I don't undertsand (my English is very low)
Are you tell, that Asus can't boot from, CF with adapter...??
Becouse I want instal Vista on CF 32GB, becouse on 4GB can be impossible...
The Toshiba MK6028GAL 2MB 60GB seems like a good candidate too.
cables:
http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=zif+cable&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=zif+cable
You can boot from CF adapter.
Jkk, in the bottom left hand corner of the EEE, is that the bluetooth module?
nope, bt is upper side of the mobo.. left from mousepad:
http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2008/06/asus-eee-901-fully-dissected-future.html
Updated with new picture to see if 8mm would fit...
Wow, jkk, that was GREAT! Alas, the prices here in the US seem to be not so great now:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/ouch-jr-news-about-asus-and-msi-wind/
However, it looks like the 900 might be getting a big price drop.
Oh... remember that some of the those new Toshiba 1.8" ZIF HD for Apple Ipod is only 3600 rpm! I think the MK4009GAL is 30GB 5mm and 4200 rpm.
rgds
Quick question; does this kind of operation void the warranty of the device? Well, if you don't use a cutter to make some extra space like JKK did.
dunno about the warranty... I would not send it with hdd to repair shop..
Oh, let me rephrase that. If you reverse the operation, would someone be able to see that you've opened that case?
Nope, none could see it.
The necessary cable is called FFC-cable and should have 40pins (20 pins each side).
Find the specifications at http://www.storage.toshiba.eu/index_manual.php?pid=54&sid=15&la=en
I ordered 10 pieces with a length of 5cm each for $4 from a Chinese eBay-seller, since I couldn't find that short FFC-cables in Germany:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250262111241
1.8" HDDs with a height of 5mm are available as follows:
brand new Toshiba MK4009GAL (40GB) from German eBay seller for € 42.80:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110270820879
brand new Toshiba MK4009GAL (40GB) from American eBay seller (shipping within USA only) for $60:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=350079016656
price comparison of European online sellers for thin Toshiba 1.8" HDDs:
http://geizhals.at/deutschland/?fs=toshiba+gal&in=&x=26&y=8
Important:
MK4009GAL hasn´t a ZIF connection - it is a LIF connection - so don´t buy it for 901!
Can the SSD be put back in once the HDD has been installed? I ask because it looks to me like you only removed it to gain access to the ZIF connector.
greetings from sydney, oz JKK
thanks for making the video!!!!!
i've installed a 40gb hdd into my 901, thanks to you
do you think you could get the SSD as well as a hdd to work at the same time?
love your work :)
"MK4009GAL hasn´t a ZIF connection - it is a LIF connection - so don´t buy it for 901!"
JKK says, he has used a Toshiba MK3008GAL, which according to this page has a LIF-connnector, too:
http://www.sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/1.8-inchHardDiskDrives/MK3008GAL
Further I couldn't find any 5mm-high 1.8" HDD with ZIF-connector.
You get either 8mm-high ZIF-HDDs or 5mm-high LIF-HDDs, so the EeePC must have a LIF-connector.
@JKK
Could you definitley clear up the confusion about ZIF, LIF and the required HDDs? Thank you!
Eee901 has a ZIF connector
After some research I came to the conclusion that LIF and ZIF are compatible sockets for the very same "FFC/FPC"-cables (Flat Flexible Cable) / Flexible Printed Circuit). The difference is only in the mechanism of the socket itself, however the same cable is used. (see http://www.ggi-international.com/en/products/membrane/connectors/zif.php)
Another clue for the compatibility of LIF and ZIF is the following detailled product specification of a LIF/ZIF-to-IDE adaptor, which comes with only one FFC-cable but is compatbile with all Toshiba drives ("GAL"-models with LIF-connectors and "GAH"-models with ZIF-connectors):
http://www.esdci36.de/Produkte/Anschlussadapter/HDD-1.8-REV1/ADA-HDD-1.8-ZIF-IDE44.pdf
I will report again, after I've received my EeePC 901 and a Toshiba MK4009GAL HDD next week.
If anyone succeeds in cramming an 8mm drive in, please post. The 5mm versions are lower capacity and more $/GB than 8mm versions, as the capacities increase.
Where to get those rubber holders for 1.8 inch Harddisks?
Sorry für the double Post.
Are there different types of zif-cables? If yes, what kind of cable do I need for the zif connector?
A rumor is telling me that ASUS is removing the ZIF-connector on new motherboards on the 901?! Is this just a rumor or can someone confirm?
JKK could you tell me if it's possible to replace the 4 GB SDD with the 8 GB SDD (Provided with windows edition) and then place a toshiba MK4009GAL 40 gb drive ? one more question also... the ZIF is the same with LIF? tnx.
Because the ZIF connector is missing from the newest and, most probably, the future 901 batches, I got tired of waiting for the 20G model to be released in Europe. I bought 701 4G instead. It fulfils my current needs as a toy and as a mobile surf board.
jkk the zif to zif cable came with the hdd??
you can't put 8GB to internal 4GB slot as it's smaller ( 4GB about 20mm shorter )
I got the cables with the cf adapter from eBay
@EpoXXy I confirm. I finally got the 901 in romania and when i open the backcover i had a surprise... no zif connector... so i'll have to buy a 16 gb sd card cause the internal memory is to small for me.
How much does this affect the battery life?
Excellent work JKK.
Is there information on the Model\Part numbers of the 901s that still support the ZIF connector HDDs. In other words is there any way of telling which ones can be upgraded with a 1.8" HDD without having to open them?
Many Thanks.
JKK - Two thumbs up! really appreciate your efforts.
@EpoXXy I confirm too, I ordert the Eee PC 901 from UK an I got no zif Connector!!!!
--------has no ZIF Connector------
Asus Eee PC with windows XP:
ID: EEEPC901-W007X
VN: 1822
--------has no ZIF Connector------
yeah mine doesn't have one either.
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=38800&p=1
it would be good if there were another way then soldering.
JKK dou you have any solution for zif Connector
Thank you for your patient
Mary
Here also: a german 901. no zif connector...
Brand new French 901 bought... big aluminium type cover hiding what should be zif connector. ARghhhh! Please help us on a solution asap !
thx
JKK from Madrid We need your no zif connector solution, I need to boot from a disk with more space and the ziF solution is ideal for us
Best Regards
I have just installed a Hitachi 1.8" 30 GB hard disk in my Eeepc 901, but now the bios can't find the internal 4 gb ssd as a "IDE slave" (it returns : IDE Slave: not detected).
What could I do????????????
Hi JKKMOBILE!
I bought a MK3008GAL for my Asus Eeepc 901. I have retired the Asus PHISON 16GB and I have conected the Toshiba HD, but the eeepc don't turn on. If I retired the Toshiba HD, the asus eeepc turn on. Why?
Thanks!
Hello,
I’ just bought a Swiss EEE 901 and unfortunately, the Ziff connector is not anymore present on the system board.
The place is there put the connector is not soldered!
So adding a HDD will just start to be a little more complicated since I will have to solder the connector first!
Olivier
Hello,
I have bought à french 901 ZIF-less.
Anyone know a solution to connect an HD without
soldering.
Thanks
Robert
Please JKK you said "some 901s don't have the connector anymore... solution coming soon.."
help us
Maria
hi jkk...
bought a little time my eeepc 901 and saw some of your upgrades ... I also wanted to install an IDE 2.5 in my eeepc but noticed that my pc is not like your ... I bought the Linux version and I do not know why but not brought the plug to connect the IDE as this ... what should I do?
I await an answer ...
if you want photos can strip them to see how my eeepc
compliments.
Just got my self a 901 at the same time got myself a zif hard disk!! Sadly on my new 901 NO!!!! Zif connector!!!! any other ideas? can connect my drive via usb some how????
A usb hub????
Please HELP!!!!!
Neil
To answer a often asked question ZIF is not LIF compatible. I asked the Toshiba Hotline because I had the ZIF / LIF problem too. The LIF connector is thiner than the ZIF connector.
Any way to move system folders to an 8gb SD card so the C drive doesnt run out of space so quickly?
hey jkk. can you clarify this for me. can i use an 8GB (or larger) SLC ssd from mydigitalssd along with a ZIF hard drive? would that require me to physical removing the 4GB internal SSD to make it work?
Thanks and keep up the outstanding work!
THANK YOU JKK.I have a ZIF port in my 901 and I have just bought a 5mm, 1.8 inch HDD from Ebay and a ZIF cable. Hopefully it will work, as soon as it arrives I will install it. Thank you in advance, even if it doesn't work you are an extreme asset to the computer modifying world. Thank you from RAQ
Any word yet on the solution for the ZIF-less 901's? Tnx!
I tried to fit a Seagate Lyrion ST730212DE but couldnt get the cable into the hd's zif socket help:
240GB 1.8" HDD!!!
Toshiba introduced new, larger 1.8" hard disks last week, both of which could find use in PMPs, UMPCs, and camcorders. The two new drives are 120GB and 240GB (single-platter and dual-platter, respectively), spin at 4200rpm, and measure 2.12"x2.79"x0.31." The smaller, 120GB drive weighs in at just 48g, while the 240GB drive is 58g; pricing has yet to be announced.
Is there a trick to inserting the cable into the drive? It doesn't seem to want to go in easily and I am afraid to apply too much force.
Hi,
Thanks for the video.....BUT,
I`ve installed windows on this toshiba 30gb drive and now my audio stutters everytime I watch a youtube video through wifi or if I do something that has audio, it stutters a lot.I`m not sure if its a hard drive issue (slow access times), but this weren`t happening before with the SSD present.Anyone has this issue?
....all is well!Disregard my previous post.It was a problem with the DMA of the hard drive due to cloning the device (from SSD to HD).A reinstall on the chipset drivers and a reset of the DMA fixed it.Wow, as fast as an SSD drive, maybe a little bit faster.I can now hibernate the device as well (before lack of space on C: drive)
Thank you for this!
Hi,
I tried install a toshiba 5mm HDD in my Eee, but when I tried to turn on, the blue light came on for a second then turned off before reaching BIOS/POST, then wouldn't turn on again.
I removed the HDD, and reinstalled the SSD, and it powered up fine and booted into my current OS.
Obviously, I am doing something wrong in the install, but I'm not sure what.
I have a ZIF/LIF cable with a blue end, and white end, and plugged blue end into mobo connector with blue facing outwards, and white end into HDD with white side facing labelled side of Toshiba hard disk.
Could you please help???
Thanks,
Jessica
Hello!
I've just saw your video at you tube, about add another driver inside asus 901. There is a nice video, but im thinking to put 2 SSD, leave the original one, and put another. can i do this?? or 901 works with only 1 SSD??
thx for answer!
I can't find any lif to zif cables. Where can I find one of these?
any news for the 901s that does not have the ZIF connector? solutions?
thanx!
Any news about the minipcie to zif adapter?
i see some comments were deleted.
so any news on it or are we blowing bubbles?
Wow Thanks! I was about to buy another hard drive for my EEE 901 (32gb for $99.99) When I noticed that MK8022GAA TOSHIBA was 80gb hard drive space for only $60!
Thank you again
E.E.
!!!!!!Pay real close attention to the zif cable!For the past 6 months I was trying to solve a clicking sound that was coming from my 1.8 toshiba ( the hard drive was spinning down and up again).Some other times the asus could not detect the hard drive, just like that! out of the blue.....it turns out to be the zif cable leads touching the body of the hard drive!!!Can you believe this?If the leads are too long cut a little bit from the zif cable so that you don`t short the connection with the body of the hard drive!!!!!
!!!!!PAY REALLY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE ZIF CABLE!!!! mine was touching the body of the hard drive shorting my connection leading to intermitting problems ( hard disk was spinning down out of the blue, not recognized in the bios....and so on).Cut a little piece from the tip of the cable so that the leads don`t touch the body of the hard drive.
jkk, how do you manage to run XP at just over 2GB? I install XP on the 4gb SSD and it runs at about 3.2gb, I have very little space left. Can I do something to prevent this?
could one use any zif 1.8" harddrive on the eee?
I mean not only the toshiba but also the samsung or hitachi 1.8" hd's with zif connector!
thank you .
hello jkk,
I found some toshiba 1.8 hdd's and the mini pci to zif adapter.
some of ebayers suggest to take out the other ssd because otherwise it won't work . is this true.?
Hello..
So if i solder ZIF connector and i use that hard drive: http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7834 would i remove 4gb SSD or can i use it on same time?
Thanks allready!
U should disable the internal one from bios.
Can someone please help me!
I bought the mini-pciE connector & a 1.8inch 8mm HDD Toshiba MK1214GAH for my 901, however the bios is not detecting it. I can hear it powering ON but nothing more...I made sure to isolate the contacts from being touched to the main hdd case...hope there's a solution :/ Am I missing something??
Thanks for your help in advance.
further to my comment i noticed that jkk's bios was version 0304 ?!? I had the latest bios provided by asus and the 4Gb SSD is being detected as a Secondary Master..any help please?? :S
Do you know if one can change the master to a slave and the SSD to the Master?
The 4 gig on board is a little small.
What I would like to do is Turn my 64 gig SSD into the master and then start the recovery Disk ,so that windows is rather installed on the SSD instead of on the on board.
Ingo
Hi JKK,
Just watched this Eeepc 901 vedio clips from youtube, i got 1 question that you may help.
Q:i found one 1.8'' HHD (Hitachi travelstar 30GB)to replace the 2nd 8GB SSD (like what you show)and once the 1.8 HHD works the 4GB SSD(The primary SSD) gone. And nowhere i can bring it back(even update the bios), bios said ''not connected''.
Do you think i did somethig wrong?
And how can i bring it back?
Thanks
Eric
Windows always likes to be installed on the first disk. So if you want to
install Windows XP (or even Vista) to the first disk and a Linux distro on
the second disk, you should be OK.
But if the Eee PC 901 uses the same SSD modules as the Eee PC 900, then
those second disks may not be as fast as the primary disk, making them less
than optimal for dual boot systems.
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