Replacing the SSD with a 1.8″ PATA Drive
While the SSD in the Acer Aspire One has very fast read times, it suffers from very slow write times and many of the tweaks that you have to make when installing Windows XP is to reduce the amount that the operating system is writing to the drive. The AAO’s that come shipped with XP have 120GB HD’s that don’t suffer from these slow writing times. While there are many ways to speed up Windows XP on the Acer Aspire one, it may be better to just replace the SSD with an HD if write times become a problem.
This hack, like the Acer Aspire One bluetooth mod, comes from the netbook hacker Tnkgrl. Instead of using the standard 2.5″ laptop drive that most netbooks use, she’s found that a 1.8″ PATA HD, like those found in an iPod or Zune will plug directly into the connector used for the SSD. It requires almost no fabrication to fit, and the BIOS auomatically detects the drive. eBay is filled with used 20GB and larger drives in this format, so this modification can be relatively cheap to perform.
Here is a link to the site, which includes video with step-by-step instructions.
http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hard-drive/
Category: Modifications, SSD
January 31st, 2009 at 12:08 pm
What PATA SSD drives would work in the ACER ONE?
February 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am
AspireOne has a “special” cable- Most 1.8″ drives use a flat ZIF cable and the Aspire got a TIF socket for the PATA cable- (they are almost the same but the TIF is not as thick as the ZIF)
All Toshiba 1.8″ drives have a TIF socket… but i dont think the cable is supplied
On other sites I have seen ppl buying the cables on E-bay
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I have one toshiba 1.8 hdd , i cannot connect to the aao the zif cable is to tick less than 0.35mm , can anyone precise what is the tickeness for the cable of toshiba hdd
March 31st, 2009 at 5:31 pm
@whiterabit: You’re right, the ZIF cable is too thick for most of 1.8” hard disks available. The option I followed was to sand slightly one of the edges, with a very fine-grained sandpaper. Be very careful because wire is too weak, and you could easily damage the contacts. I was looking for a thicker ZIF wire, but I didn’t found one :-S
April 24th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
they have a lesbian chick that replaced her ssd with a 1.8 zif harddrive.it was on youtube her name was tnk girl or something like that.if you have trouble finding her Just write me and I will send her page. to luke3rd@yahoo.com
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
HI THERE I WOULD HAVE GONE WITH A DIGITAL WESTERN 10,000 VOLOCI-RAPTOR OR SEAGATE 15,000 RPM CHEETA HARD DRIVES OR GONE WITH A 1.8 INCH 128 GB SSD