32gb direct swap upgrade

I bought my Acer Aspire One from http://www.woot.com it had 512MB RAM and the 8GB Intel SSD w/Linux for $195 delivered.
I maxed out the memory at 1.5GB RAM right away.

I installed a 32GB MDSSD32MLC-Z SSD from http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com yesterday.

This MLC SSD drive is noticeably faster than the stock Intel 8GB SSD. The stated R/W specs are:
Sustain Read Speed up to 35MB/s
Sustain Write Speed up to 14MB/s
This appears to be enough kick (+7MB/s Sustain Write Speed over the Intel drive) to do a fresh install of XP and Office in a couple of hours.

I have not done any benchmarking yet, but the reduced time to install the OS and Office was noticeable. On the 8GB drive it took over 4 hours to load the machine with XP and Office 2003 with updates and patches. After the long load XP was barely usable on the 8GB Intel MLC SSD w/1.5GB RAM.

Running XP and office on the upgraded AAO w/ 1.5GB RAM and the new 32GB MLC SSD is about the same experience as a 1.xGHz Celeron notebook w/1GB RAM.
It is not fast, but not bad for what it is.

This machine with 1.5GB RAM and a larger and faster 32GB MLC SSD is perfect for meetings. It is very light compared to a 15” laptop and accessories.

If you connect remotely to your desktop this little laptop is a great tool.

I did get more than $99 worth of performance for the $99 upgrade.

If you don't need the speed and don't want to spring big $$ for a 40 pin ZIF SLC SDD I would suggest you consider this upgrade.

 

Is this an easy swap? no need for other cables etc?

 

If you use this exact model:
MDSSD32MLC-Z SSD from http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com
It is an easy swap.

The SSD has the same dimensions as the stock SSD. The screw holes all line up. It is an exact replacement as far as form factor.
The stock ZIF cable fits the MDSSD32MLC-Z SSD just like the stock SSD.

The most challenging part is getting the machine apart. There are great links here that describe that process.
For me the YouTube videos on disassembly really helped. The best are listed under “memory upgrade”.

After using the MDSSD32MLC-Z SSD for a few days I can say I am very happy with the performance.

 

I really consider buying it myself, but when importing it to norway it get expensive because of taxes etc

I'm guessing i'll wait untill i can buy from a norwegian store.

 

How does the write and read speeds compare to the Samsung 8GB that is standard on some AAO units? My AAO came with the Samsung 8GB SSD, and I really am needing to get rid of these hangs and pauses with XP Pro, SP3. I lo9ve Linux, but my job requires Windows XP, and the performance of the AAO, even with the faster Samsung SSD is just not acceptable.

I really need a reliable replacement that is relatively easy, quite reliable, and not to mention, of reasonable performance... something I'm sure we are all looking for.

It would seem that some intelligent manufacturer would capitalize on this much needed service, especially since the AAO 110 is so popular. Is it not out there already, and we have just not found it?

Are there any insights? Thanks, and let's wish us all luck!

~R.

 

I am not personally familiar with the Samsung 8GB drive.

You can check the Samsung 8GB SSD’s specifications by going into the BIOS and obtaining the drive model number. Enter that number in Google, or go direct to Samsung and look up the sustained read and sustained write speeds.

Take those numbers and compare them against the specs of the drive I used (which are in my original post) and you will get a pretty good idea of the differences in the two SSD units.
Hope this helps.

The second question seems to be answered by this thread. My Digital Discount.com has two exact replacement products for the AAO.
The price point seems to be the pain point.

They have the cheap $99 MLC upgrade which is faster than stock but still slow. They have a 16GB SLC solution that is faster but also cost $190. Who wants to deal with a 16GB drive with XP?

Companies smell money in the Aspire One upgrades. I hope we will see more upgrade options as memory prices drop.

Acer did make this hard by not providing reasonable access to vital components. Joe Blow will never be able to upgrade the memory or SSD on an AAO. You have to ask what Acer was thinking.

 

I am glad I waited to buy a new ssd, As I am sure you are aware Runcore and MDD teamed up to produces a cheap fast mlc ssd for the eee and dell mini. I just spoke to Doug over at MDD and he told me that they have sent the specs for a aao version over to runcore they are expecting a prototype by xmas which they will give to jkk to test. Then they will start selling them after christmas!!

 

runcore have just released new 1.8 inch zif ssds with 75/40 read write £69 for 16gb. MDD delivery first week of jan. Wonder if these fit in.

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/Catego ... h+ZIF+SSDs

 

if this is an accurate image then we could be in for a winner

http://conics.net/catalog/product_info. ... cts_id=361

 

I emailed Runcore about their new SSD specifically for Acer One, they said they are in their final testing phase, so, we ware likely to see their product out soon.

I am excited = )

 

So in the process of deciding whether to upgrade my SSD drive on my AAO, I decided that diskspace wasn't really an issue for me and my uses, but speed/performance would be. So reading posts on this forum, I was leaning towards getting the 32GB MyDigitalSSD MLC the other poster said he got. I noticed that many people were talking about how the drive that comes installed has extremely poor performance compared to most other SSD drives. Personally, I didn't think mine was that slow, but I'm always looking for faster. Before pulling the trigger, I decided to look up the specs on my drive to see a comparison. My drive's model number is SSDPAMM0008G1. Googling that led me to find that apparently there are two versions of these Intel drives. Ones ending in ....G1EA are extremely slow. But ones ending in just ....G1 like mine are not. So I am wondering if some of the users here who have reported poor performance might have one of the G1EA drives, and I got lucky with the G1....? Looking up Intel's specs for my drive, I found this link:
http://download.intel.com/design/flash/ ... 319955.pdf
That shows that my drive has a sustained read/write speed of 38/10 MB/s, whereas the G1EA only gets about 23/5.
As the MyDigitalSSD drive is spec'd to 35/14, which is a lower read, and higher write, is there really much of a point in getting it? Especially since for my use, I will be rarely writing (all temp files get written to ram). So, like I said, diskspace isn't an issue for me, since I'm not going to be storing much on this AAO. Am I correct in my assumption that some models have the slower drives and some, like mine, have the faster drives? And is it worth upgrading for me, and if so, are there more faster alternative options? Thanks!

 

So this 32 GB SSD is not an upgrade for you :
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=5175&start=40#p43953
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=5175&start=50#p43964
IRL, low-cost SSD are under their specs (6 MB/s instead 14 for that brand, and also for original samsung SSD)

Alternatives :
cheap (MLC)->
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=5175&start=60#p57848
expensive (but better : SLC) ->
http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=8580

 

Hey. I was looking at buying that drive, but I came up on this instead: http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD/ru ... 178925.jsp

It should be here in the mail on Wednesday. I'll let you guys know how the mod goes when I do it.

 

Hello,

I'm another little user looking for an upgrade in the standard A110 8gb SSD.
Basically I'm looking for something that fits inside the case, if it was of the same size of the old drive would be appreciated.
I've been following the forum a bit looking for clues and seems that something is finally moving, but I'm a bit confused.

The RunCore drives look amazing in specs, but have the problem of being 1.8 form factor. Are they really as good as they look on paper? Someone tested them yet in real life situations?

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD/ru ... 178925.jsp

I also found something from SuperTalent, the only drive i saw in a long time that looks a bit like the aspire one original one and faster

http://www.supertalent.com/products/ssd ... 0ZIF%20IDE

But did not find any trace of it in any shop yet... Anyone has clues?

Last but not least. Did i get it wrong or the RunCore drives are gonna be made in A110 form factor too? any news on that front?

Thanks for your help

 

the drive doesn't work... MDD said that it only works with the HP mini 1000... but that's a lie too.. Anyhow, I just use it as a expensive external HDD now.. Don't waste your money on this drive... You're better off going to compact flash route...