Upgrading the single SSD of an Asus eeePC 901 16G

@14/02/2010 VGR

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Table of Contents

  1. Purpose
  2. Selected Hardware
  3. Official Documentation
  4. What should I do ?
  5. Tests
  6. Conclusion
Here it is, at last : the article on how to change this eeePC for an other one, more powerful and even less expensive ;-)
It's a 1015PX if you want to know. Upgraded for an SSD (415 MB/S) and better RAM.
Because of an unrecoverable UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME critical (blue screen of death) Windows error.

1. Purpose top next section

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Le problème :

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Purpose :
Asus' eeePC 901 once came with two SSD : one of 4 GB and one of 12GB. Now, my one-year old model [NB this was written on 14/02/2010] is a 16G with a single (and faster) 16 GB SSD.
I now want to upgrade it to 64GB. The eeePC 901 was the last version (before the 1000H) which was offered with Windows OR linux (I took Windows because of external constraints) and it is also the last one below 1 kg weight, which was my main criterion.
Moreover, the 901 had enhanced batteries which offer 10h autonomy (7h30 when working, 6h30 when consuming a lot of power)
With its 9" screen (1024x600), it is the perfect netbook. I use it all day long, of course connected to a large secondary display and a true keyboard when in the office ;-)
Also, it has SSD disks while newer models re-use basic hard drives, wich is an heresy for a lighweight netbook. The transition period of having to choose between first-generation SSD of 16GB maximum and deprecated 160GB hard drives is over : now you can find 128GB SSD and they're FAST.

With its dual-core(1) Atom 270 @ 1,6GHz, it's powerful enough for my day-to-day work (databases of dozens of millions rows, a webserver...)

(1) 08/10/2011 remark : the Atom N270 is NOT a dual-core CPU, but it smells like it is : it has Hyperthreading. So it's a single-core, 2 threads CPU ; in the process manager it looks as if you had 2 cores, and upon useage it also behaves exactly like that. My newer machine has a dual-core, 4 threads CPU (N570) which behaves as if you had 4 cores...

2. Selected Hardware top previous next section

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One word about the old model (4GB+12GB) : you simply can't upgrade the main 4GB SSD because if you pass it to 8GB then it won't recognize the second SSD.
Moreover, to access the 4GB SSD you've to open completely the eeePC (15 screws, dismantle the keyboard because they're below the keyboard, etc). The 4GB is not soldered but it's a pain in the neck replacing it. Note that there is a PCIe3 expansion place (but no connector) on the mobo.

Upgrading the 12GB SSD on that old model is recommended, as it is very slow (Phison SSD). It's no longer the case with my 16GB SSD model ("Asus-JM S41 SSD"). It already has 50 MB/s R, 31 MB/s W speeds (the 701 4GB SSD was at 22 MB/s R and a fast 7200rpm hard disk is at 55 MB/s, while the first eeePC 900 4GB SSD was inherited from the 700 model and was measured at 31 MB/s R, 13 MB/s W speeds).
The process on a 4GB+12GB is very well discussed here and there


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Now to the beef : the problem with my model is that it comes with a single 16 GB SSD. If it had 4GB+12GB, I could just have upgraded the 12GB to 64GB with no hassle.

For the SSD upgrade, I chose the most compatible and most performant-for-price model available (so, not a 128GB) : the 64G Sabertooth from Active Media Products. This device has excellent Read/Write speeds (155 MB/s and 100MB/s) and I could buy it (thanks to the euro/dollar rate ;-) at 165 €

About the various possibilities that I explored :


The Sabertooth should bring some more power to my nice eeePC ;-)

Also, note that I already had upgraded the RAM to 2GB and it was night and day compared to the stock 1GB RAM. Finding and mounting a new RAM is very easy.

3. Official Documentation top previous next section

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The official documentation says nothing about upgrading the machine, as usual.
This said, there is an addendum to the user guide which states that the "boot booster" must be taken off when upgrading the hardware. So be it.
Also, browsing through the user manual brings to your attention the section about "system restoration" : the companion DVD comes in with a factory configuration of Windows.

4. What should I do ? top previous next section

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First, update your BIOS (the Asus nice updating program isn't running in the background).
Then, back up your data. My single 16GB SSD is partitioned in C: and D: and it is containing the OS and all my installed programs and data.
The drawback of having a single 16 GB SSD is that I've to take care the system is reinstalled "as is" on the new 64GB SSD, but the good point is that if things go wrong, I should be able to put back in place the old 16GB SSD and voila it would work again.

I want to upgrade as fast as possible and lose the minimum of time reinstalling stuff, the optimum being no time lost reinstalling any thing.
That's why I of course copied over the C: and D: files to a network share, but also used a disk imaging software to restore the partitions "as are".
After a bit of googling, I chose to give a try to Macrium's Reflect, in its free version. It was claiming to be able to restore the partitions' images to bigger partitions.
It is able to generate a bootable CD containing the restoration program, called the "rescue CD". Choose the linux (kernel 2.6) version because the BartPE one is impossible to make if you don't have a C:/i386 directory with Windows installation files, which is the case on the eeePC (coming preinstalled).
I copied the partitions' images to an USB key (a 8GB key).
As the eeePC has a BIOS enabling to boot from USB devices, it should be ok booting from my external optical drive.
Having (1) the burnt restoration "rescue CD" in its USB optical disk drive, and (2) the partitions images on the USB key, I hope to be able to simply substitute the SSD devices, boot on the CD, restore partitions from the USB key, and voila. If it breaks, then I've (3) the Asus provided restoration disk or I can at least (4) reinstall the 16GB SSD.
Let's now see if this is possible ;-)

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x First, boot up the machine and go to the BIOS (press F2 to go to the AMI Bios)
Then, in my updated BIOS, there is no "Boot Booster" option in the "Boot" BIOS menu... I supposed this was the "quick boot" option.
While you're at it, make sure the "boot device order" is set to be first the optical disk drive, then an other USB device, then only the "HDD" (The "HDD" is the SSD).
Then shut down the machine, put it upside down (it's easier if you unplug the external DVD drive and the USB keys ;-), pull off the battery, and open the two screws that give access to the "user-accessible expansion bay"
x

x Unscrew the 16GB SSD, it then pops slightly up for an easy removal. Replace with the new 64GB SSD. Screw back. This is really easy.
Old 16GB SSD, new 64GB SSD :
x x


Put the battery back in place ;-) and re-plug the external DVD drive and the USB key containing the partitions images in.
x I then booted up the little monster to enter the BIOS setup again (F2 eugaine).
The new SSD was recognized in the BIOS with no problem at all.
x

The optical drive was of course set to boot first, and the Reflect software behaved as expected : it offered me all the USB devices, x including the key with the partitions images, x enabled me to restore the C: (system) partition x and resize the created partition (because the 64GB SSD comes in unpartitioned, at 64GB size ;-)x
I don't know if I'll need to run Partition Magic afterwards, but this smells good so far.
The restoration of the 4.9 GB C: (system) partition took 5 minutes, the same time it took to back up ;-)x
Theoretically, I should have now C: with a bit less than 6 GB size (I was unable to select exactly 6GB size in the "rescue disk" program) and a lot of unallocated space ;-)
I'm only left now with restoring the D: (data and programs) 10 GB partition.
The rescue CD still running (do "back", as indicated) I was able to select the D: partition image, x restore it to the unallocated space on the 64 GB SSD, expanding it to 54 090 MB in the process, x and I'm now ready just to reboot and enjoy the upgrade ;-)






Well, there's nothing more to say than "it works"...
x
I now have a nice 64GB SSD replacing the stock 16GB SSD. I had some room left, now I've plenty ;-)
x
I'll measure now if the R/W speeds are keeping their promises.

5. Tests top previous next section

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Performances :

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Performances :

This implies a gain in Write speed of about 57%, in Read speed of about 59%.

NB : note that the Sabertooth SSD was sold as 155R/100W MB/s guaranteed speeds and that I'm feeling a bit lured by our US friends :/

Performance MySql (CPU & Disk) :

This implies a "computation useful" gain of 22% just for the disk I/O part of the mysql executables for server and client (no database tables used).

The gain should be enormous on real disk I/O for queries, dumps to disk (INTO OUTFILE...), large TEMPORARY tables and the like. I will post a sequel after having done some measurements...

9. Conclusion top previous section

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Very easy upgrading process thanks to the Reflect backup/image/restore software from Macrium. It really saved my day.
I tried for days (pulling my hair) to plan for disaster recovery means, preparing for the worst (as usual with Windows), and finally was able to restore my original settings in 10 minutes ;-)

Also, good hardware with the Sabertooth 64G, even if the real R/W speeds are not the ones written on the box... Very good value for money indeed.

Rendez-vous dans 2 years for installing the forthcoming 1 TB SSD ;-)

Hope This Helps

Vincent Graux (VGR) for European Experts Exchange and Experts Round Table and Edaìn Works  back to list of articles
Last update 2021-03-15 14:17:54