[NCLivingBrit]

I'm wanting to upgrade the SSD in my just-acquired used Mini 9. I have a Newegg balance and as this is their only PATA SSD I was wondering if it was:

a) compatible with the Mini 9?

b) any good?

Newegg.com - RiDATA REPC32GBSSDSM 32GB Mini PCIe (PATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I will probably be doing a clean XP install on this from an external optical drive or thumb drive, so I don't really care if it's going to be easy to ghost over my (the previous owners) current install.

Sorry if this is a duplicate question, I did search the forum and didn't find it posted previously.

[reflex]

Welcome to the forums.

I think the Asus Eee PATA mini PCIe SSDs can work, but they're too long. So, you need to mod the Mini 9 to accommodate them. Search for "mini 9 70mm ssd"' for more info.

As for performance, I expect it's mediocre, like many Mini 9 SSDs.

You might want to call Newegg, and see if they'll ever stock Mini 9/Vostro A90 SSDs again. They did in the past.

[NCLivingBrit]

Originally Posted by reflex

Welcome to the forums.

I think the Asus Eee PATA mini PCIe SSDs can work, but they're too long. So, you need to mod the Mini 9 to accommodate them. Search for "mini 9 70mm ssd"' for more info.

As for performance, I expect it's mediocre, like many Mini 9 SSDs.

You might want to call Newegg, and see if they'll ever stock Mini 9/Vostro A90 SSDs again. They did in the past.

Thanks!

I may end up just eating the extra cost of a Runcore and getting a smaller drive. I -almost- got all the apps I wanted on the 8gb factory unit, I can probably make do with a 16gb Runcore.

[goat6500]

Sorry to ask the obvious but have you done everthing to minimize your boot HD footprint? Like:
1.) NLited XP
2.) Moved all media/documents/working files to 16GB HDSD card?

I have an 8GB Vostro A90 with Nlited XP, Office Pro + some miscellaneous software and I have 4GB free on my 8GB drive. About 6GB is free on my SDHC. Everything runds pretty fast, too. It took 1 day to figure out NLite + $18 for the card. FYI.

[NCLivingBrit]

Originally Posted by goat6500

Sorry to ask the obvious but have you done everthing to minimize your boot HD footprint? Like:
1.) NLited XP
2.) Moved all media/documents/working files to 16GB HDSD card?

I have an 8GB Vostro A90 with Nlited XP, Office Pro + some miscellaneous software and I have 4GB free on my 8GB drive. About 6GB is free on my SDHC. Everything runds pretty fast, too. It took 1 day to figure out NLite + $18 for the card. FYI.

1) Nope. Mostly because I had never even heard of Nlite until you posted that Guess it's time to dig out my XP disc, wherever it is.... I have to admit, I'm a lot more likely to be successful swapping the HD out than reinstalling with Nlite and have it working when I am done.

2) They're all on a thumbdrive right now, but yeah. I haven't been to town yet to get a decent SD card.

[goat6500]

Originally Posted by NCLivingBrit

1) Nope. Mostly because I had never even heard of Nlite until you posted that Guess it's time to dig out my XP disc, wherever it is.... I have to admit, I'm a lot more likely to be successful swapping the HD out than reinstalling with Nlite and have it working when I am done.

2) They're all on a thumbdrive right now, but yeah. I haven't been to town yet to get a decent SD card.

Running Nlite XP would have performance benefits for you, even if you did get a bigger harddrive. It sounds like Google's your friend so I don't think you'll have problems finding and following a Nlite XP installiation guide, either. My own personal experiences:
a.) Nliting XP was very easy. Kinda fun, actually, looking in detail all the functions of XP(i didn't know it had a movie editor, wtf?). Took about an hour and $0.
b.) Reinstalling an OS onto a mini9 - Bleah. I spend the better part of 3 days(after work) trying to get it to install with the 'USB stick method' without success. I think only certain manufactures of flash drives are able to boot a mini9 and none of mine were. I ended up taking a 5.25 SATA DVD drive, hooking it up to a 3.5 SATA HDD enclosure and booting from that(again for $0, I'm cheap...). Some people report getting the 'USB method' to work right away and others end up like me. So if you have a lot of time and want to take your chances, try the stick method. If you don't have a lot of time, I'd go straight to he dvd method.

Whatever the case, enjoy your new mini!

[NCLivingBrit]

More good info.

For now, I am going to leave it be other than an SD card. All I do on it so far is read comics (gotta love .cbr files) and fart around on the Net, so nothing needs speeding up really. As this is XP it will eventually kludge up and die, which is likely when the mods will happen, but right now I need the cash for a new 1911