120gb 5400rpm in a Rev.A

[poky]

Hi, all.
This is my first post, I recently bought a used MBA, I always want one when it first came out, finally wait until now because of the big price drop

My first mod to my MBA is to upgrade the hard drive.

I wasn't pay much attention when I purchase this replacement hard disk, didn't notice the MBA only takes 5mm height, as most 1.8" in the market are 8mm.

But since it's in my hand right now, I decided to put it on see if the MBA recognizes it.

Not too much surprise, leopard installation went very smoothly.

After the installation, the available space is about 95gb.

And because of the 5400rpm, it feels faster.

Too bad the bottom won't close because of the height of this drive.

But at least this gives me an idea, and I know there's a Toshiba 1.8" 120gb 4200rpm 5mm out there, and it should fits perfectly in MBA.

Anyway, I'm still debating myself rather getting this Toshiba drive or a Samsung 32gb SSD(Same drive as used in the Rev.A SSD version, but different capacity)
As the price of these two drives are pretty much the same (around $150 range)
I have another computer for my main work, so I'm toward getting a 32gb SSD

Here are some picture taken from the iphone.

 

[bobdard]

I think the 120 is a better value. I don't say that because bigger = better; I do like the idea of having SSD, but to be honest I don't think you're going to see THAT MUCH of a difference in SSD and 4200 when its on a MBA (with lower performance graphics and CPU) .... I mean, what would you do on this computer to see the difference that a SSD would offer? I'm not trying to bash the MBA in being slow; have one myself and love it, but I just don't think its worth it to get a super small SSD for 150 when you're not doing anything HDD intensive on it....

 

[justit]

Too bad the bottom won't close because of the height of this drive.

So you did manage to fit the drive? Can you send a photo of what it looks like from the side?

 

[HiFiGuy528]

You can't take the bumpers/stuff off to make the 120gb fit?

 

[tymills55]

Samsung SSD

Where did you find the 32gb samsung ssd for around $150?

 

[poky]

I think the 120 is a better value. I don't say that because bigger = better; I do like the idea of having SSD, but to be honest I don't think you're going to see THAT MUCH of a difference in SSD and 4200 when its on a MBA (with lower performance graphics and CPU) .... I mean, what would you do on this computer to see the difference that a SSD would offer? I'm not trying to bash the MBA in being slow; have one myself and love it, but I just don't think its worth it to get a super small SSD for 150 when you're not doing anything HDD intensive on it....

The reason getting a SSD is for the instant access, as most of the 1.8" drives have very high access time( around 20ns) where SSD have 0.1ns, for the transfer rate, SSD does not have a big advantage over hdd(38mb/s vs. 50mb/s)
So you will notice the difference when you open up a program or file compare with the hdd. And not to mention there's no moving part, so no need to worry when you carry it around while its running, also the power consumption is a plus.

The SSD you can find on fleabay, just remember the interface for MBA Rev.A is ZIF.

The bump stuff is the drive itself, this drive has two platters(the original 80g has one platter so does the new Toshiba 5mm drive).

Here's the picture when you try to put the case on.

 

[1rottenapple]

Well I think it's good news that you were able to get the air to recognize a larger drive as another poster states that he software itself limited the size of the drive to the oem size. Now I guess the search is to find a drive that works uses the same interface and as well being able to close the case completely. If I can find a drive that has atleast 120 of even 160 @ 4200 rpm, i'm good to go!

The reason getting a SSD is for the instant access, as most of the 1.8" drives have very high access time( around 20ns) where SSD have 0.1ns, for the transfer rate, SSD does not have a big advantage over hdd(38mb/s vs. 50mb/s)
So you will notice the difference when you open up a program or file compare with the hdd. And not to mention there's no moving part, so no need to worry when you carry it around while its running, also the power consumption is a plus.

The SSD you can find on fleabay, just remember the interface for MBA Rev.A is ZIF.

The bump stuff is the drive itself, this drive has two platters(the original 80g has one platter so does the new Toshiba 5mm drive).

Here's the picture when you try to put the case on.

 

[justit]

thinking outside the box here...I wonder if a machinist can cut a rectangle where the new drive is, the bottom is not important to me as is the increase drive capacity.

 

[1rottenapple]

thinking outside the box here...I wonder if a machinist can cut a rectangle where the new drive is, the bottom is not important to me as is the increase drive capacity.

Yeah they can but I just can't believe you are serious. Hopefully you are not.

 

[fteoath64]

Yeah, cut the rectangular hole then apply a piece of polished perspex on it. It becomes the RaptorX MBA