HD Upgrade on Rev A?

[Kan-O-Z]

Is it true that rev A PATA drive is not really upgradeable because the hardware won't support more than 80GB?

Does that mean that Rev B is upgradeable since it is SATA and the hardware supports larger drives?

i am really interested in the deals they have on Rev A but would like to have the option to upgrade the drive at some point.

Kan-O-Z

 

[h1d]

You can upgrade Rev A HDD to SSD. But since it's PATA, there isn't much SSD to choose from to start with.

I've looked at the options roughly to find any SSD that is 1.8inch in size and 5mm thickness with ZIF connector and also be warned that some manufacture SSD won't work on Rev A Air for some reason. (At least that's what I read.) And basically you only want 32GB one, since last time I checked, 64GB one was like $800...

You might as well look around a Samsung SSD for it, but IMO, you should just get SSD version of Rev A, they aren't so expensive like it used to be nowadays, especially used ones. I actually went to sell my HDD Rev A to get SSD Rev A at only about $300 difference, which is actually much cheaper than getting 64GB SSD that fits in it elsewhere, not to mention I don't need to do the swap work.

I haven't looked at what SSD can be fit on Rev B, but I think it has more options for it being SATA. You might as well get HDD Rev B and wait for SSD prices to drop, but I'm rather scared at the screen line problem of Rev B. But 1.8inch SSD is so expensive it's scary compared to regular 2.5inches.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

I'm not so interested in SSD as they're expensive right now and are coming down in price. Also I need at least 120GB, preferably 160GB.

My main concern is this: Is there a hardware limitation on HD size on Rev A? What about Rev B? I want to be able to upgrade the HD at some point.

Kan-O-Z

 

[Mactagonist]

Apparently Rev A is limited though I dont know if it is firmware related or what. People on this forum tried to put a 120gb PATA 5mm high drive in a Rev A and were unable to get it working.

I dont think that anyone has tried to change the drive on a Rev B yet. If you buy me an Intel X18-m I will try it and report back to you.

 

[poky]

Apparently Rev A is limited though I dont know if it is firmware related or what. People on this forum tried to put a 120gb PATA 5mm high drive in a Rev A and were unable to get it working.

I dont think that anyone has tried to change the drive on a Rev B yet. If you buy me an Intel X18-m I will try it and report back to you.

That is not true, check my thread I posted last week, I was able to put a Samsung 120gb hdd on my 1.6 Rev.A MBA, recognized all useful space.

 

[Mactagonist]

Yeah, you just couldnt reassemble the MBA since you were using an 8mm high drive. The thread here detailing the attempts to get a 5mm high 120gb drive working ended in failure.

Your thread, in case anyone else is interested:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/604375/

 

[jimboutilier]

Is it true that rev A PATA drive is not really upgradeable because the hardware won't support more than 80GB?

Does that mean that Rev B is upgradeable since it is SATA and the hardware supports larger drives?

i am really interested in the deals they have on Rev A but would like to have the option to upgrade the drive at some point.

Kan-O-Z

While the selection of 1.8" PATA ZIF 5mm drives is much more limited there are a few larger drive announced. I'd expect to see the Samsung 120gb unit in reasonable quantities early next year.

In the mean time you can save a LOT of disk space by:
a) Doing a clean install of OS X only installing the programs, drivers etc you need or (less effective but still a lot of savings) using a utility like AppDelete to get rid of apps you don't use.
b) Run something like Xslimmer on all your apps. You'll save space and they'll load faster.
c) Use a utility like SmartSleep to speed up sleep time and save a couple more GB that would normally be used by the sleep file.

I went from about 15gb free (the low end of my comfort zone for fragmentation) to over 30gb free (very comfortable).

 

[h1d]

I also suggest you use MonoLingual to save some decent amount of space (maybe 1-2GB). OS X applications come with multi language information for every app, even if you don't need them. The app just deletes those languages that you never use as well as delete the fat binaries containing PPC code as well. And it's free.

A clean install without installing apps you don't want and removing printer drivers that you don't have can really save gigs of space too, like pointed out.

 

[Kan-O-Z]

I just ordered the MBA Rev B 120GB. I am so excited! Thanks for the help as I will probably upgrade the 120GB to SSD in a year or so when the prices come down and perhaps 250GB is standard

I am going to have to trim up apps and languages and printer drivers as some of you have suggested as 120GB is a bit tight but should do for now!

Kan-O-Z

 

[mac jones]

Just a heads up for the interested

Mtron has a 32GB SSD that a very fast for $279 at Rocketdisk.com and Ebay.

They say it works in the Gen 1 Air at more than on location.

It's twice as fast as the original Samsung SSD for about the same price you would pay for the Samsung 32GB.

However, the Samsung 32GB SSD can be gotten for about $230 (low) on Ebay and it is a snappy drive (much better than the rotating drive).

I just couldn't stand the HD I had in it and would rather have a 16Gb drive than that thing

I hope the 120HD is better

 

[justit]

I just couldn't stand the HD

That's the world of 4200rpm