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I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

X20/X21, X30/X31, X40/X41 Series
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dwilsonfl
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I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#1 Post by dwilsonfl » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:26 pm

Picked up an X41 for $25 off ebay w/o HD. Got an SSD coming but was just playing with a Linux distro (Zorin) off a USB stick and that little rascal was quick. It's so solid to be so light. I wish I could put the Google Chrome OS on it - I'd sell my Google CR-48 and buy 3 more X41s. Gonna pick some more up for my classroom when I can get them cheap.

We just use them for web apps and browsing so a small HD/SSD/SD/CF/whatever would work.

What's the cheap way to go on these given my requirements?
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:12 pm

I'd be looking for X31 instead.
X31 uses regular size 2.5" drives, not the slow, awkward, expensive 1.8" drives.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#3 Post by dwilsonfl » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:15 pm

not a fan of the X31/32. Had a couple. They sell for more on eBay too.

Not going to use the OEM drives. Looking for options for X40/X41. CF? SD? SSD? USB?
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#4 Post by Weogo » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:38 pm

Hi Dwilsonfl,

The X41 tablet is native SATA, with a SATA~PATA bridge.
There is a hack to bypass/remove the bridge and install a SATA drive.
The SATA drives are faster, and there are a number of them available in the smaller 1.8" form factor.

I think the X41 is the same, and the X40 is not.

Thanks and good health, Weogo

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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#5 Post by dwilsonfl » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:55 pm

I'll take a look, thanks.

I get paid $31K a year and get $150 for teaching supplies. So I look for cheap that works. Forum member was generous enough to get me 4 laptops and that's awesome. My goal is to have at least half my class able to be working on PCs at one time and so what others run away from - like the odd drive equipped x41 and x41t - I look at and think if I can find a cheap storage solution and buy for under $50 total then I'm good.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#6 Post by twistero » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:58 pm

Well, if you only need a few gigabytes, and plan to run Linux, then a CF-to-IDE adapter plus a CF card should be the cheapest solution. You should be able to get sub-$10 for each adapter looking at eBay prices, though I've never used them personally. A 4GB CF card can be bought for less than $20 from reputable vendors like Newegg and such.

If you need serious storage, though, you should look at ZIF-to-IDE adapters and ZIF hard drives/SSD. I have a 32G SSD in my current X41 tablet for Windows 7, and it runs pretty nicely.

Doing the SATA mod would be a fun project, but you probably don't want to spend hours or days desoldering tiny chips from several motherboards :mrgreen:
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#7 Post by Tasurinchi » Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:55 pm

With a little bit of patience you could get some good old ZIF hard drives. I've seen some 60GB Samsungs in Ebay going cheap lately. 1.8" SSDs are pricey. New ZIF drives work much better than the original stock drives and are really silent.

I've put a list of drives for the X4 series ages ago, check this thread out here and see if you can find some of them in Ebay or alike...

My 2 cents...
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#8 Post by kge420 » Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:07 pm

Check the thread concerning running Android 4.0 on the X41. A few of us have it on our tablets and it runs great.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#9 Post by dwilsonfl » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:02 pm

well, I managed to tear the LIF connector off the MTRON SSD so I'm a little bummed on the whole thing right now. I am following the android thread. May wind up running it off a flash drive.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#10 Post by twistero » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:51 pm

dwilsonfl wrote:well, I managed to tear the LIF connector off the MTRON SSD so I'm a little bummed on the whole thing right now. I am following the android thread. May wind up running it off a flash drive.

Hmm... Soldering a 0.5mm pitch ZIF connector sounds like a fun exercise... :roll:
My experience with the X41 is that booting takes much longer if there is nothing installed at the IDE port. CF-to-IDE adapters and CF cards should be pretty resilient.
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
701c butterfly, 75MHz 486DX4, 40MB ram, 1GB CF card

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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#11 Post by dwilsonfl » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:29 pm

They stay on all day at school so one boot and we're good to go. The MTRON will be trashed before I spend a minute soldering.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#12 Post by twistero » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:55 pm

dwilsonfl wrote:They stay on all day at school so one boot and we're good to go. The MTRON will be trashed before I spend a minute soldering.
Indeed. In this case you might even be able to find a linux live image that runs entirely in memory, so you can remove the USB drive once it's booted. No danger of children snapping the USB drive in half.

Throw the MTRON ssd into an envelope and send it my way. I'll pay for shipping :mrgreen:
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
701c butterfly, 75MHz 486DX4, 40MB ram, 1GB CF card

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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#13 Post by dwilsonfl » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:22 pm

I should go ahead and send it because I am a danger to everyone with a soldering gun.

I had the USB Linux running the other day and it was fine. Maybe that's the way to go. They will only be online playing Math, Reading, and other Language Arts games.
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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#14 Post by dwilsonfl » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:03 pm

Might try this to fix the connector problem. Heck, I didn't even know which way the cable went in the connector (blue up or not?) so maybe some of my prep was lacking. LOL

Cut to size a hard piece of piece of plastic that will go across the cable where the contacts are. Heat up your hot glue gun. Hold down firmly the piece of plastic that you cut,across the contact area with a very thin nail or needle. Apply glue let it harden. Pull the needle out.

I got it to work reliably (the first time) without glue. I found some very thin but sturdy plastic (like some products are packaged in at the store) and cut a small rectangle of it to match the width of the cable exactly. Then, I matched it up at the end of the cable (near the contacts) and shoved both of them in the socket (with the broken clip). With the extra thickness of the plastic on top of the cable, it prevents the cable from sliding out. And you can pull it out, too, so I guess that makes it "semi-permanent"...

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Re: I had forgotten how much fun these are - storage solutions?

#15 Post by twistero » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:12 pm

The flat ribbon cable go into the connecter with the metal contacts facing downwards, towards the circuit board. The blue film is on the opposite side of the contacts, so it faces upwards.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1RfEvjReq0

The flap acts to press the cable firmly against the connector. If you accidentally detached the flap, you need another way to keep the cable pressed against the connector, hence the fixes you quoted.
X60 tablet 6363-P3U, 3GB ram, 128GB SanDisk Extreme SSD, SXGA+ screen, Intel 6300
T61 Frankenpad in 15 inch T60 body, UXGA LED-lit AFFS LCD, T9300, 6GB RAM, NVidia NVS140m, Intel 6205, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 1TB HGST HDD + eBay caddy in Ultrabay
701c butterfly, 75MHz 486DX4, 40MB ram, 1GB CF card

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