Installing SSD into Mini PCIe slot

Anyone? I've got R1 without GMS card, so this slot, called WWAN for some reason, is empty. I'm thinking on purchasing some SSD for it.

 

I don't think it will work. I googled it and found some folks saying it wont because it's not connected to the SATA controller which would be needed for a drive to be connected. Physically it may fit but it probably won't be recognized as a drive. I've wanted to do it on many laptops to gain more storage space, thinking I could just use a USB wifi to get by but never actually tried it myself. There may be a rare model of laptop that it does work on because that extra slot is specifically tied to the SATA controller.

 

Actually, it can work, but only when all the T's are crossed. Most issues arise by using a wrong card ( mSATA) or the mobo's mini PCIe connector using USB 2.0 interface, rather than PCIe x1, which is what these exceedingly rare, true mini PCIe drives use(d). Thing is, a great many mSATA cards are sold as ' Mini Card PCIe SATA', which is misleading since they only share the form factor, not the interface.

So for this to work you need one of those once-in-a-blue-moon devices ... which are terribly hard to find, to be sure. Apart from locating one, they're outrageously expensive and speed is limited to around ~100MB. Practically, the PCIe-only slots aren't much use for much more than gps, sim, wlan and bt. A littler better are those that have the USB 2.0 interface enabled; can make those into an internal usb port. Turning that into storage is simple after that.

Well ... even in the (likely) event there's no USB interface, there's one other alternative; this mPCIe SDHC adapter will work (even if a bit expensive). Rating says '25MB', but that's only because it was designed at the time of 25 MB/s SDHC. The thing is 'transparent', so SDXC will do fine up to UHS-I (~100 MB/s). UHS-II and over will not work as it lacks the additional pins necessary for that. The exFAT limit can be negated by formatting as FAT32, whatever the card's storage size. A Samsung microSDXC Pro or Sandisk Extreme Pro SDXC card would be a good match, for somewhere between $75 for 128GB and $375 for 512 GB.

Not one of those solutions is bootable, mind. Only if the system has a mini PCIe with USB 2.0 interface, you're using a USB->SSD adapter (of whatever kind) and this particular USB 'port' is listed in the bootable list in the bios can you actually boot from this slot. None of these caveats apply to the dodo-SSD or SDXC alternative.

 

On my R1 I am using this adapter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MR15-Dual-M...WZk1nEK%2Bv%2BJvBuOIw%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

It's a dual micro SD card adapter. The only problem I have run into is when I try to use all three usb ports on the machine one of the cards will disappear until a reboot. It helps out a lot on storage space and I have a few games loaded on to one. Right now I have a 16gb and 32gb card in there but plan on moving up to dual 64gb cards soon.

 

That's very useful information; that adapter uses usb, not pcie, meaning that so is the slot's interface. A usb port could work too then, or indeed a dual micro sdhc/sdxc solution, while the adapter is much cheaper at the same time. Samsung's Pro+ UHS-I 128GB is ~$85, but there should also be a 256GB EVO+ variant soon, so half a TB in such a small package is possible ... pretty amazing. However, if there's a limit to the number of active usb ports, then a single non-micro SDXC adapter might be preferable; the SanDisk Extreme Pro cards would be well suited for that.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m11x-r1-mods-list.595862/

There is a list of stuff to try out. It has some threads of people that have tried she same mods and there results. I don't think any one else had that problem I have from time to time. But If i plug in something to charge, external usb mouse and then plug a external hard drive in, one of the two cards turn off.

 

Lol, this looks complicated... I was thinking on getting something cheap frol Ali, like this: http://goo.gl/XcIzd2

Btw, thx for modding thread, some bizzare things people tried there... And sad to understand that m11x days are passed long before...