For those with slow 1.8" PATA drives wanting SATA...

The way I measured my was to use powertop in a Linux recovery console. Find a baseline power consumption with the ZIF HDD connected at idle and under load (dd if=/dev/sda of=tempfile bs=64k). Do the same with the ZIF SSDs connected. Can then use the ZIF HDD's idle power and load power consumption specification to calculate usage. Know too that under load the I/O chipset will add to power consumption.

Can also pull the ZIF SSD from the system altogether to know what the system idle power consumption is.

The relative testing needs to be done within a relatively short timeframe as instantenous power consumption differs across battery capacity points.

Using a wattmeter would be more accurate, such as kill-a-watt, but would cost more and be more tedious to setup.

 

Completed the wiring today and took some pictures.
Yes it fits in the UX! and yes it does not perform as hoped.
After the hdparm and bar edit procedure it had good speeds only for one testrun, the second run showed slow seq.writes again.
Connecting it to the testrig showed the good values again, so it's not the plumming.
Mmm, what to do? Suggestions anyone?

 

Well, you could change to a different UX...
Yep, no problems anymore, consistent results.
Seq. read/write 83/56, 4K blocks 14/6.

 

UXmania has done it.. again. Just 2 months shy of 2 years since this thread was created UXmania has shown a workable DIY microsata-to-ZIF adapter solution. Others may wish to leave the microsata connector on, instead soldering to the accessible tracks like shown here. Adding an on/off power slider to enable power to the ZIF adapter would be desirable then as well. Then the microsata SSD could easily still be used as a native sata device.

The great news is this opens the door to using other 1.8" microsata solutions like X18M G2, SF1222, C300 from http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...1361-1-8-sata-ssds-available.html#post6978065 . Just need to deshell the 1.8" sata SSD and solder in the US$15 microsata-to-ZIF adapter . Or if don't want to solder could ask a local mobile phone technical to do it for you.

Well done UXmania for pioneering the way

EDIT: NOTE - DIY adapter has a Jmicron JM20330 sata-to-pata controller which was found to cause problems with standby/resume and cannot transmit TRIM commands here.

 

Connected a wattmeter, from a batterycharger, into the powercable that leads to the drive in the testrig.
Powerconsumption from the ssd+adapter is equal to the Mtron Mobi 3000 that was in my UX before.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

 

Nice Job, I accidentally purchased a Intel X-18 SATA (microSATA) for a DELL XT that currently has a mechanical 1.8 inch ZIF PATA HD

This looks like the solution that could help me out! I have been looking and called every single adaptor provider in the last 4 months with no possibility, until now it seems...

I am a bit worried about the soldering portion, what gets soldered to what.

Can someone provide link or instructions on how soldering connectors should be?

Anyone have the same issue with a DELL XT Laptop? Thanks for any help.

Also, UXMania, has the performance of the DIY been up to standard ?

 

You don't need to worry about the soldering, just 6 wires need connecting. Two for power and four for the data.
Pictures are provided in post #102 and it's straight forward.
Google on Intel X-18m and you will find the drive specs, etc.
ftp://download.intel.com/design/flash/NAND/mainstream/mainstream-sata-ssd-datasheet.pdf

But before you start you'd better have a good look at the space available. How much room do you have to work with. For the Sony UX i had to remove the sataconnector and shorten the pcb. This means there is no way back!
How thick will the satadrive be without the casing and the sataconnector? The Samsung Thin is 3mm. The sata2zif adapter used by me, after modifying, is 5.4mm.

The speeds are really good, i feel the UX pata is where the bottleneck is.

 

awesome, i'm very tempted to try this out.. we'll see...

(i have two zif laptops and at least one spare 1.8" sata ssd around..)

 

well, ordered one Mach Xtreme Technology Nano ZIF Series 1,8 Zoll PATA SSD - 120GB for one of the notebooks instead, got a nice price (214usd). i'll report back if it works as expected. should give that craptop of him a good life for the first time (it's still a core 2 duo 1.06ghz with 2gb ram, so it'll be slow. but compared to the 80gb 4200rpm disk that's in right now, it'll be an amazing boost in both storage and speed).

 

if space is an issue, one could use one of the new intel ssds in mSATA format together with the adapter, like here (or from other manufacturers of course):

Intel's SSD 310: G2 Performance in an mSATA Form Factor - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

 

RE: Intel SSD 310 - the dimensions are pretty awesome... too bad they switched over to a Mini PCIe connector... so we *still* have to solder rather than just plugging it together cleanly.

 

Anyone who owns HP2710p:
Does it make sense to go for DIY solution with SATA SSD + SATA<->ZIF PATA adapter, when 1.8" PATA drives exist?
My understanding is, that while there are 1.8" SATA SSDs that are cheaper and faster than PATA, the added cost of adapter and limitations of notebook's IDE adapter bring the difference to minimum.
Any opinions on this?
I am currently checking options to upgrade my 2710p, so willing to follow best practice.

 

Intel 310 in 80GB size is my best option for upgrading my Dell D420, yet cant find proper convertor to go from PCIe (mSATA/minisata) to ZIF....

Found this, but no idea if its bidirectional....

R Cube Station - Mini PCI-e to ZIF adapter for EEEPC 901 (Powered by CubeCart)
CE 1.8 ZIF LIF to Mini PCI-e PCIe Adapter Coverter 7K - eBay (item 220493319909 end time Mar-05-11 02:50:43 PST)

Dimensions of current drive ZIF IDE 74x55x8,5mm

Dimensions of ZIF-MiniPCI adapter 70x32mm (not info on thickness, does not seems to be too thick)

Dimensions of Intel 310 SSD 51x30x4,9mm

Stacked one on the other should be no problem to fit, and probably might be a chance to make cable between SATA connectors without need to solder on SSD itself....

Any ideas?

I have as well found this , but its obviously not sized well and does not provide final solution (mSATA/PCIe to ZIF)
MP2S

 

Huh ?

Your Dell D420 just takes a standard 1.8" ZIF drive. The Intel 310 is the wrong choice - it's a SATA drive, using the mini-PCIe connector.
You need a www.mydigitaldiscount.com Browse By Brand:Renice:Renice K3VLAR 1.8 Inch PATA Zif SSD Category
- it'll just plug right in, no adaptor required. Now that these Indilinx drives are on the market, there's no longer any need to use SATA drives.

 

64GB Renice K3VLAR for $200 + shipping and taxes, lets say something around $300

Or Intel 310 in 80GB size for $150 locally, final price. Another $5-10 for adapter and some work ...

From my point of view, i would prefer 80GB for $160 over 64GB for $300, how about you?

 

The DIY adapter uses a Jmicron JM20330 controller. It has problems with resume-from-standby and doesn't pass TRIM correctly. The manufacturer should switch to the Marvell chip instead which doesn't have these issues.

I'd go a US$140 60GB Renice K3VLAR-E for most compatibility and best battery life, but no trim.

 

Hi all! Great thread.

Excuse me for asking, but I've been searching/reading the past few days and still have a remaining question

I have a 2.5 PATA HDD (in a Sony V505DX laptop).

1) Would simply like a SSD drive with TRIM for use with Windows 7

Do i simply get a 1.8" SSD (choose any from: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-1-8-zif-pata-ssds-available.html#post6861746)

Perhaps the K3VLAR, then an adapter such as:
2.5" SATA Hard Drive to IDE 44 Pin Adapter for Laptop Drives from CoolDrives.com
or
2.5" SATA Hard Drive to IDE 44 Pin Adapter For Laptop Drives

And since the drive is 1.8" and my laptop accommodates 2.5 inch, there will (should be) enough space for the K3VLAR & Adapter to fit?

Whether or not it fits or not (I may use DVD bay for SDD), I have not found a clear confirmation to if the K3VLAR (with Indilinx BF+Marvell) using the aforementioned adapter will also pass the TRIM commands amongst Windows 7.

Thanks in advance, as a member from other forums, i understand if this is bad 'form' to interrupt a thread with a question. But perhaps this question is at least a bit relevant.

Goobye!
Ed

 

The Indilinx+Marvell based K3VLAR passes TRIM commands. So yes, the idea of a K3VLAR + 2.5" adapter is a workable solution. The other way of getting an Indilinx-based IDE SSD would be getting a 2.5" Runcore ProIV IDE SSD. Runcore ProIV uses a Indilinx+Jmicron setup, one of the few remaining 2.5" IDE SSDs still available.

 

Thanks for the excellent reply! As well as a native 2.5" alternative! At this time Runcore ProIV appears to be the one -- a simple 2.5" PATA SSD w/TRIM 'plug/play' solution without any adapters needed!

I can finally go to sleep and accomplish my other daily tasks now! If you're in Seattle someday, I'll get you some Starbucks!

Goodnight!
Ed

 

grinn253, add to the available solutions the G-Monster IDE 2.5" ssd's from Photofast...

 

Sort of - if you intend to buy a 1.8" ZIF drive, then you'll need an adaptor that goes from 1.8" ZIF to 2.5" 44-pin IDE not to 2.5" SATA like the CoolDrives adaptor.

Something like this DealExtreme: $2.69 CE ZIF to 2.5" IDE/CE Hard Disk Drive Adapter Card should do the trick.

 

Are my eyes decieving me, or is the cable here a solution: 60GB OWC Mercury Aura Pro MBA Solid Stat... (OWCSSDAPMB060) at OWC

(That drive is 1.8" form factor w/ sata interface, and the cable would make it possible to put 1.8 micro sata drives in the d430????)

The question would be do the dell d430 and macbook air share the same sytem board connector on the other end. Not likely, but I'm asking owc about it right now....in other words are these the same:

 

No.
That drive at macsales.com is a SATA drive - your DELL D430 takes a PATA ZIF drive.

Now that none-broken 1.8" PATA ZIF drives are available, no special "solution" is required - just buy the drive www.mydigitaldiscount.com Browse By Brand:Renice:Renice K3VLAR 1.8 Inch PATA Zif SSD Category and plug it in.

 

Thanks for the reply....just to clarify, I understand that this is sata ,and that my drive is zif, but what I'm interested in is the cable attached to that sata. Notice the other end (as in opposite the zif interface, and that attaches direct to the mainboard) That is the part I'm interested in. I know the early macbook airs also take a zif drive, but this company has managed to make a cable that allows a 1.8 sata to connect to the mainboard by means of some type of adapter cable. Make sense? I hope so...just looking for an alternative here.

Thanks again.

 

That link you posted for the Macbook drive is not a ZIF connection. It's another proprietary connector.

You really don't have much option, it's either the Runcore or Renice, buying a SATA drive is a waste of money/time because it'll have to convert back to ZIF which eliminates the benefits of SATA anyway.

 

Thank you also for your reply, but just to note, I understand it is not zif as I said in my last post, that was not my question. The zif connection is on the drive itself. What I am looking at is the opposite side of the cable. What I am wondering is if the macbook air and Dell D430 mainboard share the same connector, or in other words, is there such a thing as a sata (micro) to dell mainboard connector, as there is one for the macbook air. Note again, the link in my first post of the sata drive for the macbook air (ala OWC), which would normally take a zif drive, but has this adapter attached to a sata drive.

Also noted your comments on losing the benefits of sata, but may be worth it, due to greater availability and cheaper prices of these 1.8" form factor sata drives. Anyway, that's all I'm sayin'.

Thanks.

 

Thanks!

I'm eager to get the R3VLAR from mydigitialdiscount as soon as stock is available! Until then, I have been continuing the re-search, and have found the following:

OWC Mercury Legacy Pro SSD, SandForce Equipped, SATA, 7% Over Provisioning, IDE/ATA drive

Which is already in stock! Its U.S. made(?) and seems to have comparable performance to the R3VLAR:

(See graph):
*WON* Member Bugler Congrats WinAn OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 40GB SSD @The SSD Review

Apparently it uses the following controller:
SandForce Processor with full SF1200 Series 7% Over Provisioning firmware set

Which according to the spec sheet, includes TRIM support.

Well, it appears *this* drive is also suitable for my specs (thanks to everyone for your input):

1) 2.5"
2) PATA
3) Windows 7 TRIM

I did note the:
1) G-Monster IDE 2.5" ssd's from Photofast
2) Runcore Pro IV IDE

As kindly suggested by the awesome members here. Google'ing those SDD appears they may have had issues in the past, especially the Runcore.

----------
Question:

I have not seen the OWC Mercury Legacy Pro reviewed on this site. Based on the above links, it seems this is a good alternative to the R3VLAR! As the R3VLAR is not in stock either (the 64GB version).

Are there any opinions or notes from the wise members of this forum regarding OWC SSD products? Performing a search on this site for OWC products appears to garner favorable reviews.

Thanks so much again!
Ed

edit:
Just found the press release, dated January 2011:
http://blog.macsales.com/8501-owc-a...tate-drive-available-for-mac-and-pc-notebooks

 

Take a look at this one too - Mach Xtreme Technology 60GB MX-NANO 44 Series 1.8" PATA SSD - 44pin IDE Connector - MXSSD1MNANO-60G Mach Xtreme 60GB MX-Nano PATA Series SSD 1.8" 44pin IDE Connector Detail Page - it's also a 44-pin IDE drive, and will fit both 2.5" and 1.8" drive bays, as long as they're using a 2.5" size 44-pin connector (ie, the normal laptop IDE connector).

 

The OWC drive looks like fits your requirements perfectly. Only precaution I'd suggest is asking for a money-back-guarantee to ensure (i) resume from standby/hibernate works and (ii) trim doesn't freeze the system and (iii) Win7 installation detects the SSD. These issues plagued the Runcore ProIV due to their using the Jmicron sata-to-pata bridge chip. The Renice K3VLAR uses a Marvell sata-to-pata bridge chip with no such issues. I hope OWC have used the Marvell chip. OWC could also consider making a 1.8" ZIF SF1200 SSD

 

Nando4!

Awesome questions I totally should be aware of! :GEEK:

I just called their 800 number, and asked pretty much verbatim your 3 questions. OWC indicated they have tested a Windows 7 PATA install using their SSD:

1) Resume from standby/hibernate works!
2) TRIM does not freeze the system!
3) Windows 7 does recognize the drive as an SSD!

I asked what if any of the above were found to be not true -- it was indicated to simply call for their 'No Hassle' RMA/Refund!

Well, i'm going to place the order after this post, thanks all for your guidance! I will perhaps start a new thread regarding, "OWC Mercury Legacy Pro 2.5" PATA SSD Review" upon receiving the unit!

It appears CrystalDisk|PerformanceTest|atto are the benchmark tools to use as demonstrated in Nando4's excellent reviews. Obviously the platform I'll be using is much different -- Centrino Pentium 1.7 GHz (Dothan) w/2GB RAM .

Goodbye all!
Ed

 

I ordered a 2.5" pata WD drive thinking I can use it in my Fujitsu p1610.

When I opened my p1610 I found a 1.8" toshiba mk8007gah

I almost tried banging in the 2.5" into the 1.8" slot but couldn't find my hammer.

Can anyone suggest a cost effective capacity upgrade to the 80gb toshiba?

The connector and slot is a legacy odd ball, very hard to find.

So far I found a 160gb samsung for $90.00 but its a ceata which is supposedly 10pin, on the toshiba 80gb I pulled out I counted 50pins.

The samsung is supposedly a ata/zif, so I wonder if that means it comes with an adapter cable and plugs into the laptop mb the same was as my old drive.

 

There are ZIF-to-ATA adapters shown here and here. I'd suggest adapting one of those with a 1.8" ZIF SSD like a $130-shipped 60GB SuperTalent ZT2 (EWS720).

 

Your drive looks to have a standard 50-pin female Toshiba IDE connector - does it look like this http://www.addonics.com/products/io/images/toshiba18_drive.jpg ?

You can buy a 30GB Mach Xtreme Technology 30GB MX-NANO 50 Series 1.8" PATA SSD - 50pin Female IDE Connector | My Digital Discount or 60GB drive Mach Xtreme Technology 60GB MX-NANO 50 Series 1.8" PATA SSD - 50pin Female IDE Connector | My Digital Discount

 

I was looking into putting that drive in my Dell D430. Saw your posting and after more searching, found this article from Toshiba:

http://www.sdd.toshiba.com/techdocs/Toshiba_4KWhitePaper.pdf

If you go to the concluding paragraph, you will find that there is a utility from Toshiba which is meant to adjust the drive formatting to make it work with Windows.

I don't know if it works or not. I will seek more information before dropping $150 on a drive.... Might make more sense for me to just get an E4300 which uses a standard and cheap 2.5" SATA drive.

 

Windows Vista and Windows 7 both already create aligned partitions by default - you don't need to do anything apart from install as normal.

If you're still using Windows XP, then after installation you should use a tool like Paragon Paragon Alignment Tool - Overview to correctly align the partition.

 

Excellent. Thank you. I'll take that as confirmation that it works. In sounds like these things have been worked out in the last year or two.

The tool which Toshiba provides is a version of Paragon's Partition Alignment Tool, which (Toshiba's version, not the original tool) only works with Toshiba drives.

I wouldn't have bothered resurrecting the thread, but figured that if I found these old postings in a search for information, others might too and could benefit from the additional information.

 

I've looked further into this

@ nomgle : yes

@ nondo : the tiny lib zender adapter would add 40 dollars to for a piece of plastic to try experimentation.

take a look at the space I have to work with, see the cc, there's very limited room, if any:



Here's the zif connector on the MB, its 50pin:



here's the end of the cable that plugs into the mb, it measures 1in = 25.4mm



So, here's a 240gb toshiba with nearly identical power specs as my original drive 80gb.

My 80gb is ata 6 the 240gb is ata 4, which seems compatible.

It seems all I need is a zif cable with enough length that can bend in 1 or 2 places. I'm willing to believe such a cable will fit easier then an adapter.

Any suggestions?

 

Your original drive is 8mm tall. The 240GB drive is also 8mm tall. Your linked specs show the 120GB version as 5mm tall, so you'd get an extra 3mm of clearance if you need it.

You can also get a 5mm tall 128GB SuperTalent GF ZIF SSD for $190-shipped, though I'd get a EWS720-based 128GB SuperTalent ZT2 for $235-shipped instead.

I can't make out why you need the $40 ZIF Zender cable but if 5mm helps then I'd suggest getting one of the above SSD instead of the HDD.

 

The linked specs are for 3 drives, my drive of interest is 240gb which specifies 8mm thickness, its the column to the right of where you read 5mm.

The zif zender is used since the mkxx31GAx series drives have a zif connector not ide, my original 80gb drive has 50 female ide pins, the zif zender furnishes this for zif drives.

For now my doubts lie in the lack of zif ribbon specification details as such:
1. the zif cables I've searched on ebay measure 20mm in width or don't specify width atall, my laptop mb recieves a zif cable of 25.4mm @50 zif pins.

2. if I had any assurance of a zif cable that would
a. be able to plug into the MK2431GAH 240gb drive @ zif 40pins.
b. be able to plug into my laptop mb
&
c. be able to bend at 1 or 2 places, without getting damaged

... I'd go ahead with a 240gb for $130.00 shipped.

If the cabling matters don't get clear, I'd do measurements to see if I can fit the 240gb with the adapter,,, if that can't work out I'd find the largest 50pin drive I can get for $150.00.

 

How do I find the pinlayout for these drives. How do you tell pin 1 from pin 44 ? I have a Kingspec 1.8" ZIF LIF 64GB SSD MLC Drive For HP 2510 2710 U1010 | eBay

 

Hopefully someone subscribed to this thread or is knowledgeable about this subject can help me. I created a thread over in the SSD section for my issue.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...8-msata-ssd-ide-44-pin-adapter-does-work.html

 

Hiya

Ignoring space constraints, is there a way to simply go from a PATA ZIF connector to the standard 2.5" sata drives?

 

There are plenty of ZIF-to-2.5" SATA adapters on ebay. The are designed to allow use a ZIF drive on a 2.5" sata system. They should be bi-direction to allow the 2.5" sata drive to be attached to a system with a 1.8" ZIF connector.

If trying to attach a SATA drive to a ZIF/PATA system and it does have an optical drive, then consider using a sata-to-pata optical bay caddy. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...rage-using-optical-bay-caddy.html#post4936086 .

 

Hello everyone. First post on this great forum.))

Currently there are Sandisk 64GB ZIF SSDs on Ebay for 70$ including shipping.
SDPA3AD | eBay
Sounds like a great deal price-wise. I guess the performance suck badly though. I could find somewhere information that the controller is native PATA - interesting.
Anyone got an advice about this drive?

 

Looks to be a 1.3" ZIF SSD with a side-mounted ZIF connector as used in some older netbooks. Systems like a HP 2510P/2710P or Dell D420/D430 with their proprietory ZIF cable expect the ZIF connector to be on the end. A 1.3" ZIF SSD could not fit into them without adding some way of extending the ZIF cable.

Not sure on the performance of this SSD. Might be OK. However, consider the EWS720-based ZIF SSDs start at US$125 for 60GB and deliver great performance with battery-life extending low power consumption. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-1-8-zif-pata-ssds-available.html#post6861746 for a quick summary of available ZIF SSDs.

 

Thanks for replying so quickly nando4
Size and placement shouldn't be a problem (in a 2510p BTW). The thing must be tiny - look at the size comparison with a 1.8 HDD that I photoshopped. Will have to fill the empty space in the drive slot with something though, straw maybe.)
Also found a japanese review of sorts - this same drive is the basic SSD option in the Sony Vaio X.
In short:
CrystalDiskMark2.2
Seq Read 66.43 MB/s Write 49.86MB/s
512K Read 65.03 MB/s Write 2.354 MB/s
4k Read 4.738 MB/s Write 1.522 MB/s
As suspected it blows but I may just live with it - considering the price and free shipment to Europe.
Other options of the same size seem to be more than double the price here, including your recommendation nando4.
Edit: OK I jumped the gun. Will post my exeprience and benchmark when it arrives. Maybe post it in the PATA drives thread?

 

Apologies for hijacking this really great thread with yet another same-y question.

I have a Dell 420/430 with a dead ZIF drive. I'm a scrooge, so I don't fancy dropping £70+ on a new ZIF drive. What's the latest advice for attaching a "normal" 2.5-inch drive? I don't care about duct-taping the bigger drive to the outside of the chassis.

There seem to be several options on ebay. Which ones are good? How do I identify "bi-directional"? Is there a better way?

Any advice appreciated, UK specific more so.

TIA

 

@ Derek : why 70£ ?
They start from 25 AFAIK.
1.8 zif samsung | eBay

 

Ah - that's good news. Last time I looked for a replacement Toshiba drive it was around £70. Never thought about looking at other brands.

Any thoughts on cable compatibility and performance? I've seen one or two negative mentions about these Samsung drives.

Thanks for the suggestion turbod. I may well get a 40GB if there aren't going to be any issues.

 

As long as your cable is undamaged they should be just fine. Otherwise you need to get the cable too from ebay. I am using a Samsung HS06THB in a Dell D420 without any issues and a Samsung HS08XJC in a HP 2510p.
Waiting now for a 64GB Sandisk SSD to arrive. It was a great deal for about 50£ shipped but it seems they have ran out of them. Can't find any on ebay now.