Handtops, UMPC - Hard Drive Upgrade

07/25/07 + wormdrummer

Is it possible to upgrade the hard drive in the flipstart?????... If so, any ideas what drive I can upgrade to??

02/04/08 + Orgwon

They do not, the EC has to be flashed by other means then through OS. Bootable media with EC commands and updated code or by directly connecting to the board with a flash device. Sorry... not so easy to do.

02/04/08 + mhoepfin

Has anyone looked at the BIOS setting to see if this is supported? I'm ashamed to say that I have not looked at the BIOS yet on my unit...

02/04/08 + tknguyen

I looked at the BIOS settings of the Flipstart and did not see anything that could be changed to support the SSD. I did still try various settings on the BIOS and to see if it makes any different. I tried all the combination settings that I could think of but I could not resolve the issue of wakeup from standby.

Recent Blog: Extra USB port for Flipstart

02/06/08 + elsewhere

tknguyen said: "I looked at the BIOS settings of the Flipstart and did not see anything that could be changed to support the SSD. I did still try various settings on the BIOS and to see if it makes any different. I tried all the combination settings that I could think of but I could not resolve the issue of wakeup from standby."

What exactly does it do, when you try to resume from standby?

Does it remain in standby (and not wake up at all)?
Does it start to wake from standby, but then hang (i.e. waken in a state that the OS can't resume from)?
BSOD?
Does it reboot?
Something different?

(have you tried resuming from hibernation? is that any different or better?)

Thanks.

02/07/08 + tknguyen

When I resume from standby, the Flipstart wakes up since the usb mouse light up but the screen remains blank and does not response to the mouse or keybroad. After a few minutes, the fan turns on but you can not do anything. I then have to push the power button for a few seconds to reset it. I try to update the video drivers for the display but I could not find an update driver.

Once in a while, the Flipstart does wake up from standby after it just boots up. However if I let it in standby for more than 1 hours it will not wake up properly (screen remains blank).

I try to resume from hibernation and it did work. However I normally did not use hibernation so I do not know if it will work all the time.

I have no problem with the Flipstart resumes from standby when I use the hard drive.

Recent Blog: Extra USB port for Flipstart

02/15/08 + elsewhere

I've found some documents that might shed some light on the situation.
(datasheet for comparable Sandisk drives)

link
link

I couldn't find a datasheet for the SSD SATA 5000 1.8 (presumably what you have?)
but I would imagine the intersection between these other two would be fairly close.

"Typical Power On Ready Time: 2.3s"

Unfortunately.... that's actually about the same as the Toshiba HDD
link
"Spin up, typical - max: 3.5s - 20s"

02/18/08 + elsewhere

Orgwon said: "It's not the SSD that's the problem; it's the Embedded Controller causing a timing issue.
If one upgrades to a SSD, wake from stand by will not be consistent. If wake from stand by is something that has to be had then upgrading to a SSD isn't a good option. The 60GB HDDs are much more inexpensive if increasing storage is the only issue.

Granted the read / write is much faster on an SDD making swap file access much faster thus increasing OS performance and boot up."

Thanks for your comments. I'm still trying to understand the nature of the issue... (and if there is/is not any useful way to work around it)

Is the "timing issue" that the EC waits too long to send a wakeup signal to the SSD? (or that it does not send one at all?)
Or that, having received a wakeup signal, the SSD takes too long to return to ready (or returns to ready, too quicky?)

Is the problem something inherent in SSD technology- or perhaps in the identifiers that SSD devices label themselves with,
or that the EC is waiting too long/too little or drive is too slow/too fast (e.g. different disks might have different response times)

Much appreciated...

02/18/08 + tknguyen

The Flipstart has problems waking up from standby using a SSD by Sandisk. Does anyone know if the SSD from Samsung will be different. My OQO 01+ works fine with a SSD from Samsung. I do not want to spend $500 to buy a zif SSD from Samsung if the Flipstart will have problems waking up from standby. Thanks for your answers.

Recent Blog: Extra USB port for Flipstart

02/19/08 + Orgwon

I honestly don't know the specific problem with the timing issue, I do know the EC had to be modified so the SSDs would work. Yes, the problem happens with the Samsung too...

02/20/08 + wodin

Samsung HS082HB 80GB 1.8" 5mm drives have Zif connectors. It looks like most everybody wants about $150 for them, but I haven't found anyone who actually has them in stock. Either they're VERY popular, or they're out of production, or they're not in production yet.

Since I just ordered a Flipstart today, this is the first I've looked for them so I'm not sure which of the above applies.

I searched through the forum looking for any insight about RAM upgrades ... didn't find anything! Anybody know about any RAM hacks on the Flipstart?

02/21/08 + FlyP

I can confirm that the Samsung HS080HB 80GB 1.8" 5mm drive fits perfectly in our beloved FlipStarts. I've been using it for 2 weeks now. RAM is soldered onboard, I think we have to forget about upgrading it...

Now I just have to switch the sprint module with an HSDPA one, and it will be the perfect mobile workstation.

02/21/08 + rr0123

FlyP said: "I can confirm that the Samsung HS080HB 80GB 1.8" 5mm drive fits perfectly in our beloved FlipStarts. I've been using it for 2 weeks now. RAM is soldered onboard, I think we have to forget about upgrading it...."

Where did you buy it?

02/21/08 + elsewhere

FlyP said: "
Now I just have to switch the sprint module with an HSDPA one, and it will be the perfect mobile workstation."

What interface does it use? (mini PCI, mini USB or similar?)
Any chance of fitting something other than a radio into that slot?

edited: Feb 21 2008 + diJenerate

@rr0123 this is the 80GB, same as an iPod Classic btw.

@elsewhere MiniPCi as on page 14 in this doc.

diJenerate

Recent Blog: Raon Digital Gets Serious w/First 64-bit Dual Core Handtop

02/21/08 + pierro78

The HS082HB has a 8MB cache (HS080HB has a 2MB cache). It's used in the mac book air : link