Modding Adding more storage to your Asus Eee PC

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2007/12/27/add_more_storage_space_to_your_asus_eee_pc/1

The Asus EeePC is an inexpensive phenomenon - but here at bit-tech we're never happy with just leaving things alone. We increase the capacity of the tiny notebook eight fold to over 32GB, with this elegant and very simple mod anyone can do.



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Awesome guide! I'm liking this a lot more now since 4GB wasn't a lot and 32GB is a lot more

 

Great Guide, it is an easy way to increase the storage in this thing, the 4gb was the only thing that was really putting me off.

 

Is there anyway to trick it in to thinking it's a real hard drive?

 

(j/k)

But seriously: This is a great, simple, mod and a great guide (almost makes me want an Eee) . Thanks

 

One thing, is there enough space inside to break down a tiny two port USB hub (like one you get from Maplin) so you can still use the USB port?

 

I think there is.
Some have had success mounting USB hubs in the screen enclosure, above and below the speakers at either side of the screen.
There's also a little space either sidde of the trackpad under the heatspreader IIRC that will fit a very thin PCB no problem.

Some of the mods also use the USB lead going to the integrated USB webcam and solder on a usb hub to that wire, which makes things quite easy.

I can't wait to mod my eee...

 

Excellent idea, but it leaves me with two questions.

First, I've heard that on the lesser models without a webcam, there's an internal USB header which would otherwise have been used for the camera. Is this active and just not connected to anything, or are the traces to it cut? Because if it's still wired up, that would make a very easy place to solder to without killing an external USB port.

Second, you said the operating system takes 2.6 GB. How does this work on the 2GB model? Is it missing software as compared to the others?

 

It looks like there would be enough space for two of those 32gb drives where you mounted the drive in the guide and possibly another two if you ditched the plug and did some more soldering. then you could mount the USB hub somewhere and have 128gb's of space haha. Would be awesome if you could do it in a 4x4 striped array as well. Quadruple the speed and those flash drives a pretty damn dependable so you really wouldn't have to worry about failure. If I had one of those things I'd just fiberglass a terrabyte HDD into the top of the screen or just fiberglass some USB ports and a hub to plug those drives directly into the top so they were flush but removable. The CF wrap the whole dam thing.....I think I have a new project.

 

Your USB cable colors are accurate regardless of cable manufacturer. The front panel leads for integrated USB ports in any non-OEM case uses the same colors. Those colors are a defined standard, just like with CAT5.

Techno-jargon aside, this mod has me considering an Eee, which I was previously turned off from because of the lack of storage.

 

I like the look of that

I would love one, but the screen res is too small if they release anything with a 1024*768 screen or above, I would buy it like a shot.

 

Great article!

This mod is simpler than the ones featured at eeeuser.com but, with this mod you loose one USB port, whereas with the eeeuser.com mods you add two USB ports from the mini-PCIe connectors. However, it requires some crazy soldering skills....

 

looks like a nice mod but wouldnt it have been easier to pop an sd card in

 

This is a very cool mod, but personally it's not something I'd do.

For starters, 32GB Class 6 SDHC cards are supposed to be with us in January of 08, and assuming they cost the same as the USB stick, why endanger your machine like that if you dont have to? Obviously, you could go for 64GB of extra memory in total, but then you've spent ~£400 on upgrading the memory of a £200 machine, and you're getting relatively close to higher end sub-notebook machines anyway which often have larger HDDs or SSDs in them anyway.

Will I try something like this in a year or two when my warrenty is done and I dont mind too much about the thing maybe dying though, and 32GB USB sticks cost under £80? You bet!

 

While not as easy check out this one

http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.php/Eee_PC_Internal_Upgrades

 

As far as the bios is concerned, it is. I'm not sure how much further "tricking" is wanted or necessary?

I think you're right on the camera header. But as my model has a webcam, I can't confirm. Best to check out www.eeeuser.com and take a look on the forums.

I chose this route, because then anyone can do it. Personally I think 2 USB ports is plenty. You're not really losing a port - you're just having something permantly plugged in!

I'm not sure how it works on the 2GB model. I would imagine the OS would have to be different.

That was my biggest gripe with the unit. But honestly, after using it almost non-stop since I got it - you get used to the size. Going from dual 1680x1050 desktop to anything is a bit of a shock. The Asus Launcher is designed nicely, and you don't feel the size. Thunderbird is the only thing that feels cramped. Running FireFox full screen, or zooming out using Opera makes most websites feel fine.

A fair point. But as this is a modding site, that would seem a tad boring

Yeah, there are some really neatly done mods out there. But not everyone is that great at soldering and wants to risk screwing up their new device. This mod is a LOT simpler with a much smaller chance of screwing up!

On a final note, I thought to myself yesterday that instead of blocking off the USB port - a male to male USB lead, means that if used when the machine is off, would essentially turn it into an external hard drive. Useful if you need to access something and the battery is dead and a few other scenarios I can think of. I haven't tested this however, as you would be putting voltage in, where it is used to giving it out. I don't want to end up frying the USB chips onboard! Anyone got any ideas on this?

 

Very true, and I applaud what you've done (since there's nothing stopping your method being utilised with an SDHC, and more = betta)

 

Oh now that's just wrong, That article has just pushed on of these to the top of my want list

 

Just wondering, why can't we plug anything into the USB port after soldering the drive to it? I want do to this same mod except connect a USB hub instead of just one drive. If a USB hub can run several usb drives on just one port, then shouldn't that external port still work fine? Or does the hub have some sort of power management that lets it run a bunch of stuff at the same time without causing any problems.

 

Brilliant!!! I didn't even know that was possible. The only down side is you loose one usb port, but who cares a usb hub would do. Guess this solves the problem for xp users. Great guide.