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13545
August 18th, 2018 09:00
Inspiron Mini 910, upgrading to a larger SSD?
I've got an old Inspiron 910 that I really like because it is so small I can take it on vacation and save my photos on it. But the SSD is so small that when I installed Windows 10 it doesn't work well (or at all) because there isn't enough room on the SSD.
I got a 32 GB on eBay (Vaseky SATA3 Mini) but it doesn't work. It fits but I get a red light when I turn the power on and it won't boot.
I looked around this forum and got a recommendation for a half PCIe Mini SSD from Super Talent that should work and it wasn't that expensive (ebay again).
My question is, when it comes in the mail it will probably be unformatted. My Windows 10 ISO on my thumb drive has a boot .exe. Can I use the Windows 10 to format the HD.
Thanks in advance
ejn63
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August 18th, 2018 11:00
The drives, though physically the same as mSATA, aren't SATA - they're PATA (parallel ATA).
These weren't used widely outside of netbooks during the era when your system was built, but they are still available.
For example:
https://www.cpumedics.com/u818m.html?cmp=googleproducts&kw=u818m?180814&_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAjwh9_bBRA_EiwApObaOAGxP4fKml4kfyFKIdhfNAaGcamNzzANDSouBykl3mHOhxdsjOfQVhoCytsQAvD_BwE
You would have to have a considerable sense of humor to run Windows 10 on this system, though - it will be exceedingly slow. There was a slimmed-down stripped-out Windows 7 called "Starter" used on some of them, and even that was not particularly responsive - if you don't need Windows, many of these will run a lightweight LInux or ChromiumOS, which is a much better option.
The very weak part of these is the GPU core -- and starting with Windows 7, Microsoft started offloading a lot of processing onto the GPU, which is why these systems are so bad for running anything from 7 on up.
nyc10036
6 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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August 18th, 2018 14:00
video: http://www.jkkmobile.com/2008/09/32bg-ssd-on-dell-mini-9.html
there is an excellent discussion of this exact topic from a few years back: https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General/Inspiron-Mini-910-Upgrading-to-a-Larger-SSD-Hard-drive/td-p/3742893
If you want to use Windows 10, be sure to upgrade to 2 GB RAM.
Windows 10 will fit on a 32 GB hard drive. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 120S that has the 32 GB eMMC hard drive which runs Windows 10. You need to do a clean installation though. That's what I had to do.
Once you install Windows 10, use the SD card for your own data such as the photos. Don't save photos to the hard drive! Don't install too many programs; otherwise the hard drive will fill up and you won't be able to do the automatic Windows 10 upgrades.
ejn63
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August 18th, 2018 14:00
The Celeron in the IdeaPad is a world more capable than the Atom N in the Inspiron 910.
Beyond the space issues, Microsoft has cut off Windows 10 updates from these CPUs
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/19/16001366/microsoft-windows-10-creators-update-atom-pcs
meaning you'll be stuck with an old version of Windows 10 -- if you can even endure the way it runs on this hardware.
nyc10036
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August 18th, 2018 16:00
That is news to me. Wow.
I have an Acer Aspire One D257 that has the Intel Atom N455.
I installed Windows 10 v1803 on it and it activated.
I confused which version of Windows 10 they are talking about in that article.
Bob32014
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September 7th, 2018 23:00
Thanks for all the advice.
I will put another GB of ram in there.
I installed and ISO version of Windows 10 and it does seem to work. Although it is a bit slow. You just can't ask it to do two things at once for sure.
But it handles Excel and Word quite well and I can stream videos.
I'll check if it's updating. That could be a problem.
nyc10036
6 Operator
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5.6K Posts
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October 8th, 2018 18:00
Microsoft has delayed release of Windows 10 v1809 , so we won't know until it is available again whether our laptops will update to that version.
I do have latest cumulative update for v1803
curbyi
3 Posts
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January 16th, 2019 02:00
So reading the discussion this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vaseky-256GB-SSD-1-8-Mini-mSATA-3-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-Storage-For-PC/132653872263?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D362b6059957047cea97bfb4b62b5151b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D7%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D161577378490%26itm%3D132653872263&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
won't work.
And although its not that fast the only thing that will work is
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/32GB-SuperTalent-IDE-Half-Mini-2-PCIe-SM1-SSD-Dell-Inspiron-Mini-9-109MB-speed/182983470196?epid=1682884243&hash=item2a9aaa2c74:g:lAMAAOSw-kdXyUCM:rk:6:pf:0
Cheers Sean
SUCROMATIC
6 Posts
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February 12th, 2019 06:00
I have a mini 910. I am running Win 7 Home Premium 32-Bit. I have 2GB RAM and a KingSpec 128 GB SSD part number is KSM-PMP.16-128MS. The Bar Scan Code is 6 950509 990408. I used Evan Vaughn's Win2Flash utility to create a USB boot drive for Windows 7 32-bit. I put the SSD in the mini and started it up (hit the escape key to get boot menu) and boot to USB. Win 7 will set up SSD. I've installed a 32 GB, a 64 GB, and now this 128 GB with no issues.
sotbak
2 Posts
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June 16th, 2019 05:00
I have just ordered what you proposed. 56,21 euros including postage. I am curious if it works
sotbak
2 Posts
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June 16th, 2019 05:00
I also own a dell inspiron 910 & it is quite good wit the windows 7 starter, but I face the same problem: too small hard disc. Is there an option? I mean is there a bigger in capacity HDD to replace the old?