Acer Aspire 5100 series HDD size limit

[eladb]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

 

[Brett928S2]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

 

[eladb]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

Great...thanks for that.
I've tried using a 320GB SATA II drive (WD3200BEVT) connected with a SATA to IDE adapter, but laptop refuses to boot! I wondered if maybe I need SATA I drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers...Eladb

 

[Brett928S2]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

Great...thanks for that.
I've tried using a 320GB SATA II drive (WD3200BEVT) connected with a SATA to IDE adapter, but laptop refuses to boot! I wondered if maybe I need SATA I drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Only SOME lappies will boot with adaprors....

So don't bother....

It wouldn't be that much faster anyway...

You want speed ...use the 320 and add ram...

All the best Brett

 

[eladb]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

Great...thanks for that.
I've tried using a 320GB SATA II drive (WD3200BEVT) connected with a SATA to IDE adapter, but laptop refuses to boot! I wondered if maybe I need SATA I drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Only SOME lappies will boot with adaprors....

So don't bother....

It wouldn't be that much faster anyway...

You want speed ...use the 320 and add ram...

All the best Brett

Ok. Since I already have this 320GB sata drive, if I can use it then it would be a cheaper solution.
I noticed in the BIOS setup that SATA is one of the boot options. Do you know if sata connections are available on this laptop's mobo?
Cheers...Eladb

 

[Brett928S2]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

Great...thanks for that.
I've tried using a 320GB SATA II drive (WD3200BEVT) connected with a SATA to IDE adapter, but laptop refuses to boot! I wondered if maybe I need SATA I drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Only SOME lappies will boot with adaprors....

So don't bother....

It wouldn't be that much faster anyway...

You want speed ...use the 320 and add ram...

All the best Brett

Ok. Since I already have this 320GB sata drive, if I can use it then it would be a cheaper solution.
I noticed in the BIOS setup that SATA is one of the boot options. Do you know if sata connections are available on this laptop's mobo?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Nope there are none..

I assumed you had a 320 ide drive

All the best Brett

 

[eladb]

Anyone know the HDD size limit for an Acer Aspire 5102wlmi with latest V3.13 BIOS?

Laptop came with 100GB pata drive.
I'd like to upgrade to 320GB pata since I believe this is the biggest 2.5" pata drive ever made by WD, but I'd like to know if it will be compatible before buying?

Cheers...

Hi

It will be fine that 320 (see my sig)

All the best Brett

Great...thanks for that.
I've tried using a 320GB SATA II drive (WD3200BEVT) connected with a SATA to IDE adapter, but laptop refuses to boot! I wondered if maybe I need SATA I drive.
Any thoughts?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Only SOME lappies will boot with adaprors....

So don't bother....

It wouldn't be that much faster anyway...

You want speed ...use the 320 and add ram...

All the best Brett

Ok. Since I already have this 320GB sata drive, if I can use it then it would be a cheaper solution.
I noticed in the BIOS setup that SATA is one of the boot options. Do you know if sata connections are available on this laptop's mobo?
Cheers...Eladb

Hi

Nope there are none..

I assumed you had a 320 ide drive

All the best Brett

Thanks Brett. I have a 320gb sata drive. If I could get the laptop to work with sata then that would be sweet, otherwise I'll have to fork out and buy an ide HDD. I initially asked about max drive size since I thought maybe this was stopping my laptop booting when using the sata to ide adaptor...but according to you, that's not the problem.
It seems some of these 5100 series laptops did have sata, hence explaining why it appears in the BIOS setup.
Another solution might be...if the chipset provides the sata pinouts and they are visible on the mobo, I might be able to connect a sata drive this way.
Cheers...Eladb

 

[kuq2Wr]

I have a Acer wlmi5104 laptop w/ IDE hard drive. Yesterday, I upgraded it to a SATA SSD using a IDE to SATA caddy adapter.

Here's how I did it:
1. Create Acer Windows recovery/system discs [2].
2. Buy IDE to SATA caddy 12.7 at eBay for ~$10. Buy a USB IDE DVD enclosure at eBay.
3. Install SATA in caddy. Remove all hard drives. The recovery discs likes to use "IDE 0". Plug in the USB DVD.
4. Make sure that the HD/SSD you install is NOT formatted or it will not boot after Windows install! If it has been formatted, then do a full secure erase first.
5. The recovery disc #1 will partition it properly, install Windows & will restart to install all drivers.
6. If you use SSD, then you will need to align it using any freeware alignment software.

Your welcome.

 

[eladb]

I have a Acer wlmi5104 laptop w/ IDE hard drive. Yesterday, I upgraded it to a SATA SSD using a IDE to SATA caddy adapter.

Here's how I did it:
1. Create Acer Windows recovery/system discs [2].
2. Buy IDE to SATA caddy 12.7 at eBay for ~$10. Buy a USB IDE DVD enclosure at eBay.
3. Install SATA in caddy. Remove all hard drives. The recovery discs likes to use "IDE 0". Plug in the USB DVD.
4. Make sure that the HD/SSD you install is NOT formatted or it will not boot after Windows install! If it has been formatted, then do a full secure erase first.
5. The recovery disc #1 will partition it properly, install Windows & will restart to install all drivers.
6. If you use SSD, then you will need to align it using any freeware alignment software.

Your welcome.

Thanks for that info...but you did have to sacrifice your DVD/CD drive in order to install the SSD in its caddy?
Have you ever seen a sata caddy that will fit into the existing ide hdd space in the laptop?
What is interesting is that your laptop can actually boot via the sata to ide adapter in the caddy. I couldn't get mine to boot using a separate small pcb sata to ide adapter connected to the internal HDD ide connector. I used EASEUS Todo freeware to clone my existing ide hdd onto the new sata drive connected via an external USB sata case. This freeware has worked well before in the past but now I just can't get my laptop to boot from the sata drive.
BTW what is the capacity of your SSD and is it sata 2 ?
Cheers...

 

[jarotech]

Hi eladb, you have on the motherboard an IDE connector. Underneath this connector you have the SATA pins to connect a SATA connector.
This will work if the motherboard have all the circuits to use the SATA connector.

 

[eladb]

Hi eladb, you have on the motherboard an IDE connector. Underneath this connector you have the SATA pins to connect a SATA connector.
This will work if the motherboard have all the circuits to use the SATA connector.

Thanks for this suggestion.
Surely if there was a sata controller present on the mobo, then the Win 7 Device Manager should indicate it's presence....mine shows only IDE :-(
The latest V3.13 BIOS indicates SATA as one of the boot device options, but maybe this same BIOS is used on several different versions of the Aspire 5100 series laptops, some of which do have a sata controller present.
Cheers...

 

[jarotech]

You have the SATA controller on the motherboard but I don't know if you have all the components to use the SATA connector on the motherboard.

 

[eladb]

You have the SATA controller on the motherboard but I don't know if you have all the components to use the SATA connector on the motherboard.

If you say the SATA controller is present, why doesn't Windows Device Manager see it?
The connector is not a problem. I can always pick one up on ebay, ideally one with an attached cable and ensure that together with the sata hdd, it all fits in the hdd compartment. I think this one would do the trick:
http/www.ebay.com.au/itm/220917277181?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_1309wt_1037

 

[kuq2Wr]

[/quotemsg]
Thanks for that info...but you did have to sacrifice your DVD/CD drive in order to install the SSD in its caddy?
Have you ever seen a sata caddy that will fit into the existing ide hdd space in the laptop?
What is interesting is that your laptop can actually boot via the sata to ide adapter in the caddy. I couldn't get mine to boot using a separate small pcb sata to ide adapter connected to the internal HDD ide connector. I used EASEUS Todo freeware to clone my existing ide hdd onto the new sata drive connected via an external USB sata case. This freeware has worked well before in the past but now I just can't get my laptop to boot from the sata drive.
BTW what is the capacity of your SSD and is it sata 2 ?
Cheers...[/quotemsg]

Yes, the DVD-CDRW is now in its own USB 2.0 IDE enclosure. If I need it, I can easily plug it in. Fully compatible & bootable.

No, I actually bought a ide/sata adapter, but the dimension does not fit. There is an alternative by using a IDE to micro-SATA 1.8 adapter. I've thought about this hard because there was a sale of a 1.8 SSD 256GB for ~$110 at eBay 3 weeks ago. But decided to past it. It may work using a IDE to Micro-SATA 1.8 adapter since it has an independent controller & should fit.

Initially, I did bought a SSD IDE 64GB which work well for this laptop. But time & SSD degradation has really slowed it down due to 1st generation SSD controller. It is still decent, but the prices in eBay for IDE SSD is too high. That is why I went with a IDE to SATA caddy 12.7mm adapter. This particular IDE/SATA caddy adapter is bootable probably due to having its own controller to convert/transmit data. Bought at eBay "digitide" store in California for ~$10. Yours seemed to be just a cable adapter; which may not be adequate for booting OS & communication with laptop bios.

The SSD is Samsung 830 128GB SATA3; a tier-1 SSD when I bought it 10 months ago. Benchmarks scores: AS SSD = 112 & Anvil Storage = 629.51. It is severely hampered by the IDE bus, but it still 30X faster than any hard drive. The original IDE HD is now in its own USB IDE enclosure for storage. I don't want to install it because I encountered bios problems in the past.

 

[Brett928S2]

You have the SATA controller on the motherboard but I don't know if you have all the components to use the SATA connector on the motherboard.

If you say the SATA controller is present, why doesn't Windows Device Manager see it?
The connector is not a problem. I can always pick one up on ebay, ideally one with an attached cable and ensure that together with the sata hdd, it all fits in the hdd compartment.

Hi

Lol...if it is there, its the sort you have to SOLDER to.....without melting the nearest tracks...how are your soldering skills, and have you got a Pro low temp soldering iron ??

I would forget it personally....

All the best Brett