5 March 2022
# eee901, Network, SSD upgrade, mSATA, mini-PCIe, Windows
This ASUS eee901 was a very popular netbook PC about 10 to 15 years ago. It was one of the cheap netbook PC that uses SSDs for memory storage. It was very hackable and many hobbyists like to do all sorts of modification work using this PC.
Because the netbook uses only 5 Watts. I bought a couple of these for stock data mining which required the PC to be operating 24/7. When the SDD finally failed to work and plenty of free stock screening websites are available free for downloading, I decided to retire them some 5 years.
Lately, I took up the interest to do stock data mining again. This time is for data that are not available anywhere on the Internet. The choice then was between buying a new netbook or upgrading the eee901 with a faster and bigger SSD.
What SSD Were Used?
These ASUS netbooks use a special SSD called mini-PCIe SSD. These SSD has a similar form factor as the mini-SATA (mSATA) SSD. Mini-PCI SSD is not easily available and mSATA SSD cannot be used to replace Mini-SSD directly in the ASUS netbook.
The Final Choice
.I decided to revive the eee901 for the following reasons
1) Netbook has now been replaced by the tablets which run on either Android or iOS. They are not good for running the Excel macros which were written earlier for data mining;
2) There are adaptors available to convert mSATA SSD to mini-PCI SDD for use in eee901. The adaptors are fairly cheap. The SSD replacement and upgrading work is estimated to cost less than SGD$30/=. It is much cheaper than a new netbook; moreover, I have a few spare mSATA SSD lying around and I can use them for the upgrading work.
The only Snag
The eee901 PC has two SSD; one 8GB master SSD that is accessible after removing the cover; the other is the 4GB slave SSD that is hidden inside the PC. When the new adaptor SSD is used to replace the 8GB Master SSD, the PC will recognise only the new adaptor SSD as a slave. The BIOS will always give this warning error about "master SSD not found" whenever the PC is booted up. The warning error cannot be defeated because it is an error message. It will stop loading up the Windows. This is not good when one is trying to automate the PC to start up windows and run the excel macros automatically.
Installing the adaptor SSD to replace the hidden 4GB will solve this startup error but the adaptor SSD must be shortened because the hidden 4GB is half-height. It is around 50 mm long whereas the new adaptor SSD is around 70 mm long.
Can the Adaptor SSD Be Shortened?
Yes, it can. One must use 1/2 height mSATA with a short piece of PVC plastic added as shown in this automated picture. There is just enough room in eee 901 for the installation of this new and shortened adaptor SSD
How to Install the Inside the eee901?
Here is one of the video
Enhanced Performance
Users will find the replacement Adaptor SSD running much faster than the original SSD. This is because the mSATA is of the more advanced Technolgy. The mSATA's speed can be several times that of the original SSD.
With the larger capacity SSD, one can use the original Windows 7 with the response and speed, at times, even better than the Intel E8400 PC with the hard drive. Some has tested eee901 using Windows 10 but the response was a bit sluggish as reported because Windows 10 will require 3 GB RAM to run efficiently. The eee901 only has a maximum RAM of 2 GB.
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