Gen 1 MBA Harddrive Upgrade

[n0de]

Has anyone successfully upgraded the harddrive of their 1st generation MBA?

If so, what make/model?

 

[HiFiGuy528]

There aren't any thing bigger than 80GB that will work in the Air. Do a search and you'll see A LOT of talk about this.

 

[Fonzijr1964]

There aren't any thing bigger than 80GB that will work in the Air. Do a search and you'll see A LOT of talk about this.

wow 120GB

or 128GB SSD

 

[Essjay]

wow 120GB

or 128GB SSD

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that these new drives use SATA and not the Zif connector used in the 1st gen air.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that these new drives use SATA and not the Zif connector used in the 1st gen air.

You are correct. 1st gen Air uses 40pin Zif connector.

 

[ansontin]

Is it possible to find the sata cable for 1st gen Macbook Air to replace the hard drive ?

 

[glitch44]

Is it possible to find the sata cable for 1st gen Macbook Air to replace the hard drive ?

I don't understand your questions-- the 1st gen uses a PATA zif connector for PATA drives.

 

[ansontin]

I found that the 1st gen Macbook Air is using a PATA connector to connect to the motherboard, and it is unique and special (thin like a paper). However, the 2nd gen Macbook Air is using a SATA connector. Is it possible to have 3rd party vendor to sell the SATA connector for 1st gen Macbook Air, therefore we can upgrade hard drive with SATA ? Any comment or ideas ?

 

[TheRiseofTheFal]

instead of special adapters or the like, does anyone currently make hd's bigger than 80 gbs that utilize the PATA connection? I feel like the 120gb in the new classic uses this connection but can it be bought?

 

[blueflame]

I am also interested in this exact topic. is there not a upgrade yet? any options?

 

[spencers]

I found that the 1st gen Macbook Air is using a PATA connector to connect to the motherboard, and it is unique and special (thin like a paper). However, the 2nd gen Macbook Air is using a SATA connector. Is it possible to have 3rd party vendor to sell the SATA connector for 1st gen Macbook Air, therefore we can upgrade hard drive with SATA ? Any comment or ideas ?

pata is not sata

For those looking to upgrade the 1G MBA
Samsung HS122JB
Toshiba MK1231GAL (due out in november)
Both 120gb PATA/ZIF 5cm height single platter drives

 

[fsosx]

Forget the MK1231GAL.

I tried for hours to make it work.

I always get an I/O error when trying to format it. Drive is seen as a Toshiba MK1231GAL, you can even zero it but when it comes to format it, I got no luck.

I tried using Disk Utility and fdisk (terminal). It looks like the commands are working and saved but whenever you quit fdisk nothing is really saved to disk.

By the way, I get the same results using a PC...

FYI

 

[mac jones]

Apparently the new SATA drives in the Rev B notebooks are LIF SATA.

Which is a Zif cable similar to the REV A PATA zif.

It may be difficult finding a SATA Lif drive outside of OEM at this time.

note: You can see LIF written very clearly on the new SATA drive in a photo posted here in an earlier thread.

 

[fsosx]

The drive has a ZIF connector.

Strangely, you can zero the drive, meaning you can write to it. The drive identifies itself as a Toshiba MK1231GAL but even using fdisk you can't alter the disk geometry.