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Hello,
My SSD has just crashed (after 2 years and 4 month...)
It seems that the corresponding SSD is the AData xm11 but i didn't find a replacement easily. But does a equivalent exist ? I don't know very well but it seems that the ones on the MacBook Air looks like quit similar.
Could someone tell me which SSD i could put in my UX31A ?
Thank you very much.
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Hi,
The ux31a has its own proprietary 18 pin connector. Only 2 hard disks were produced for this model, Sandisk U100 and ADATA XM11. Both can be found on eBay (but are quite expensive) or aliexpress (but I'm concerned about the genuinity and reliability).
A good alternative is to buy an adapter, from m.2 to this 18-pin thing, so that you can buy a much cheaper m.2 ssd on your own. This is available from Chinese vendors on both amazon and eBay. I'm currently waiting for my own to arrive, but amazon reviews are pretty good.
Hope this helps!
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Hi thank you for you answer. I saw this adapter but i wasn't sure if there were compatible. Anyway i already ordered the Adata XM11 on aliexpress. But there are quite expensive and it's a shame that the SSD fails 4 month after the end of the warranty.
Just wanted to point out that we bought the adapter & an M.2 2280 SSD, & while it works great, the combination is too tall to fit with the back cover installed. Forcing it caused boot errors. We're currently deciding the best course of action, but I may just take a hammer to the cover.
Hello Daniel,
how have you understood that your SSD crashed? Currently my SSD got invisible in the BIOS after a normal power off and it will not show up again....
Can you please also tell which adapter and SSD you have bought?
Thank you
Roman
In my case, the SSD did not crash. It just didn't have insufficient space, so we were looking to upgrade to a higher capacity drive. We bought one of the M.2 NGFF to 18 Pin Blade Adapters available on Amazon. I think it was the one sold by Micro SATA Cables, but both look identical. We bought the Crucial M550 512GB M.2 2280 SSD. The combination works well before the back cover is reinstalled, but as I said, the SSD with the adapter just sits too high, & the cover won't fit without some kind of modification.
Hi Deniel, I'm also looking to replace the SSD since it is starting to fail and the S.M.A.R.T is showing Soft Read errors. I was about to purchase the exact same combination as yours when I came across your post. Where you able to modify the case and if so do you mind sharing how you did it?
Also, is it worth the effort or am I better off just purchasing an XM11?
I sincerely appreciate any response you can provide, Thanks.
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Have the similiar problem with my UX31E (mainly poor performance of the Sandisk 256GB rather than the SSD dying) and recently upgraded to a Samsung EVO 850 M.2 with a very small adapter on eBay which fits inline with the SSD. This means there is no problems with the back cover.
I know alexandremadurell posted the link, but it's well worth checking for anyone looking at changing/upgrading: https://jure.tuta.si/?p=40
There is a lot of information there and links to the different adapters including the slim-line adapter I used.
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Hy Trystan. I've done exactly the same (Samsung EVO 850 M.2 with the M.2 adapter in my UX31) and after I installed Windows 10 from scratch. Before my SSD crashed, I installed the W10 update over W7 original. Now I have the problem that my machine heats up (the fan starts to work too soon comparing to my previous installation before the ssd crash), and the OS crashes too and reboots. I updated completely the OS. What I'm doing badly? Did you install some driver from Asus?
Sorry, didn't see your comment until now. I don't recall any difference to the fan, but I updated my BIOS to the latest and tried to ensure I had the latest drivers for the laptop trying to fix a keyboard issue I had.
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Sorry for the slow response. My boss modified the case during Christmas vacation. I haven't seen the work myself, but he said he cut a u-shaped slit in the case near the SSD. He then bent that section out & then flat again so that it would be parallel to the rest of the case but slightly further out. He said he plans to tack weld it into place later & seal with JB Weld, but is just closing it with tape for now. I haven't seen the results myself, but he seems to be happy with it. The bent piece still sits close enough that it doesn't touch when the laptop is on a table, but apparently the clearance is minimal. In his words, had he known this would be the solution from the beginning, he would have settled for the OEM 256GB SSD, but having already purchased the drive & adapter, he is happy with the result.
It appears to be a Phillips or similar. I think I just used a driver from a watch repair kit. It wasn't installed tightly enough for me to worry too much about stripping it out.
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I just brought an 18 pin adapter for my zenbook and got a intell 128gb ssd of ebay for $50 dollars and works fine .i was told the original zenbook ssd are crap and they all seem to blow by design a few months after warranty expires! Hence why i brought the adapter and other brand ssd
Hi Darren - please can you write me WHAT type of SSD dis you EXACTLY buy? Thanks a lot Kate!
Any SATA SSD will work with the 18pin adapter mentioned, so any M.2 drive up to the 2280 size that is SATA. NVMe will not. I have used 1Tb WD SSD drives with success.
The laptops use Intel SSD software to configure RAID. If you just pop in the drives and restore your previous Windows install, you will have two non-RAID drives. You can then use the Intel SSD software to recreate a RAID, but you may then have to do a second restore to your new RAID, as the creation process may destroy the data currently on both the disks. Of course, with a fresh install of Windows you can create the RAID prior to the Windows install.
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I had a 120gb sandisk ssd in my ux31a zenbook, and it was quite slow and space wasnt nearly enough for me.
So I went ahead and installed a Crucial MX300 275GB M.2 (2280) ssd using the full length adapter. In addition to that, I've also put some electrical tape on the back side of the cover there the ssd is just to create a "cushion" and/or barrier with it and the aluminum body.
No issues since the install and very pleased.
edit: You could essentially put any m.2 sata ssd, but it needs to be sata and not nvme (pcie).
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Glad to know about your success with swapping out the drive. Have you had any issues since?
Could you share the exact details of the full length adapter. My OEM 256GB has crashed, and I am trying to figure out what replacement combination I can use that will allow the metal enclosure to close properly.
Not sure about Sammy, but up until I replaced my laptop last week, the SSD wasn't causing any issues (keyboard and audio issues are related to other problems).
I'd recommend this type of adapter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/222730309698
This is the same style of adapter I used and meant I didn't need any modifications or tape applied to the back case (at least for mine).
Sammy here. Still have the same laptop in use till this day, no issues whatsoever. rock solid. I've since upgraded to a 500GB Samsung Evo 860 m.2 SSD
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I'm debating myself, which way to take. From one hand, I can find 256G SSDs with original 18-pins for about $100-120 (shipped from China). On another hand, I found an adapter (small one, without long PCB) for $10. But then I have to hunt and bid for M.2 SSDs to get it cheaper than $60-80. Plus, it should be "older" SSD that supports SATA, not just M.2...
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could the new ssd M2 samsung 970 Pro also work (with adapter)?
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It will be a waste even if it can.
My guess it it will convert to SATA inferface & tops 550 mbytes/sec.
So its pointless.
there is no way such old laptop posess NVME PCIe tech which was developped much later.
I wish it could because I have 3 UX31A & 1 UX32 laptops.
Btw my question is similar:
Would it a new NVME SSD work with UX31A or UX32 with adapters? It was said that it might not be supported by MB Bios.
(UX32 uses a standard SATA SSD 7mm tall)
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I am a fabricator of Custom Models and I looked long and hard to find a way to upgrade my Zenbook UX-31a to 1 Terabyte. Most people were satisfied with 256 and 500G, but not me! I have LOTS of Graphic Files and nothing less than 1 Terabyte would suffice. Finally, the Wait is OVER !!!!
. There is NOW some 3rd Party Vendors out of China that realize the significant demand for Hardware Drive Upgrades for the UX21A UX21E UX31A UX31E Zenbook platforms. You can google the following company below. I recently purchased the 1 TB made specifically for the Zenbook UX21A UX21E UX31A UX31E
500 G is now the norm for laptops and 1T will eventually be the standard. 128 and 256 Gig are no longer tollerable.
I will post more about my finding after this initial post is published.
NEW 1TB XM11 V2 SSD For Asus ZenBook TAICHI 21 TAICHI 31 UX21A UX21E UX31A UX31E
Item priceUSD 166.99
Regards, Herman
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Hi herman i bought 1 tb from this site but the problem is copying large files its take long time. in starting its copy file speed is 80-90 mb/s but after 5-10 minutes the speed is goes down 15-20 mb/s. its seems the speed getting reduce coz of heating the ssd and the speed goes low to avoid crash ssd . i had before original 128 adata ssd in my asus laptop but the space is not enough. so i bought 1tb ssd from this site. is any soloutation to bost and speed for this ssd ?
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Hi shiny happy people. My father’s UX31A hard drive has died and I need to replace it. I can see that I need the m.2 to 18 pin adapter to use a standard m.2 drive, but what type of m.2 drive should I be looking at? I imagine there’s no point getting the latest as it will be too fast for the UX31a interface and will run slower, but what should I be looking for? And do I need to be wary of the length of the m.2 (with is having an adapter on it that might affect the length of it?)
I’m just looking to replace it with another 256GB one (and I’m in the UK!)
Thanks
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You'll need a SATA M.2 SSD (not NVMe) to go into the adapter. When I did my upgrade, I used a Samsung 850EVO 500GB which worked well. I'd suggest something brand named (Samsung, Western Digital/WD, Crucial, Kingston, ADATA, Seagate or Sandisk, Transcend) with a 2280 size (basically a 'standard sized' M.2, they can come in different sizes) and suggest going upto 500GB if the budget allows. I found a WD M.2 SATA SSD WDS250G2B0B 250GB SSD for 40 quid on Amazon UK, something like that should work fine.
I just bought 6 month ago 1 tb from ali express for asus ux31a. Cost comes approx 119 USD.. its working like a so smooth and fast as well. Have 2 years warranty also. No need to buy with additional connector coz sometimes its fit and some times not. And there is always chance to become lose the connector. I highly recommend you to buy this from ali express.
@crenn Great, thanks guys. Should this adapter work ok as well? Or will it be too thick being on a back board? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173382214916
I used something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373560384782
However I couldn't see a local UK seller of it on ebay or Amazon UK. I made sure to get that one as it fitted in the laptop with no modifications. The other adapters (like what you linked to) can fit still, just it may be a little tight with the back panel.
Key words for searching is "UX31 M2 adapter". Aliexpress probably would have them as well. As for the aliexpress SSDs, they'll most likely be fine, but I prefer to have the standard M.2 interface if I were to decide to upgrade the SSD later on as there will be a good supply and selection of them.
@crenn I went for the WD M.2 SATA SSD WDS250G2B0B 250GB SSD you mentioned, £35 on Amazon at the moment, and I tried one of the adapters I linked to and it's worked a treat. I was worried that the adapter might be too thick for the bottom of the case but it's fine. It does have UX31 printed on it so must be intended for these. Windows 10 all reinstalled and seems stable, so many thanks for you help! My father in law will be really relieved!
Hi there,
I just wanted to share, that I managed to replace the drive in UX51 using a regular SATA SSD and an adapter.
Adapter: Kalea-Informatique© - adapter M.2 (M2 NGFF B Key SATA)
Disk: WDS500G2B0B
The installed disk looks like this:
(I added the electrical tape on the cover just in case).
Some details of the disk here:
Hope it helps :)
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I have a UX51 with dual 256Gbyte SSD (XM11-V2). They are configured as Raid0. I would like to upgrade to larger drive while keeping the original data.
Is it possible to use the adapter to copy from the original drive to the new larger drive?
Yes, I think you'll be able to use the adapter to read the data however, you need to keep in mind the RAID 0 might be the issue here - maybe some additional configuration will be needed to copy the files on another system.
I store a lot of images on my laptop and needed more space. I had to upgrade 2 times. 128G to 500G. Most recently 500G to 1TB. There is now a 1TB (1 Terabyte) option without the need for an Adapter on eBay. Just search for the UX Version along with the keyword
NEW 1TB XM11 V2 SSD For Asus ZenBook TAICHI 21 TAICHI 31 UX21A UX21E UX31A UX31E
https://www.ebay.com/itm/223789789943
This solution does NOT require an Adapter, as a result, you don’t need to worry about the Thickness issue that others have mentioned.
Regards
Herman Bongco
1-844-8MODELS
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20241003: Thanks all for the info above - helped to backup my ASUS UX31A-R4003X Win7Pro purchased over 12 years ago on 20120813 with 3yr warranty for AUD$2.3K - best notebook that I have ever owned - still travels with me everywhere as my primary travelling computer.
Yes, my ADATA XM11 256GB-V2 AHCI (SATA) drive also stopped working on 20150213, replaced under warranty, data was lost - a pain in the a^se. Drive now beginning to report errors, HDClone image backup reports that some errors on the drive could not be read, but image creation completed OK. Hence need to replace the SSD drive and how I ended up finding your thread of IFIXIT info today. Now have just purchased on EBAY a TAICHI 6+10 pin 512GB UX31 replacement SSD drive AUD$108 and also just purchased on EBAY a TAICHI UX31 to M.2 NGFF inline adapter AUD$6 so that I can also try an M.2 SSD drive as well.
The keyboard lost functionality for some of the keys twice during warranty and was replace under warranty. The keyboard failed again just out of warranty in 2016, so got the tools out and had a look - and found why the keyboard was failing - a mechanical reason - the keyboard ribbon cable connector clamp is quite long, when actuating the clamp levers on each end, I found that the plastic clamp bar was bent out in the middle and not clamping the ribbon cable there - carefully pushed the plastic clamp bar into place - keyboard has never failed again...
Kind regards,
Graeme - Senior Electrical/Electronic Engineer - gpalmer@wadello.com
Yes, repairing is noble - been having fun in my business helping people out of trouble by mosting fixing stuff for friends, public, industry and self for 40 years - lots of satisfaction...
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