yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
I believe the registry has to be 'fooled' into thinking it is an accepted drive ID identifier. I remember in looking at the registry, there are two distinct ID's for the hard drive (possibly one for the Hitachi, and one for the Seagate).

I have not figured out how to ascertain hardware ID's for use in the registry. I think that is the secret to putting the 16GB Transcend SSD in the 7500/7501 (also remember I am hoping for the Samsung 64GB SSD out this year!)
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] johnripper:
update

i have used the same program and i have cloned the seagate disk (original x7500) to the hitachi one, the one from 8Gb ExelStor and the X7500 still does not recognize the cloned one so maybe there is a problem with the cloning program, we need a program to clone TFAT FORMAT to be continued.....
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] rsolomon:
That makes a bit of sense - could you post the relevant sections of the registry?

Richard
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] johnripper:
i have found a program that can copy any mbr as it is, maybe is usefull..
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] johnripper:
here is the manual from the program i used for cloning X7500 microdrive, any sugestions about settings for perfect clone?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
I will study the registry this weekend.

It will take some time, my pc just crashed and am switching to Ubuntu - it is really good so far!
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Suluben:
Please don't let this thread die

Hi everyone

I'm new posting here as you can see but I've been around for a while reading this threading since it almost started.

I've got a X7501 unlocked and upgraded to WM6 and as many of you, I also wanted to upgrade mine to 16GB with a much faster solution than the 8GB Hitachi slow drive.

I also bought the Transcend TS16GSSD10-M SSD as some of you did, followed everyone's reasoning to find an answer and even started doing some programming with VS2008 for this platform.

Unfortunately I can't go anywhere because it looks that the system is returning errors from FindFirstPartition or FindFirstStore C++ functions and is leading me to realise that perhaps the OS is really not loading the correct driver for this new disk thus the errors when asking the system for Stores or Partitions.

I also tried several disk tools like Pocket Mechanics, Storage tools, nueStorageManager and the Format Microdrive and all of them gives me no extra HDD access rather than the SD card. TrueFFS is internal, even if you remove the HDD or SSD. Is like trying to access in the old days to a USB flash disk without even the USB port driver.

Taking a look at the registry I could find some links to the Microdrive (search for "ATAEPSON") and a mspart.dll and some other references to dlls around this storagemanager keys making me think that in fact it is what we are needing here: a dll to be loaded by the OS at boot time to low level access this new SSD.

Having asked HTC support directly I was told that they are not keen on giving me a driver and saying that my warranty is voided now since I opened my device. That's what they care for and not for happy customers.

So, indeed, scavenging the x7510 and understanding what dlls this device loads to access the 16GB SSD really would be a good approach.

Lets not leave this thread to die. My device is opened, I need it hardly but I don't want to close it before I find a final answer: is it or not possible?!

Thank you all. I'll keep you posted from my advances on this matter too.

Cheers

Sulu
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
Here are some registry values that for the microdrive. I have boldfaced the values that I think are important.

Specifically, I think that the 'IClass' , I believe are unique identifiers for the particular piece of hardware.

Why are there two IClass identifiers in the microdrive drivers registry folders?

Because HTC used two sources for their 8mb microdrives, Hitachi and Seagate!

I think the Transcend SSD is not recognized because the IClass identifier is not in the registry. (If I knew the IClass for the SSD I would manually enter it)

You will also see that I have

underlined

some registry values. I believe that these values can be tweaked so that they represent the values that the Transcend SSD have for partitions, sectors, cache etc.

I think that if the IClass is known, the 7500/7501 units can be 'fooled' into recognizing the SSD and then the

values for the FATFS

can be modified to suit.

There are even auto format and auto partitions registry values, which I believe would defer the settings to the Transcend SSD controller itself and we wouldn't have to worry about most of the settings (could be left blank).

Please help study these settings. I am a newcomer to the registry and what I write may be in error (feel free to correct me!).

Samsung will release a 1.0inch 64gb this year, and if we can crack the Transcend 16gb SSD, then 64gb won't be hard at all!

Keith Walker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\ATAEPSON:

Dll = ATA_WRITEBACK.DLL

Folder = EPSON-ATA

FSD = FATFSD.DLL

GAccelerationThreshold = 1280

GDurationThreshold = 100

IClass =

{A4E7EDDA-E575-4252-9D6B-4195D48BB865}

{8DD679CE-8AB4-43c8-A14A-EA4963FAA715}

NormalTimeout = 10

Prefix = DSK

Profile = ATAEPSON

RegBase = 201326592

ReleaseTimeout = 4

SectorSize = 8192

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\ATADISK:

Dll = ATADISK.DLL

IClass = {8DD679CE-8AB4-43c8-A14A-EA4963FAA715}

Ioctl = 4

Prefix = DSK

Profile = PCMCIA

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\PCMCIA\Detect\50:

Dll = ATADISK.DLL

Entry = DetectATADisk

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\Profiles\ATAEPSON:

FATFS

DataCacheSize = 64

EnableCache = 1

EnableDataCacheWarm = 1

EnableFatCacheWarm = 1

EnableWriteBack = 1

FatCacheSize = 32

Flags = 2621460

FormatTfat = 1

Autoformat = 0

AutoMount = 1

AutoPart = 0

DefaultFileSystem = FATFS

Folder = MicroDrive

MountFlags = 0

PartitionDriver = mspart.dll

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\OEM\FormatMidroDrive:

Folder = Flash Disk

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\MyCPL\14:

Description = Format Microdrive

File = Format Microdrive.exe

Name = Format Microdrive
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] AlexVallat:
I've been following this thread for a while, but so far unwilling to actually open up my Athena.

I can help demystify IClass for you, though. This indicates that Storage Manager will be used to manage the driver.

{A4E7EDDA-E575-4252-9D6B-4195D48BB865} just means its a block driver, I think, and {8DD679CE-8AB4-43c8-A14A-EA4963FAA715} means its a power-manageable block device.

Both are standard, not specific to the Hitachi or Seagate microdrive.

ref: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa447462.aspx>, <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms890889.aspx>
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
I thought those numbers were GUID's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_Unique_Identifier

Still learning every day!
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] bluesbrothers93:
http://blog.laptopmag.com/vmedias-mini-optical-coming-to-netbooks-and-beyond

Nothing in direct link with the thread but //
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] colonel:
I am completely new to this thread, and therefore completely naive, but I know that its common in certain parts of the electronic industry to lock down hard disks.

So its (i) either locked to a key or (ii) we just need to get the generic driver (I reckon this is unlikely)

For example, on the xbox (original), you can't change the hard disk.

Why ? because every hard disk has a hardware id. This id is checked by software in the firmware on boot up.

The only way to solve it with the xbox was to actually remove the firmware chip and replace it with a hacked one.

I have no idea why HTC used this on a device like the Athena, but there you go!

I suspect its also similar to simunlock procedures, where the matched key is hidden somewhere in firmware to fool unlockers. The only contribution of the driver is probably to know where to look to find the key (which is why a specific and not generic driver is needed).

On the xbox MS even went further (or did they!), the key was also an encryption key, so without the decrypt algorithm you can't read the MBR or FAT at all.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lifelion:
Hi completely new to this thread too.

Before upgrading the HDD, from what I understood, noone has managed to replace a (e.g. broken) HDD.

I noticed a HDD test in page 62 of the Athena 100 service guide. It may help to detect whether a replacement HDD is not recognized because of a HW or a SW limitation?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Suluben:
Hi Lifelion

The idea is not to replace a broken HDD but to upgrade it to a bigger HDD, lower consumption and faster access speeds, all in on a SSD. The Hitachi or Seagate disks that comes with the Athena are normal disk with a spinning disk inside, not so good for shocks, lazy and high power consumption, and could be easily upgraded if it wasn't this software problem, not hardware.

Thanks

Sulu
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lifelion:
Hello Sulu,

I completely agree. I just see successfully replacing a HDD as a step to then upgrading to SSD.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lifelion:
Is the ExelStor Microdrive at least seen using the HDD Detect Test?

Link removed - no longer valid
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] johnripper:
noone has the micro sd with diagnostic HDD Detect Test so we cant try this
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Suluben:
This diagnostic software seems great. Who can get it?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mfschneider:
Hi all,

it's been a while since I've looked by here, and found this thread idle since several weeks. So it's time to revive it. One thing that especially caught my attention was this screen shot:

@ bluesbrothers93: could you please post some more screen shots of nuestoragemanager showing the partition properties for partions Part01 and Part02?

I think the solution to get the SSD to work is in the correct partioning. To me this picture does not look like a partition, but the rest of the unpartitioned hard disk space! Background: when HDs are partitioned, the partitioner always rounds the allocated space to complete "cylinders", i.e. track/head combinations. In older disks this was correct as there was a one-to-one correspondance of track/head/sector addressing done by the software. With the advent of LBA addressing (Logical Block Address) the disk manufacturers were free to use any disk internal mapping. The result was that logical cylinders (as seen by the software) no longer corresponded to the real internals of the disk and there are in general some (thousand) sectors left over which do not fit into the partitioning scheme. These leftovers sum up to a few megabytes up to almost gigabytes on newer large capacity drives.

So it could be that the 79.92 MB we see on the SSD in reality are exactly this unallocated rest! But where are the 15+ GB this SSD holds? Well, I expect them to be in the first partition as shown here:

Next question: if Windows does show the 14,9 GB, but WM6 (or athena HD driver) does not show them, it is obvious that WM6 is hiding the first partition! Why? I have no idea, maybe WM6 expects the first partition on the disk to be some (hidden) system partition.

But how can we tackle this? I would suggest the following procedure:

1) under Windows delete all partitions on the SSD, each one, the disk must be completely unpartitioned.

2) check how this unpartitioned SSD looks like as seen by WM6; we should see some 15 GB free space

3) using Windows create a FAT partition of, say, 500 MB.

4) check the disk again under WM6. I expect we will see some 14+ GB space on it.

If I am right and step 4 shows enough space, then:

a) try to access the original athena disk under windows, check the first partition -- it should be rather small

b) make a low level backup of this partition's content

c) repartition the SSD so that partition #1 is the same size (or a bit larger) than the 1st partition of the original athena disk (still under Windows!)

d) write the partition back-up to the SSD

e) install the SSD in the athena

f) enjoy 14+ GB of SSD :-)

Sadly I can't do this myself, as I have only one singleton athena that's in constant use, but I hope all of those out there who are struggling with their SSDs might find a way to check my assumptions and my suggestions.

Good luck,

Michael
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] bluesbrothers93:
Ok

il will dive into the procedure next week

tell you more then
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] jimmunsw:
Dear Bluesbrothers93 ,

Any good news on your result testing the ssd ? Looking back on page one , it's been coming to 2 years now since this question is raised . Come on , please someone quickly complete this project , thanks and best regards - jimmunsw :)
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] cphilip:
Successful replacement of microdrive with compact flash!

http://howto.wikia.com/wiki/Howto_replace_microdrive_with_compactflash_in_Palm_LifeDrive

Problem is compact flash is slightly bigger in size than our special mini microdrive. There are microdrives with similar size with that of compact flash. But the microdrive of athena is simply smaller. So the option is SSD drive. But by making an image the microdrive and transfer to the SSD will it work?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
I'll check out that last link.

Otherwise, I will spend one more week playing about with trying to resize the sectors on the Transcend SSD, before I switch back in the Hitachi HDD.

The Athena 2/Thoth should be released in the next 4 months or so and I am willing to bet that it will have either 32gb minimum or 64gb optimum. So playing around with a 16gb Transcend SSD is not important anymore.

Does anyone have any more ideas?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] 757jrz7:
try use CF?

CF pin assignments is fully compatible PATA,Seagate st1.3 or transcend 1inch ssd use 35-pin FPC ZIF connector and also fully compatible PATA,try link CF 50-pin to 35-pin FPC ZIF?

CF's size problem....try remove CF card shell?core size is smaller.

sorry for my pool english
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] keithwwalker:
This post is dead. It is questionable if Samsung will release flash ssd in the same format. They have listed in their catalog 16 and 32 gb models, but they are unavailable, even if they are listed with a price at some sites:

http://www.buy247365.com/mccoe32gzmpp-m1a.html

http://210.118.57.82/global/business/semiconductor/productInfo.do?fmly_id=161&partnum=MCCOE32GZMPP
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lbarouf:
That's what I'm using. I got a 1Gb MiniSD with my E61, now it's in my Athena. No problem there.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lbarouf:
The microdrive inside the Athena? Yes... it's slightly smaller then a CompactFlash card. The iPod uses 1.8" wide HDD and is much higher and thicker.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] SysMan.net:
Internal HDD model: HMS361008M5CE00

According to specification from hitachi site:

HGST_3K8_091506.pdf

Microdrive 3K8-8 HMS361008M5CE00 1" 8 GB

has PATA ZIF connector, not CE-ATA.

How to Read the Microdrive Model Number

HMS361008M5CE00	=	8GB

H = Hitachi

M = Microdrive

S = Standard

36	= 3600 RPM

10 = Reserved

08	= Capacity this model – 8GB (06 = 6GB)

M = Generation code

5 = 5mm z - height

CE = ZIF connector PATA interface (CA = CE-ATA,

CM = ATA on MMC)

0 = Reserved

0 = Reserved
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] c0mput0r:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/05/29/pqi.256gb.solid.state/

I wonder if it is possible to use the 1.8" 32GB ssd drive when it comes out? It has a zif socket like the orig 8gb drive in the x7500 so maybe it will work. It is 1.8" but the orig drive i think is only 1". I wonder how much extra room around where current drive sits.

Are there any pictures of the insides of the x7500?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] LTxda:
Check this out...

http://asukal.net/blog/?p=299

I wonder if there is enough extra room. I would upgrade in a heartbeat!
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] baddison:
I would be more interested in upgrading the units RAM for those really processor-intesive games and applications. I wonder what kind of memory chips are on board these things?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] c0mput0r:
Unfortunately those pictures do not show the exact placement... or any placement for the current micro drive. While they are neat to look at they don't help much in figuring out if anything else might fit.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] lbarouf:
Thanks for the correction. still not something handily available for modders. I would have much rather see a Compact Flash interface instead.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Pyrofer:
Look here,

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/pny-unveils-ssds-for-laptops-ipods-and-more/

These new SSD devices have the zif connector. Its just a matter of time it seems, in a year or so these will be quite common.

I guess it depends on how long you will keep the Athena for.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] computer9cowboy:
The Sony Vaio UX uses the PATA ZIF connector also but they take the more standard 1.8" HDD and SSD drives. The ultimate for the Athena would be a 1" SSD with PATA ZIF. I haven't seen anything like that on the horizon, I have been looking heavily at SSD drives to upgrade the UX with.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Wizarc:
If you look here at the last picture on the top group it looks like the Microdrive is in an exact placement with no room on the top. Wonder what the gray strip is in the middle. If that is removable to provide the other 0.8"? Of course this could be where the connector for the microdrive is, then any bigger unit would never work since it would have to extend out the top area.

Also where are intructions on how to take the unit apart? We see pictures, but not the how. I tired to take mine apart and it looks like the inside components are manufactured pressed into the shell and I could not get them out?

http://pdaclub.pl/forum/index.php?topic=64923.msg428904#msg428904
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] c0mput0r:
That grey strip is probably a piece of tape. Unless your talking about the metal box in the middle then I have no idea. The picture does give a better idea how things are placed but I can't believe that someone taking apart this device has not provided a nice complete step by step in pictures. It seems all pictures are just to show what chips are on the boards and nothing more. Would be nice to have the repair manual for this also.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] BigDede:
These are links to some 12Go Microdrive (1 inch) which should fit as a replacement of our 8Go :rolleyes: ... These Mircodrives exists since begining of 2006, so HTC didn't choose the highest capacity of Mircrodives for the Athena -- Sorry but the links are in French :cool:

Seagate 12Go 1"

http://www.generationmp3.com/index.php/2006/02/14/2450-dd-1-de-12go-chez-seagate

Cornice 12Go 1"

http://www.generationmp3.com/index.php/2006/08/09/3851-microdrive-12go-chez-cornice

I didn't find any Microdrive reference on seagate website :(
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mojo2000:
But probably they chose the best compromise between capacity and durability ... at least I hope so :cool:
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Midget_1990:
they probably chose the cheapest.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] LTxda:
Forget the MicroDrive on a portable device, let's get a 16/32GB CF card in there. :)
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] gtm55:
I'm wanting that too! ;)
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mcwtrekkie:
A CF card would be absolutely amazing, but isn't that a little wishful thinking? - Something to do with the ide interface??
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Pyrofer:
CF cards should support the logical interface, but the physical one is a problem.

Even if you find a CF that can be small enough, it wont have the connector.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] BigDede:
I'll wait for a mini SDHC 8/16 Go, that will do the job ...
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] LTxda:
When will those be out?

I wonder if we can take out the MicroDrive and setup a type of "hub" that'll accept for 4gig SDHC cards in the same space the MD was in. Does anyone know enough about this? Maybe tie into the existing SD slot and run a cable to the MD compartment giving us an additional 16GB's of SD storage. Wonder if at all possible with the recovered space after removing the MD. Anyone?

Edit: AND if that's possible, someone can code a RAID5 utility for those cards and we would have 4 SDHC cards in RAID5 config. Of course we would lose some space but this would be the ultimate storage hack for these devices. Of course, the 4 SDHC's would be internal and non-interchangable because of the type of modification this would entail. :-D
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] BigDede:
No idea, hopefully soon

The SDHC is already out with 8Go, so I think the miniSD will follow
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Pyrofer:
It seems that a solution for the ZIF connector exists, except the size is a problem.

If your willing to go Uber extreme like this guy,

http://www.tarkan.info/20070804/tutorials/modding/ipod-video-compact-flash-mod/2/

You could probably make an adaptor, but it wont fit in the provided space however. Unless you dismantle the actual CF card.

Any Solder-jedi want to take on a challenge?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Wizarc:
Anyone have any updated info on taking apart the 7500/7501. Pictures, what the connector looks like. Area around the 1" hard drive, etc.

Basically bumping ...
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mahjong:
Do you mean how to open and deal with Athena insides?

I got the HTC Advantage Service Manual in a link of xda-developers. It's 10 MB full of info and pictures of how to dismantle (hmmm wrong spelling?) the X7500.

I have it in my personal web page: http://www.arrakis.es/~tejedor/HTC-AthenaServiceManual.pdf
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] Madhadder:
This has all benn discussed many times before.

1. As of this post there is no way to Update or replace the built-in microdrive with anything other than another x7500 Microdrive.

The format is listed as a 1.8in MD, but its been stripped down to under 1in. Standard size cards wont fit.

2. It uses a special type of connector, which is not widly avail. on any memory products.

The MD in the X7500, is a specailly made model for HTC. There are no alternatives..

If you want more info, than do a search.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] szoustal:
link is deleted. alternative link?
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mahjong:
Whatever the reason my Service Manual is deleted at my web page.

I got it in here at xda-developers:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=1429042&postcount=13

Thanks to mikechannon
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] nuclear:
Dang. I should get back my HTC Advantage XD
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] LTxda:
I found the following....doesn't address the space issue but just wanted people to have the resource....they sell to the public and anyone that wants to experiment can buy the MD to CF adapter they sell. :-)

Not sure if it's physically compatible with what the Athena has but i'm sure if you want to test it out you can ask the company selling it.

PA-CF18H replaces HITACHI 1.8" hard disk drive with CFcard.

http://www.ably.com.tw/news/news.asp

Maybe it can be taken apart and the adapter used somehow.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] mcwtrekkie:
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I seem to be going round in circles!

The microdrive uses a Zif connection right?

so aCF card in a cf-zif adapter should work?

I've seen a few adapters around, but all are rather big. They need like 20mm off the length, 10mm of the width, and 1mm off the height before they'd fit

However, I'm still hopefull.
[Advantage X7500, MDA Ameo Upgrading] computer9cowboy:
It seems 2 me that if the cf-zif adaptors exist but are 2 large a person good with a soldering iron could strip one and strip a cf card and put something together that would work. When I get one I will go to work on this.