TMB311RN-33 Where is the SSD?Need to upgrade the M.2 SSD but did not find it

Phantom3D

I just bought myself a TMB311RN-33 and a 2TB m.2 drive to make it usable. (128gb stock).

But I did not find the drive under the cover? How much do I have to dissassemble to access it?

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

billsey

It depends on which 311RN-33 model you have. It might be an eMMC drive embedded on the motherboard rather than a drive plugged into an M.2 slot. The 64GB versions were all eMMC, the 128GB were a mix of eMMC and SSD, the 256GB were all SSDs. The M.2 slot for a SSD should be under the cable that goes to the USB daughter card and on this model only has space for the short cards, not the full sized 2280:

billsey

It depends on which 311RN-33 model you have. It might be an eMMC drive embedded on the motherboard rather than a drive plugged into an M.2 slot. The 64GB versions were all eMMC, the 128GB were a mix of eMMC and SSD, the 256GB were all SSDs. The M.2 slot for a SSD should be under the cable that goes to the USB daughter card and on this model only has space for the short cards, not the full sized 2280:

Phantom3D

Wow, thanks. I did not check under the cable.. I will have a look tomorrow, might have to return the disk I bought, but that is no problem since it is unopened.
HardwareID says this: (AA at the end)

Commodore_1995#

This video may help:

https://youtu.be/ERcBnnJmJxs?si=nNJcWhsiK5k3fVZF

Phantom3D

It was under the ribbon cable, thanks for great help @billsey . I am now running a 1TB drive on this work-horse :)

That is not the same as my computer @Commodore_1995#

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

billsey

I'm happy to help, it should be a bunch better with the larger drive.

Commodore_1995#

This site may help: https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Acer-TravelMate-Spin-B311RN-31/182830

engineerhb

I was also so confused after opening my laptop just to find out that there is no m2 slot on my motherboard. After finding this thread, I got super excited that it may be hidden under the ribbon cable.

Unfortunately today I got disappointed for the second time, the m2 slot is not soldered on my motherboard 😔 do you think soldering the slot would be enough to make the drive work or the bios update/manipulation is also required?

billsey

Likely no, there are probably support chips needed as well as the connector itself. You got a lower price on your laptop just because they didn't install any of those…

engineerhb

Thanks for your answer 😊 That's what I am afraid of 😕

In reality I didn't pay a lower price, I was taking the best available specifications for this model:

N100 CPU with 8GB of RAM, FHD Display with touch and pen support

so this is quite disappointing to me to learn that Acer decided to cut costs for just a m2 slot on this configuration 😒

billsey

Yet the cost cuts were passed to the users in the form of a lower price. They have other SKUs in the B311 series that do have the M.2 slot installed, at a higher price.