Acer Aspire A115-32 hard drive upgrade? Is there a way to add a larger drive to this laptop.

zippy16
zippy16 Member Posts: 5

Tinkerer

edited February 11 in Aspire Laptops

Is there a way to upgrade the Hard drive on this computer system a Acer Aspire A115-32 C3P7. I opened it up but didn't see a hard drive or where to upgrade it. I see in Windows it says the drive is a Sandisk DA4064 that is only 60 gigs but full. Is there a way to add a larger drive to this laptop. Thx

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

Answers

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 15,717 Trailblazer

    The Acer Aspire 1 A115-32-C3P7 comes with soldered eMMC storage only, and it does not have an PCIe M.2 slot for an SSD upgrade. You can install or upgrade the 2.5" HDD in the Acer Aspire 1 A115-32-C3P7. The laptop has a dedicated bay for a 2.5" drive, allowing you to upgrade the mechanical HDD with a much faster 2.5" SSD like the Samsung 870 EVO-VNAND up to 2TB.

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 13,537 Trailblazer

    The Aspire 1 A115-32 have a soldered 64GB Flash Memory drive with 4GB or 16GB soldered DDR4 SDRAM type.

    If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

  • zippy16
    zippy16 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for the reply's

    . I don't see any spot that has a 2.5 HDD space on the outside or is it someplace on the inside I can connect a drive to?

  • AnhEZ28
    AnhEZ28 ACE, Member Posts: 4,863 Pathfinder

    @zippy16

    The space for the 2.5 HDD/SSD is the area next to the fan. You will need a caddy and the SATA connector to install the drive. These accessories are usually in the box.

    Please remember to include @AnhEZ28 when you want to reply back to my comment so that I can check your response.
    Thank you and have a nice day!
  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 13,537 Trailblazer

    Below are all the step by step details of how to install the 2.5" SATA HDD so follow that and buy all the components I've listed for you if you don't have the 2.5 " HDD kit that Acer includes with your laptop, and its listed in the A115-32 service guide. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

    You plug the FFC CABLE for the 2.5" HDD in the below spot in your latop.

    HDD module securing screws

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  • zippy16
    zippy16 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    @StevenGen

    Thanks for getting back to me with the detailed diagram and parts required. So from the first diagram do I have to unplug the existing HD, I assume thats picture 1 with the red box to get the 2.5 sata to work in picture 2 or can I have both working? Do you also happen to know with the bios and windows recognized a 2 or 3 Terabyte drive or what's the max size. Thanks for all your help, its greatly appreciated.

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 13,537 Trailblazer

    Your Aspire A115-32 has provisions for 1x PCIe 3x4 drive and 1x SATA 3 2.5" HDD, if your 2.5 HDD is already plugged in. you don't need to unplug the the drive, you can install the HDD bracket with the drive plugged in.

    The max capacity in a windows 11 operating subsystem depends on the format of the drive, MBR/Legacy format has a max capacity of 2.2TB, your laptop operates with the GUID (GPT) format so its max drive capacity is 8 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1000TB) so your laptop will work with whatever 2.5 HDD you can afford, like a 2.5" 2TB, 4TB or an 8TBor even bigger. Good luck.

    If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

  • zippy16
    zippy16 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    @ StevenGen

    Thanks for getting back to me. I got the cable and Hard drive and connected it, but its not coming up in the bios. Is there a setting I have to change? I've updated to the latest bios for this system and I've hooked and unhooked the cable to the MB about 5 different times just to make sure I'm not seeding it wrong but still its not coming up. I even found an old 2.5 drive I had to see if it might be that but still no luck. Any suggestions on what I'm possible doing wrong would be greatly appreciated

  • zippy16
    zippy16 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    edited February 22

    @ StevenGen

    The only other thing I don't know if this is the wrong cable for this type of laptop. I keep seeing for Aspire 3 and 5 and this is a 1. Here is a photo of the back of the laptop. Thanks if advance for any help.

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 13,537 Trailblazer
    edited February 22

    To install the Silicon Power 2.5" SSD SATA III drive and for it to to be recognized in the bios as HDD1 you need the exact Acer part SATA III cable listed below and the 2.5" kit parts to secure the drive below.

    Your A115-32 has an internal SanDisk eMMC 64GB iNAND 7550 eMMC 5.1 WD/SD model #: DA406464G soldered drive as a boot drive, these eMMC drives are pretty slow compared to a 2.5" SSD which has read/write speed of 550/520MB/s while the 64GB eMMC drive is at 225/1140MB/s speed compared to the PCIe 3x4 M.2 SSD of read/write 3500/3200MB/s which some A115-32 latops also have.

    Note: if you want to add the Silicon Data 2.5" SATA III SSD drive, its very important that you have the correct and exact SATA III cable listed below to connect to the mobo. Also, I don't know if your A115-32 has an M.2 SSD PCIe 3x 4 drive slot, but if it does then use this drive as your boot drive for best performance and the 2.5" SATA III SSD drive as a 2nd storage drive and the eMMC 64GB as a 3rd drive. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

    Screws to secure the 2.5" HDD to the bracket

    Screws to secure the HDD and bracket to the laptop lower case

    If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍