My latest upgrade on N53SN: Dual Hardisk

Total investment so far: N53SN (RM3.3K)+Extra 8GB ram (RM290) + 160GB SSD (RM950) + HDD Caddy (RM50) + DVD external case (RM25): RM4.6K++

Get one SSD (Intel 160GB).


Replace SSD with the stock 640GB HDD.



Do a fresh install using retail Win7 Home Premium (using Product key at bottom of the notebook to activate). Asus AI Recovery disk will not work for SSD, as it was expecting a 640GB HDD, tried several time, end up getting a retail Win7 DVD to do fresh installation.

Remove keyboard by pressing the pin.


Remove screw that holds the optical drive.


Place the stock 640GB HDD into Optical drive HDD caddy & install into Optical bay.

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Added on June 5, 2011, 11:33 amput back keyboard & walla.... 160GB SSD + 640GB HDD is done... best combination for speed & capacity.


What to do with the optical drive... get a external casing for it & now it become an external DVD drive


This post has been edited by my_nickleo: Jun 5 2011, 11:34 AM

Yup, 800GB

SSD VS HDD benchmark:
HDD:


SSD:


WEI:



Boot up time improve from 60sec to 15 sec

who said? just put back stock HDD & optical drive if need to sent for warranty... no sticker what...

Bought in China

16GB is overkill, even for heavy VM user like me... I migrate all my development platform into VM, was running 2-3 VM on daily work, ram consumption never exceed 10GB... 12GB is just good enough


Now I am running both SSD & HDD, so should drain the battery faster right? Probably will remove the HDD & test on SSD only, but need to wait till next weekend, need the HDD for works...

Just download ISO from web, make sure is Home Premium 64 bits, then use the Win7 Product key came with our N53. No need purchase new Win7 license.

This post has been edited by my_nickleo: Jun 5 2011, 03:42 PM

Either download from Asus website or use the driver CD come together with the N53...

I do have the CD though... only the early batch have driver CD? The alternative is to download from vip.asus.com.

Yes, is quite easy though, just use small flat head screw driver, press on the pins (5 pins) one by one, the keyboard will lifted once all pins is released.

Some pics on keyboard release pins & back panels





At Malaysia, bought it during business trip to China.

Links:
1. 华硕硬盘托架 asus光驱位硬盘托架 12.7mm sata转sata硬盘托架URL: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6113002259
2. 华硕/ASUS移动光驱盒 USB光驱盒 外置光驱盒 SATA串口 送面板URL: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9921877481

Battery life testing with dual hardisk (SSD+HDD):
Entertainment mode with WIFI On, 2 VMs running--> 3 hours

Battery life almost same as stock HDD, this weekend will test on SSD only.

No performance difference... no need 12GB, unless you doing VM like some of us.

By the time apps need 12GB, your CPU can't catch up also time to change new machine by then

Recovery disc will not work if change to a smaller capacity disc, e.g. SSD.

My experience:
1) Insert Asus recovery DVD (disc 1) & successfully boot using recovery disc
2) Start System restore (takes about 1 hour to complete restore from 5 DVDs)
3) Reboot-----> Failed to boot up the new hard drive.
4) Remove the new hard drive & connect as external drive--->new hard drive format appear as RAW (has formatted the drive before doing system restore).

End up reinstall Win7 using retail disc & activate using Product Key located at the bottom of notebook.

Look at this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gamin...into-g73jh.html

Seems many Asus users face the problem as I am...

Just done my battery test using SSD only:
Entertainment mode with WIFI on, running 2 VM: 3 hours 30 mins.

Getting 30mins extra, compare with dual hard drive (SSD+HDD) under same condition... not so significant though..


here: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=42855317

This post has been edited by my_nickleo: Jun 11 2011, 11:50 AM

happen to me once... but it happen after I remove keyboard to access DVD drive, at that time I suspect is cable loose, so remove keyboard & push the connector. after that never happen again.

buy original copy?

Proper installer will check for pre-requisite component & will install if such component not found.

If really need to go for ahem copy... I usually get ISO release by reputable cracker, e.g. RELOADED, Razor & etc.

Closer to brand source doesn't mean is cheap... N53SN cost around RM5K in taiwan
Most notebook seems selling at higher price in taiwan, same applies for Dell... perhaps got tax

Correction: 5 OS with 12GB: 2x Win7 + 2xWinXP + 1xWin Server 2008 R2

yes, all running at the same time

2 OS for development, server for application hosting, 2 OS for deployment testing