Fail! Dell Latitude XT Modernization Project - Damage: $500 of my research fund
As you know, I put Amazon Affiliate Banner on my web site.  It works like this.  When I buy something interesting, and I write an article about it, you may also think it is an interesting item.  If you click on the banner and buy the item from Amazon.com, I receive some percentage of incentive.  So, whenever I buy something, (not necessarily from Amazon, but anyway) and if I find it useful or interesting, I try to post an article about it.  But, the reality doesn't work that way.  This time, I purchased an SSD to extend the life of my Latitude XT, but I ended up with wasting $500 of research fund.

I have been using Dell Latitude XT as my secondary PC.  It is not my own laptop.  It is a CMU property, but my boss got it for my exclusive use.  I received it in January 2008.  So, it's been with me for about three years.

This PC is almost good enough as a secondary PC.  However, its hard drive is depressingly slow.  It is a PATA 1.8 inch ZIF 40-pin hard drive.  If it were using 2.5 SATA inch hard drive, I can buy a faster one easily, but I have little choice of a 1.8 inch hard drive.  I don't find any 1.8 PATA hard drive with the capacity more than 120GB.  So, I have been using its original slow hard drive.  And, after applying Windows XP SP3, it was taking 3 minutes to start up.  So, I usually kept it stand-by, but in stand-by mode, it eats about 2% of battery life per hour, and if I leave it for two days, the battery is drained.

But, I don't have research budget to replace it now.  I need a tablet PC, but I also want to use development tools.  I also need not-too-bad graphics chip.  If I search for a tablet PC that meets my requirements, it easily goes up to $2,000.  I also don't want to replace a PC too often.  I used Athlon XP 2400 desktop for 6 years before switching to my current MacBook Pro, and I am planning to use it for at least 5 years.  I want my Latitude XT to work a few more years, so I decided to replace its slow hard drive with a Solid-State Drive (SSD).

Unlike 2.5 inch SSD, there are little choice of 1.8 inch PATA ZIF SSD.  After search, I picked one made by King Spec, which I had never heard of.


Cursed KingSped SSD (middle).  On the right is the original hard drive came with Latitude XT.

This laptop is not mine.  So, eventually I will need to return it to the lab (and then will never be used again).  It didn't make sense to buy it with my own money.  So, I used about $500 from my discretionary account, and ordered the drive.  Apparently, there is no concept of standardization in 1.8 inch hard drive.  This SSD's connector was located slightly off from the original hard drive.  I had to twist the ribbon cable of the Latitude XT a little bit to force it in the hard drive bay.  I had a bad feeling at that time.

Nonetheless, my Latitude XT recognized the SSD, and I was able to install Windows XP Tablet Edition.  It used to take 3 minutes to boot.  With SSD, my Latitude XT started in 1.5 minutes.  It doubled the start-up speed!  Since SSD's life is limited by the times of write-access, I turned off Page file.  It was ok.  I installed 2GB additional RAM to the laptop.  Also, although CMU recommend to log all network connections, I didn't enable this feature to reduce write-access to the SSD.  With this SSD, my Latitude XT should be able to work another two years with no stress.

That's what I thought early this month.  I had been enjoying the speed of SSD since then.  Only complaint was what's called "Petit-Freeze" problem.  It is a well known problem of SSD.  The SSD freezes for the short time occasionally.  But, this KingSpec SSD often froze for a few seconds.  Especially when I opened Thunderbird to read E-Mails, it froze many times.  Nonetheless, it never gave me a problem during my lecture.  It was working, and I was in general happy with this SSD.

But, my happy SSD life lasted only for a short time.  When I tried to start it yesterday, it took very long time to boot.  And, it didn't load the sound driver.  I suspected that the driver file in the SSD is broken, or the on-board sound chip had died.  But, subsequently, I saw a message saying one of the files of Windows Live Messenger was corrupted.  It looked more like a SSD problem.  I re-installed the sound driver, and the sound came back once, but soon the sound stopped again.  It didn't work.

At that moment, I really had a bad feeling.  In fact, I found the following post:

http://atthefalcon.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/re-slowly-then-all-at-once/

after I ordered the SSD.  It was too late to cancel.  This person was also using a KingSped SSD in his Latitude XT, and his SSD lasted less than a month, and then the replacement SSD didn't last long either.

Anyway, I tried to restore the disk image from my backup.  It started again, and I had sound.  But, it gave me a new problem.  Now, "Petit-Freeze" became "Permanent-Freeze."  When the system freezes up, it didn't come back.  I had to turn the power off.  I gave up on my SSD.

The problem is, I cannot return it.  The shop offers a free replacement.  But, I cannot send it back.  You know why?  I installed everything and was using for a few weeks.  I have my E-Mail password stored in SSD.  Probably, (although I try not do do it) some other account password are stored in the Web-browser cache.  I am too scared to send it back unless I completely erase the content.  When I have to throw a hard drive away, I do it.  I write a simple program that fills up the hard drive with random numbers, and I repeat fill up and erase a few times.  Or, if the hard drive dies, I completely destroy it and throw away even if it is in the warranty period.  Losing a hard drive is better than leaking sensitive information.  But, I don't have an external enclosure for 1.8 inch drive.  So, I cannot erase from outside.  To erase it, I need to plug it to my Latitude XT.  But, I don't want to risk tearing a fragile ribbon cable just to erase my cursed SSD.

And, the shop will not refund.  The shop only offers replacement.  And, from what I know, maybe a replacement KingSped SSD will die within a month again.  I guess at this time, taking $500 loss is the best thing I can do now.

In fact, I shouldn't have gambled on (I didn't mean to gamble, but I ended up with doing) a $500 SSD in the first place.  I can take a risk of getting a bad hard drive because it is cheap.  I shouldn't have paid $500 for something I may need to throw away.

Lessons Learned:  SSD doesn't work.

It was apparently too early to jump on to SSD.  Maybe in two or three years, reliability of SSD may become better.  But, I really hope my Latitude XT survives a trip to Japan end of this year.

So, if you are considering to buy an SSD in this holiday, maybe it's too early.  Why don't you wait for another year or two.