DAMN eMMC 'HardDrive' haha...

[GlennSprigg]

It's totally MY fault, for not researching more before buying, that new cheap HP 'Laptop' for the 'Missus'. OK, she DOES NOT need a Hi-Spec
machine in ANY way, shape or form, but the MAIN point, to be honest, is that being 'old' haha.. I did not at the time understand at the time, about the differences
between a 'true' 'SSD', and this obviously lower budget 'eMMC' crap!  I WON'T go into the 'technical' differences, (though I NOW understand them), suffice to say
that it seems that GENERALLY, this 'eMMC' technology at least in THIS case, is SOLDERED PERMANENTLY in the MotherBoard as a Chip!   

Opening the machine is easy, as is changing/adding extra RAM which I'm doing, (4gb to 8gb), for very minimal cost, but the drive 'C' eMMC can NOT be upgraded...
However, there is SPACE in the corner for an old standard 2.5" SATA drive, (which I have plenty of), so the only extra thing to purchase is a special 'adaptor' cable
to plug into the motherboard existing socket, of the likes of...

The INTENTION being to leave the default Drive-C for 'Windows' and certain essentials, and install all general Apps/Data to Drive-D...
P.S. Even with the limited software installed , there is now only about 18gb free... AARRGGHH!!

[amyk]

You are on an electronics forum and you think soldering is "permanent"?

[Berni]

Yeah if you are determined enough its possible to swap the eMMC chip with any chip you like by soldering in a different one. The annoying part is that eMMC chips usually come in a 0.65mm BGA package with lots of pins, so it takes a fair bit of skill to replace one. But most of the pins are NC so getting a short between two balls in most cases will not affect its operation.

But with the price of SSD drives id just stick a 1TB SATA drive into it and put everything on that. Then just use the internal eMMC to hold backups of the most important folders. If the laptop dies getting data off that eMMC is very involved, so might as well just use it to store backups that you will only ever need to retrieve in the rare case that your SATA SSD gives up the ghost.

[GlennSprigg]

Thanks Bernie...  Some people think we are all experts!, but with my age now & medical illnesses as well as badly failing eyesight & shaking,
that performing 'brain-surgery' on high density Surface-Mounts etc., are beyond my ABILITY now... but not my DESIRE!...   

Since starting this post, I examined that dis-assembled laptop in more detail. Couldn't believe my eyes/daftness !! when I noticed that the point
where the 2nd HDD would plug in, did not even have the socket soldered on the motherboard, where it was meant to go!!  W.T.F. ?   
And likewise that what I thought was a 2nd memory-slot, was not soldered in either...     OK, I can replace the single 4gb ram slot with say 8gb...

However, the existing eMMC 'hardDrive', & the MotherBoard allows for NO upgrade, or addition... In fact, even with further 'dis-assembly', I can NOT even
find/locate the existing 'eMMC' drive!!!???  I feel stupid, and obviously out of touch with some modern Architecture  so I'm leaving it alone with my proverbial
tail between my legs... and maybe just swap the existing 4GB ram with an 8GB one... and go back to knowing nothing. 

I'm trying desperately here, to get back to my collection of antique radios, with relatively simple Capacitor replacements and making them Shine!
Int he time that I have left... I'm sorry to the ones that I often seem to offend...  Thank you to all who understand!   

Obviously, this MC was built as/with an absolute minimum, with limited/no abilities to 'upgrade' at all. So as at least to WARN others, I will state the MC...
It is a HP 'Laptop', Model 14S-DF0010TU.  I've striped all the crap out of it's Win-10 installation, and installed only the minimum that the 'Missus' needs,
including some specialized

[LeonR]

I have never seen a standard notebook with a non-removable storage solution. Even the Asus EEEpc and other netbooks featured mSATA drives

For a modern, daily usage system scenario (Windows, Office, web browsing) I suggest a CPU that scores at least around 2500 pts. on Passmark. It's a ballpark value, so take it with a grain of salt.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

[Berni]

I have never seen a standard notebook with a non-removable storage solution. Even the Asus EEEpc and other netbooks featured mSATA drives

For a modern, daily usage system scenario (Windows, Office, web browsing) I suggest a CPU that scores at least around 2500 pts. on Passmark. It's a ballpark value, so take it with a grain of salt.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Lots of Apple laptops do this. They used to be at least nice enough to provide a connector that lets you tap into the data lines and read it back out if the machine is dead. But then they even removed that connector, so data recovery is either getting the machine running or desoldering the chip.

[GlennSprigg]

Thank you to those who have responded...
I understand that 'companies' make money by cutting 'ALL' costs that they can, but sometimes I feel that it is a "Slap-In-The-Face"
when sellers/agents feel zero remorse about screwing people for every literal cent, when they 'advertise' their product...   

People here that 'know' me, (haha...), hopefully appreciate that I like making analogies!!!   
For example, regarding say 'Cars'...  They come with cheap steel 'Welsh-Plugs' throughout the Head/Block of the engines. (Look it up!).
Yep... it's to save production money, but would YOU mind adding $2 or $3 to the say $25,000 cost, knowing that you now have life-long
Brass Welsh-Plugs, that will never fail?? and never need a multi-thousand Km repair/replacement?  Than again, GONE seem the days,
when engines were simply repaired, instead of this crap throw-out 'technology'.  I'm disgusted !!! Everyone is being RIPPED-OFF now...

[Ice-Tea]

Soldered on storage, memory, CPUs and GPUs can be about cost, but quite often it's also about Z-height.