The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook currently ships with 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of solid state memory. If you want a higher capacity SSD, you’re going to have to go out and buy one for yourself. Fortunately, that’s pretty easy to do.

Jkkmobile picked up a 32GB SSD module from My Digital Discount and posted a short video showing just how easy it is to remove Dell’s SSD and replace it with the higher capacity module. All you need to do is take out the battery, remove two screws, and pop off the access panel on the back of the laptop to get at the SSD. Remove two more screws and you’re ready to swap SSDs.

Keep in mind, your operating system is installed on that Dell SSD. So you’re going to want to make sure you have a Dell system restore CD and a USB CD-ROM drive to reload the OS. Jkkmobile says the whole process took about an  hour.

My Digital Discount is currently selling 32GB SSDs for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for about $99. Their performance is virtually identical to the Dell SSD. If you’ve got a bit more cash burning a hole in your pocket, the store plans to make a 64GB module available soon. Or you could purchase a higher performance SSD which may speed up your system performance.

You can check out jkkmobile’s video demonstrating the upgrade process after the break.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,543 other subscribers

11 replies on “How to upgrade the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 SSD”

  1. hi i have dell mini 9 i bought 32gb ssd drim from ebay the ssd name called suntec abd i installed on my dell mini but bios doesent see it and i cant install any system on it i dont know what is wrong maybe i need to upgrade bios??? please dvise
    thanks

  2. There are several brands of minipci express SSD drives, will any of them work with the Mini 9?

  3. I would like to buy Dell’s inspiron mini 9, which Dell advertizes as “Mini OS powered by Ubuntu 8.04” https://www.dell.com/content/products…=hmpgwn1&s=dhs

    However, I do not want to do this unless I have reasonable assurance that Ubuntu will allow me to access my company’s system over the internet,,,,,which I must access through a portal provided by “Neoteris”. “Neoteris” brings me to a web page with the company’s logo and large lettering—“Instant Virtual Extranet”—where I log in with my user name and password. When I log in I see references to “Juniper Networks”, “Java”, and “secure appletes”. I don’t know what any of this means, but it works well with Windows XP. I want to make a switch to Ubuntu because seems to offer a lot of flexibility and does not take up as much of the limited fix memory (16gig) hard drive, but again only if I can get the same access through the “Neoteris” portal I do with XP. I’m not interested in spending time trying work arounds to get access. If it won’t work just tell me. Dell also sells the mini9 with XP loaded, and I’ll just buy it if I have too. On the other hand, I really hope it does because I interested in exploring the world through Ubuntu. If you do not know. Maybe you could connect me with some one who does. Thank you for your time.

    1. It sounds to me like your best bet is probably to contact your company’s IT
      department and ask if you’ll be able to access their system from a Linux
      machine. While you can certainly run Java on Ubuntu I don’t know exactly
      what else is required to access your system, but the IT folks should know.
      The second easiest way to figure this out is to download an Ubuntu LiveCD
      and try things out on your existing laptop or desktop computer.

      https://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

      The neat thing about LiveCDs is you can boot from the CD and run a full
      Linux operating system without installing a thing to your hard drive. To
      boot back into Windows all you have to do is shut down the system, pop out
      the CD and reboot.

      You can find out more about running an Ubuntu LiveCD here:

      https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

  4. Can the ssd be added to the empty pcie slot labeled WAN, so we can add a second drive?

    1. you asked “Can the ssd be added to the empty pcie slot labeled WAN, so we can add a second drive?”

      DID YOU EVER GET ANSWER TO THIS?

      1. No, you can’t add a secondary SSD at the moment.
        This is because the pinouts are different (the same amount of pins in the same shape, but with different connections/functions).
        It was made for an optional 3G mobile internet card, that you obviously don’t have, because yours is empty.
        You CAN solder an extra USB-port on there, though.

Comments are closed.