Question I have a Inspiron Mini 10 1012 and I do not want to throw it away.

[Deys04]

My Inspiron Mini 10 1012 is approximately 12+ years old. It's currently lying around because of it's extreme slow speed and taking a lot of time to boot/shutdown. I think it has a Storage problem. So, I have decided to replace the HDD.

My Questions are:-
+Is it worth a repair?
+Can I use a SATA SSD instead of a HDD?
+As Windows would be running extremely slow for that sort of system, which Linux Distribution should I consider using?
+And as I would be using an external monitor and running Remote Desktop, will I have any problems while running it on Linux?

Thank You.

 

[Lafong]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GybKUf_o9Oc


A bit of Google and the above video tell me repair or a different hard drive would likely be a pain.

Depending on your skill level of course. If you have the right tools and experience it may be "simple".

Most likely depends on your expectations and how much time you are willing to take to learn what to do and then do it.

1 hour; 10 hours; 100 hours...........where would you draw the line?

 

[Deys04]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GybKUf_o9Oc


A bit of Google and the above video tell me repair or a different hard drive would likely be a pain.

Depending on your skill level of course. If you have the right tools and experience it may be "simple".

Most likely depends on your expectations and how much time you are willing to take to learn what to do and then do it.

I know I will not be able to replace this small laptop without breaking something, so I will go to a local technician to do the replacement, then the only questions would be:

+As Windows would be running extremely slow for that sort of system, which Linux Distribution should I consider using?
+As I would be using an external monitor and running Remote Desktop, will I have any problems while running it on Linux?
+And will a SATA SSD help to somewhat boost the performance of the laptop?

 

[Lafong]

2 minutes of Google led me to 91 links about Linux on that machine.

Linux Mint and Ubuntu, for instance.

So it's apparently "doable".

I have no idea about the hard drive issue, but your repair guy would presumably know.

Might be "fun" as a project, depending on your budget and expectations.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/supportedos/inspiron-mini1012

 

[Deys04]

2 minutes of Google led me to 91 links about Linux on that machine.

Linux Mint and Ubuntu, for instance.

So it's apparently "doable".

I have no idea about the hard drive issue, but your repair guy would presumably know.

Might be "fun" as a project, depending on your budget and expectations.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/supportedos/inspiron-mini1012

Yes, I hope so. Thank you.

 

[Krotow]

N450 Atom CPU? As Linux terminal indeed will work. For decent Windows software - nah, too slow.

 

[geofelt]

ANY laptop with a slow HDD will be very much quicker with a ssd replacement.
The video above shows that a simple sata hdd replacement should work well.

Since the laptop works, but is just slow,
my plan would be to buy a samsung 2.5" ssd replacement of sufficient size.
Something like a 870 EVO.
Use the samsung ssd migration app to copy the C drive to the new ssd.
Here is a link to the app and instructions:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

You will need a simple usb to sata adapter cable to do the copy.

 

[Krotow]

The point is that too slow CPU will not gain from drive upgrade to SSD. I have a laptop with N450 Atom CPU under table in a heap of other junk for transporting to junkyard just now. That thing under Windows 7 and above even after drive replacing to Samsung Evo 860 SSD was still slow as molasses with CPU overload on both threads at 100%. Friend had another one with Atom N2800 CPU - technically 2 cores (4 threads), but basically the same story. It is not worth it.

 

[hang-the-9]

I know I will not be able to replace this small laptop without breaking something, so I will go to a local technician to do the replacement, then the only questions would be:

+As Windows would be running extremely slow for that sort of system, which Linux Distribution should I consider using?
+As I would be using an external monitor and running Remote Desktop, will I have any problems while running it on Linux?
+And will a SATA SSD help to somewhat boost the performance of the laptop?

If you are going to pay someone to work on it, don't. It's old, CPU is slow, just buy a used working faster model, will cost the same as paying someone labor cost and buying a new drive for it.

 

[Deys04]

The point is that too slow CPU will not gain from drive upgrade to SSD. I have a laptop with N450 Atom CPU under table in a heap of other junk for transporting to junkyard just now. That thing under Windows 7 and above even after drive replacing to Samsung Evo 860 SSD was still slow as molasses with CPU overload on both threads at 100%. Friend had another one with Atom N2800 CPU - technically 2 cores (4 threads), but basically the same story. It is not worth it.

Thank you for helping me out, so I've decided to Ubuntu Mate off a USB stick because I'll need the PC for just a few months.

 

[King_V]

I've got a Mini 9.

It has the additional handicap of

• the CPU being 32-bit only
• the SSD being, well:

The Mini 9 uses a very special SSD drive. It is a 50mm solid state module (MO-300A) with mini PCIe interface. It uses IDE/PATA signal, so replacing it with a module with SATA signal won't work, although it will fit in the socket.

Yours is the Mini 10 though, so a normal SSD should work just fine, and the N450 having a 64-bit instruction set is an improvement over the N270 that came with my Mini 9.


I've given Puppy Linux a try on my Mini 9, and it's reasonably snappy.

That said, it's still a very weak system, and although Puppy Linux comes with a lightweight browser (a stripped-down version of Firefox), the Internet in 2022 is very heavy-weight, and browsing the web is quite painfully slow.

I haven't done much with it yet, but MAME runs quite nicely on it, though I've only tried 80s era games.


As has been mentioned by others, it's not worth putting any money into. If you have an old SSD just lying around, go for it. If you have to pay anything to get it done . . then hard pass.