HDD GURU FORUMS

Asking for assistance to connect one of the Samsungs MZRPA SSD out of a Vaio laptop
- its a single SSD with one flat cable connected to the mobo - its NOT LIF - its a proprietory
connector.

I have checked all posts regarding such type of SSD - its not a RAID part - its a single
SSD in this laptop - plus none of the shown SSD are similar to the one I have here -
it might be a newer pcb layout.

the ssd model: MZ-RPA1280/0SO - out of a VAIO VPCZ21M9E

I would need a ready to use adapter to SATA - I doubt that I am able to solder these tiny pins....

thank you

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This is the picture of the SSD

Sure looks like a RAID ...

Peel off the sticker and show us the other side.

no raid - its a single pcb - (as told in my post - there is no 2nd module
connected to the cable and/or the mobo) - and the connector shown on
that picture is the only one.

but to be clear - on both sides of that SSD one finds memory chips
- peeling off the label only shows the memory chips of one side of that
module.

You might be right - if this single pcb is internally a combination of 2 ssd
into a raid and the pinout of that connector contains the rx/tx for 2 ssd ?

Thank you

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All Google results for "MZRPA128HMCD" point to RAID.

This looks like it might have a second controller and SDRAM under the sticker:

http://g04.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1g9tcKFXX ... 2-Z215.jpg

yes, the one you referr to is most probably the "twin pack" of 2 ssd
used in a different type of Vaio laptop.

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Can you show us the PCB without the sticker?

It has two serial numbers on the sticker... looks like it's an SSD RAID all built onto a single PCB to me. Very interesting, I've never seen this before.

The difference in the serial numbers is consistent with the difference in the example that I found. Moreover, there is discolouration under the sticker of the OP's drive which appears to be consistent with a second controller. That is why I am interested in seeing what caused it.

@fzabkar

sorry, I should have had a closer look to your link - i.e. the pictures
yes, you are right this is the type of ssd - your picture shows both
sides of the same ssd.

for my pics I need a while to find my camera

thank you

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As Franc says, it's a RAID SSD module with a proprietary interface.

No adaptor exists as far as I know. If someone has made one, I want one!

I have done one of these, it's not that hard to find the 2 pair of SATA channels and solder wires. In my case one of the drives had a few bad sectors.

digisupport wrote:I have done one of these, it's not that hard to find the 2 pair of SATA channels and solder wires. In my case one of the drives had a few bad sectors.

Agreed, but an adaptor would save an awful lot of soldering!

pcimage wrote:Agreed, but an adaptor would save an awful lot of soldering!

For sure an adapter would make life more easy, but i like it small
If these MZRPA shows up every month its time to rip the cable out af an Vaio an build something.

Here's a thread discussing a slightly different model ssd with a lot of relevant info. I would say there is enough to work out what to do. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18418

Thank you all for advice - also for some PM - these Samsung raid ssd create some confusion ...

There are at least two different versions available for Vaio laptops - and this one is definitely
a double ssd built as raid on a single pcb with only one proprietory connector - not being a LIF
connector.

I do hope I solved the problem now (but only if the mobo is causing the problem) - I found
a used mobo which is reported to be ok.

The old laptop boots up correctly, even shows both raid ssd being ok during boot up - one
can access/modify cmos - can start Windows - but after a while it shuts down with a sever
error - blue screen reporting it has to protect the system and starts to count.

If the same happens with the other mobo - then its caused either by a faulty Windows on
the ssd - or the ssd isnt working ok at all - I´ll keep you informed - perhaps to report a
working solution and assist one or the other collegue in the forum now myself

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So can you boot with a usb now and image the disk, I think this is a priority. If so maybe use a 3rd party tool to view eventlogs and find out why windows is borked. have you tried starting in safe mode? Also I haven't used it in a long while but I think there is still a logging startup mode

I Think you'll not need another motherboard. put a ubuntu on a stick with ddrescue on it, make an image to a usb drive and work from there.