Asus ux31e zenbook SSD non-standard / cant upgrade hdd?

Note: Answer written mostly by Daryl Bishop

I have just finished repairing my UX31 laptop after the original 128GB SSD failed.

The UX31 uses a non standard connector for the SSD. You can purchase an adapter to a standard M.2 SATA SSD from eBay for $20. The product is manufactured by SINTECH.

• PA5112 SATA HDD card as sandisk sd5se2/SDSA5JK ADATA XM11 for Asus UX31 UX21

I installed a Crucial M550 512GB SATA M.2 Type 2280 Internal Solid State Drive (CT512M550SSD4) into the adapter. Most M.2 drives are compatible with the Sintech adapter if you prefer to use a different manufacture or need a different drive capacity. Be sure to purchase a SATA compatible SSD. The PCIe interface is not compatible. I was worried that the adapter SSD retaining screw would eventually fall out so I used cable ties to retain the SSD instead.

I reinstalled Windows7 64-bit onto the SSD by creating a USB boot drive. On my first few attempts to run the install I ran into a problem where windows failed to find the drivers. It turns out this a windows install bug. The solution is to unplug and move the usb install drive to a different usb port after windows boots into the very first boot screen. After that the install should proceed normally. I didn't have any of the Asus Windows7 drivers available during the install so I used a different laptop to download and copy all the various drivers onto a usb stick from ASUS.com http://www.service.asus.com/#!downloads/c1wax

Most of the drivers are required. To be safe, I installed one driver at a time and rebooted. If you miss installing any you may find that some features of your laptop do not work.