Expanding SSD/SD Card and Memory in A150-1295

I plan to purchase a A150-1295 since there seems to be so many great prices on it. I plan to erase the Linspire OS and put Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it.
The question I have though is about the memory and SSD.
Am I correct that I need to be SODIMM modules that are DDR2 533 SDRAM? If I'm right there's one slot for memory and 512MB on board. Can I simply plug in either a 512MB or 1GB stick? I assume prices are so close I may just go for 1GB and have a total of 1.5GB Memory
My biggest question though is about the SSD. I know it comes with 8GB SSD and I won't do heavy work, just simple web browsing, some minor OpenOffice work and maybe a few photos and mp3's. I've heard how it comes with both a 4 in 1 Memory Card reader and a SD Card slot. If I add a SD card to it what's the maximum size it can use and does it act like a 2nd hard drive for data?
Or is my better option to replace the SSD. I did some research on Google and see people selling up to 32GB SSD drives. I'd be happy with 12-16GB but is this hard to replace and any suggestions of which model to get or where to buy it if I go that route?
Thanks for help.

 

Yes, you can use either a 512MB or a 1GB memory module. But read the tutorials first. It's a bitch to install unless you're comfortable dismantling and reassembling electronic components. Of course prices fluctuate, but when I bought my 1GB stick a couple months ago it was about 20 dollars U.S. plus shipping.

There are 2 card readers. The 4-in-1 on the right and an SD/SDHC on the left. The left reader expands the SSD storage space to make one virtual drive using aufs and the right-side reader functions as a normal, separate drive. I don't know the maximum size SD card you can use.(I have a 2GB card :!: in mine with plenty of free space .) Acer says the One supports up to 8GB, but a lot of people report that 16GB cards work fine. I haven't seen any reports about 32GB cards.

 

I put a 4GB SDHC card in the expansion slot and now I have 10.2GB.
This was added to my 8GB.
Seems like alot of space to lose.

 

What is aufs?
I thought I was somewhere the Aspire One won't support SDHC but glad to hear it does.
So if I'm right then when you put a SD card in it simply merges it and treats it as one SSD. Would this work on Ubuntu Netbook Remix or is this something specific to Linpus?
If it works this way I know the SD card option would be easier than replacing the SSD drive so I'd likely go that route.

 

I can confirm 16GB SDHC works fine, and people have reported 32GB too. Aufs (http://aufs.sourceforge.net/) merges different drives into a single virtual directory, and is installed on the out of box AAO linpus as standard. If you change distro's, then you'll have to see what that distro gives you.

Even if you don't use aufs, the left hand side slot is designed to let you keep it in there permanently (it barely sticks out, so there's no danger of accidental ejection), so you can use it as a docs drive. 8GB on the SSD ought to be enough for any distro to play with if you don't clutter it.

 

I did some research on SSD's and installing. It seems the SSD is very hard to remove since it's soldered in so I don't think I'd want to upgrade it. I did come across a few sites where people replaced it with a 1.8" Hard Drive though but I don't want to go that route.
I'm just worried about aufs working with Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
I know when you install Linux though you have 3 partitions. If I remember right it's a small root directory, then a 2nd one for programs or so, and then a 3rd one for the data. Would it be possible to set it up to use the first two partitions on the internal SSD and the 2nd on the SD card. That way I don't have to be concerned with data being shared between the two.

 

I had Ubuntu on my AAO before switching to Mandriva and used the left SD slot next to the power connector with a 16 Gb SDHC as my home partition and it worked fine.

 

Why does the aao use aufs instead of unionfs?