T23 IDE SSD - Recommendations?

[Harryc]

So I want to put an IDE SSD in a T23. Here are the current choices in my price range;

Kingspec, Model: KSD-PA25.1-064MJ, Capacity: 64GB, Flash Type: MLC
Kingspec, Model: KSD-PA25.1-032MS, Capacity: 32GB, Flash Type: MLC
Super Talent DuraDrive ET2, Model: FHM32GW25H, Capacity: 32GB, , Flash Type: MLC
Transcend, Model: TS32GSSD25-M, Capacity 32GB, Flash Type: MLC

The early models of IDE SSD's had stuttering problems, and that is what I want to avoid mostly. Performance is also a key consideration.
Does anyone have any experience with any of these models or can you recommend another 32 to 64GB 2.5" IDE SSD? I would also consider a ZIF SSD drive if the interface is simple to implement and cost effective.

[MercuryComet]

Greetings. It may be 2 years too late, but here is my experience with a T23 and a KingSpec KSD-PA25.6-064MS SSD (PATA/IDE)...

Hopefully you still have a full set of Recovery Media. If not, you can still install Windows XP Pro from another source and use the Product Tag Number on the bottom of your T23. The longest part of the whole process was copying 12 GB of my files/data to a USB thumb drive before I started. My efforts to create recovery media/CDs from the original disk failed miserably. I had to do a fresh install from a borrowed Dell set-up disk. It would have been great to have the original rescue media, but once I had XP SP3 is installed (WPA2 support), I went to Lenovo's T23 Support site and downloaded the T23 specific drivers. It would have been better if I had downloaded the following things to a thumb-drive before starting:

Windows XP Update Service Pack 3 (the Dell disc was SP1)
Video driver (SuperSavage/IXC16) for Windows 2000/XP - ThinkPad T23
Windows XP installation supplement files - ThinkPad General
TrackPoint driver for Windows XP, 2000 - ThinkPad
Hotkey driver for Windows 98/Me/NT 4.0/2000/XP - ThinkPad

Hardware installation was the same as any HD set up and it bolted into the T23's HD cassette although a little tighter than the OEM HD (IBM Travelstar 30GB 2.5 4200RPM), especially with the audio-jack/faceplate. The screw holes on the KingSpec are plastic so be careful to make them snug but not too tight.

OS and other software install was a pleasure and hinted at increased performance with the new HD. The initial OS install failed, but I tried starting the install again and it worked the second time without a hitch. I had to format the disk to NTFS and that was nice and quick. Once the OS was installed, and I updated the video and keyboard (hot-key) drivers everything works faster. I did not need to download any special drivers for the KingSpec.

Prior to the upgrade, my T23 was suffering from long periods of severe hardware interrupts (CPU usage at 75-85%) and extreme slowness at start-up and shutdown. I did not benchmark anything, but start-up is now faster (~30 seconds) and shutdown is ~20 seconds. I have identical pre-upgrade software installed and some of this improvement may be due to the fresh OS install, but most of it is due to the new SSD. Hardware interrupts are now back to minimal (3-5%). The SSD is 100% silent and I do not miss the chugging and ticking from the old 30 GB HD. I never new how loud the old disk was until it was gone

Everything is much snappier now, windows open faster and and I look forward to using the T23 instead of firing it up and waiting 5 minutes while it overcame the hardware interrupts and was ready for use. Software installations are a much faster and painless process. LibreOffice and GIMP installed quickly and start up much more quickly than ever before. Firefox is much faster now and it seems the only bottleneck is the video card that struggles to keep up with everything else. I also use Microsoft Security Essentials and there is a noticeable drag on resources that I am willing to accept given the peace of mind, unobtrusiveness and reliability of that software. MSE auto-updates complete much faster too.

Overall, it feels like the KingSpec SSD gave this solid old T23 a life extension. I was considering a newer T series ThinkPad, but I think this upgrade will keep me happy for 3 more years. My T23 is primarily a light work and web browsing machine (that I am still very attached to). Some may ask why put any money into such obsolete hardware, but for the $75 I spent for the new KingSpec (focalprice.com), I am very pleased with the improvement and the learning experience of swapping the drive. Personally it was well worth it compared to a new netbook.

[JBUK]

I have recently installed a Samsung SSD 830 64gb. I am very pleased with the result even though it is in the ultrabay. I chose this SSD because it comes with TRIM type software which I need as I run XP on this T23.

I had a lot of fun installing it with the alignment particularly. I have only the OS on the SSD at the moment, the original HDD is still in place with the boot partition hidden and all the programs and data on it on separate partitions.
I plan to migrate some of this onto the SSD when I get some time spare to devote to it.

I did not do a clean install I just used Acronis to restore an image and then ran gparted to get the alignment boundary correct. Boot time is 36 secs as measured by Bootracer and things happen a lot more quickly in use too.

I have Win7 on another T23 using HDD and this does run ok but would be a lot quicker on an SSD. However as there are no video drivers around for the T23 it does not have a clean look to the displays using the standard vga driver so on balance I prefer XP for my SSD. I followed all the advice on the ocztechnology and prime-expert forums to fine tune XP for better SSD performance.
I would not hesitate to install another , so go for it Harryc.

[Johan]

If of interest, a related "SSD-in-a-T2x-ThinkPad" thread is the Solid State Hard Drive on T23 (w/pictures) which is (strongly) related to this post.

The sticky in the T4x sub-forum GUIDE: Make your T4x *FAST* by replacing the HDD with a SSD! should be of (potential!) to all owners of T2x7T3x/T4x and the R-, A-, G- and Z-series Thinkpads which were born with 2.5" PATA drives.

Johan

[Bot13]

Did anyone notice the OP is over a year old? I have been using a Transend 8gig SLC for five plus years. It improved access times so well, that I didn't know how antiquated my system had become, until video lag got to be too much. Had no luck transferring the image for HDD to SSD using XXclone, but it worked fine making a b/u to HDD.

[PandorasThinkpad]

Hey Folks!

I am a user of mostly three T23, there are full upgraded with at least a 1.2 GHz CPU and 1GB Ram.

Now i'd like to know which adapter i need to get an SSD to work. It should work in the original hard drive bay, in fact it should replace the mechanical hard drive, at the moment are WD1600BEVE and Samsung HM160HC working. To get it on the point, i don't want a adapter to use in the ultrabay2000, in want one to use ssd instead of the pata boot drive.

So which adapter will i need, where will it be to find and which ssd would be the right one, which will fit and work properly?

Oh, sorry about my english, but my native language is german.


Thanks a lot for any help in here.

Sincerly,

PT

[RealBlackStuff]

There is really only one: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ ... Legacy_Pro
Alternative: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=112081

[PandorasThinkpad]

Hmm..

Johan, a moderator, wrote....."Is it worth replacing a working mechanical HD in a T23 with an SSD? In my opinion, no."

So it wouldn't make much sense, really sense would make an SATA Adpater for the Ultrabay2000 or should this now be totally wrong?

But all of the parts are only available in china, this wouldn't be an good advise without paypal and with location germany.

[RealBlackStuff]

1) Johan's remark is subjective. He is still almost totally involved with T42, which is only 1 generation newer than your T23.
2) Complaining about how/where to obtain parts is also subjective, as most things come from China nowadays...
3) And spending this type of money/effort on a T23 would certainly not be considered objective.
You'd be better off getting a more up-to-date laptop, unless you are a Linux fan and don't care about mind-boggling website Flash.

[PandorasThinkpad]

That's quite right, the thing of looking for a newer thinkpad.

But i'm an artist and so i don't have that much money left a month.

Of course this would be a fine thing, be able to buy a X100e, which is even nowadays a fine machine, just tiny and not that much power but even not that less.

The T400 and T500 are also well made machines, but both are about 250 euro here in germany.

When i will get the T61, this will be my thinkpad for using win7 and some good graphical progams. Anyhing more i won't need because anything else i create with me own hands out of lot of different substances.

In fact it is a real good question what any older thinkpad is anyone worth to hold it quite workling, even about 12 or more years after this machine has been sold.

[Johan]

Johan, a moderator, wrote....."Is it worth replacing a working mechanical HD in a T23 with an SSD? In my opinion, no."

Comment from Johan: I've never said this (!); you are confusing yourself with what was said by user hrmcrm in this post:

Is it worth replacing a working mechanical HD in a T23 with an SSD? In my opinion, no.

Johan

[Scott H.]

When i will get the T61, this will be my thinkpad for using win7 and some good graphical progams. Anyhing more i won't need because anything else i create with me own hands out of lot of different substances.

You might want to make sure the drivers are available for the laptop before putting Windows 7 on it. I've run into that on several of my older IBMs, so now I check before I even think about upgrading programs.

-Scott H.

[PandorasThinkpad]

Thanx for the answer,

now i have the T61 and i installed a vista in 64 bit on it, everything wirks fine...vista will have support until november 2017, this will be much enough time to think about anything else...

i already tested out win7 prof on the t23 with the 1,2 GHZ PIII-M and 1GB Ram, it's running on the original 40 GB HDD, but i had to chose opera, this is the latest version, firfox wouldn't even run without permanent swapping, even opera takes much to much of the available ram off.

I don't really know if there would be any advantage of an ssd in the t23, this isn't/ wouldn't be quite maintainable, i guess.

Sincerly,

PT

[DRobinson]

For my old P3 machines (and maybe soon newer t4x machines) I run compact flash with pata ide to flash adapters. This seems to work very well imho. I am running Linux on those older machines which probably makes it easier and more reliable than windows on flash.

2.5" spinning ide drives are getting harder to come by. I see no real path forward for these older machines than using some form of solid state drive.

[PandorasThinkpad]

Hi!

So which sort of cheep ssd or whatever else should be chosen for such old machines like the t23? Which sort of adapters would be useful for that?

The links given onto some sort of adapters are already out of date!

Can someone please be so kind to give any real actual links for useful adapters and drives?

Nevertheless mint 13 in 32 bit is runnig quite fast with any sort of old drives, even the original 40 gb drive is well enough for that.

As time is passing by and the lts support of mint 13 will end, the t23 will certainly only fit for playing a music library or such simple things.....it will have to be hold out of the world wide web, because this won't be any place this machine would work fine...

any other opinion in this case?

All the best,

Pandora

[ac12]

I just did a test install of a mSATA SSD on my T23, and it works.
I used the Aleratec mSATA to IDE adapter and a Samsung 32GB mSATA SSD.
After several frustrating failed attempts to get the mSATA/IDE apapter to work in a Dell C400, I gave up and switched to the T23.

I pre-configured the partition for SSD (partition and format), and the first XP install loaded but did not complete. It would not reboot for the 2nd part of the install. And would not boot at all.
So the 2nd time I did the XP install, I used XP to repartition and quick format the SSD, and the XP install completed, and the T23 would boot.
Then I used AOMEI Partition Assistant, to reset the offset for the SSD. gpart could not be used due to the screen being unreadable.
The T23 is MUCH snappier with the SSD than the mechanical drive.
Now that the proof of concept worked, I will be replacing the 32GB SSD (meant for the C400) with a 120GB SSD.
Hopefully it will give me more use out of the old machine, before I have to bit the bullet and retire it.

A few things that I learned:
- Partitioning the SSD from a win7 PC, created a boot partition that was not compatible with the XP install. It took me a while to figure this out. I then had to change it to MBR, which took more time to figure out.
- Pre-partitioning and formatting the SSD before installing XP did not work, for me. I had to install using XP, then align the drive after the XP install using AOMEI. gpart was not usable on the T23, as the screen display was not readable (odd as it was readable on the Dell C400).

I am still trying to figure out why the Dell C400 would not recognize the SSD in the mSATA to IDE adapter, when it worked in the T23. Looks like I am stuck with mechanical drives for the C400.

Update: The Aleratec mSATA to IDE adapter works on the T23 but not the Dell C400. For the C400 I used a no-name Chinese mSATA to IDE 2.5" adapter that uses the JMicron JM20330 chip. And it works just fine (so far) with a 32GB mSATA SSD, and its much cheaper than the Aleratec adapter, making the SSD conversion more affordable.