T42p converted to Samsung EVO 850 mSATA SSD

[olex126]

Hi All.

I picked up one lot of government off-lease Thinkpads, a mix of T42p and T43p units, most in VERY good condition. The subject of this test (2373-KYU) was immaculate, down to the fact that there was no keyboard shine, UXGA screen still bright and beautiful, barely noticeable scuff marks on the lid, etc. Almost appeared to be a spare unit that had never been off a desk! All hard drives had been pulled before I purchased them.

I updated the BIOS to no-1802, upgraded the RAM to the maximum 2 Gb limit, and installed a TP-Link TL-WN861N MPCI (300Mbps) wireless card. My first storage solution was a Hitachi 60 Gb/7200 hard drive. I installed Win XP SP2, and then used WSUS Offline Update Version 9.1 to finish updating Win XP.

(This 9.1 version of WSUS includes all official Updates, Service Packs, Security Fixes, Net Framework Versions, and IE Updates from Microsoft as of the last day of official MS XP support. Also has offline updates for MS Office Versions 2003, 2007, etc. HIGHLY recommended to anyone still playing with XP! Also, the current version (10.2.1) supports the latest updates, etc, for Win 7 & Win 8, either 32-bit or 64-bit versions, along with the newer versions of MS Office.)

I ran CrystalDiskMark Ver 5.1.0 on the unit and here were the results:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.1.0 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 37.092 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 31.036 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.505 MB/s [ 123.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 0.617 MB/s [ 150.6 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 37.119 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 30.827 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.328 MB/s [ 80.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 0.627 MB/s [ 153.1 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 38.0% (21.3/55.9 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2015/12/12 14:34:27
OS : Windows XP Professional SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)

[img][IMG]http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x295 ... 0_7200.jpg[/img][/img]

Classic T42p machine running perfectly as The Great Spirit and IBM had intended! Wonder if it can go faster

I had recently purchased an Alterec mSATA-to-IDE-Adapter-With-Frame and decided to pair it with a Samsung EVO 850 120 Gb mSATA SSD drive. I hooked the Alterec/Samsung combo to a USB/IDE adapter cable and plugged it into a USB port. The drive was recognized immediately. .

I then rebooted the machine with Parted Magic (part of Ultimate Boot CD V5.3.2...another HIGHLY recommended disc to have in your software toolbox!) and proceeded to clone the 60/7200 drive to the USB Alterec/Samsung 850 mSATA SSD combo. Elapsed time for the clone procedure ran to about a half-hour.

I removed the 60/7200 hard drive from the computer and installed the Alterec/mSATA drive in its' place. First boot took about a minute, which was what the 60/7200 hard drive had taken, and I noticed a bit of screen lag as the icons were populating the desktop and Taskbar.... I can assume there were some background processes going on in XP from the switching of the drives, as a subsequent reboot took my start time down to thirty-five seconds!

Ran CrystalDiskMark 5.0.1 on this drive and the results were (for a T42p anyways)...Spectacular!:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.1.0 (C) 2007-2015 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 87.813 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 79.313 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 21.975 MB/s [ 5365.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 34.027 MB/s [ 8307.4 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 84.725 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 79.059 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 19.395 MB/s [ 4735.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 30.810 MB/s [ 7522.0 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 38.6% (21.6/55.9 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2015/12/13 11:12:08
OS : Windows XP Professional SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)

[img][IMG]http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x295 ... Gb_SSD.jpg[/img][/img]

Not only did the boot time decrease by nearly 50%, the throughput is much quicker. Random 4K read and writes were astronomically faster! Programs load much faster, the the whole computing experience just "feels" much more satisfying.

I have a few working 5400 and 4200 IDE drives still around, and I may clone the current drive to those in the future if I can find time, just to see how DiskMark scores those drives.

For those interested in costs, the Alterec adapter (shipping & foreign exchange included) ran to $50 Cdn (Ouch!) The mSATA SSD was purchased locally on sale for $73 Cdn. Total cost for the conversion $123 Cdn.

Was it worth the cost? For me, and for this particular T42p, a resounding YES! This one goes into the 'Keeper" drawer, along with some other SATA-moded T43p Thinkpads. The T42 series is quiet to begin with, and the addition of the mSATA SSD just makes it that much more so. In the future I plan on comparing this unit with a SATA-moded T43p for performance and general usability. As a Daily Driver? Possibly. A while back I purchased a beautiful 14" T61p SXGA T9300
from Ajkula66, then upgraded to 8 Gb RAM and an SSD. Great machine, but the screen just doesn't compare to the UXGA IPS version of the T4x series. Most of my heavier computational requirements (video and music editing) are done on a six-core AMD desktop, and for general " The Interweb" browsing and office tasks, this T42p with the SSD is the cats' meow

I guess the next project will be to load Win 7 X32 and see how it performs.. I'm pretty sure it will be my O/S of choice on this machine when all is said and done. One question, if anyone cares to comment: Should I load Win 7 directly to the SSD, or to a hard drive first, then clone the installation to the SSD?

Later. Regards.

Dave

P.S. Almost forgot to mention... MANY thanks to members of this forum, especially Johan, for posting their results of conversion methods for the T4x series... it was after reading the many useful posts that I decided to attempt my conversion. Certainly glad there is a community of dedicated users that are willing to experiment and discuss the results!

[Johan]

I picked up one lot of government off-lease Thinkpads, a mix of T42p and T43p units, most in VERY good condition.

Great to read your post, Dave - very nice to hear that we have another happy T42p'er among us!

I just checked the (stock) specifications of your "new" T42p, using the link pointed to in the thread ThinkPad Machine Type - Model lookup table *PIC* (use either this link or this link), and here is what it said about your T42p; the 2373-KYU:

Pentium Mobile 755, 1 GB RAM, 60 GB 7200 rpm HDD, 15" UXGA (1600x1200) TFT LCD, 128 MB ATI FireGL T2, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD(slim), Intel PRO 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, 9 cell Li-Ion Batt, Win XP Pro

... so you've got the second-fastest CPU; the 2.0 GHz PM 755 (SL7EM). As you might know, the fastest CPU that can be used in a T42/p is the PM765 (= SL7V3) - so in principle you have a tiny upgrade-opportunity there, although the real-life difference between the 2.1 GHz CPU compared to your present 2.0 GHz will be insignificant. The "psychological feel" however of having a *completely maxed out* T42p, well, that feeling simply beats, uuuh, everything!!

I installed Win XP SP2, and then used WSUS Offline Update Version 9.1 to finish updating Win XP. (This 9.1 version of WSUS includes all official Updates, Service Packs, Security Fixes, Net Framework Versions, and IE Updates from Microsoft as of the last day of official MS XP support. Also has offline updates for MS Office Versions 2003, 2007, etc. HIGHLY recommended to anyone still playing with XP! Also, the current version (10.2.1) supports the latest updates, etc, for Win 7 & Win 8, either 32-bit or 64-bit versions, along with the newer versions of MS Office.)

I admit that I haven't Google'd to find out more about this "WSUS" thing that you're mentioning is and does, but I recall having read that XP-users can actually - still! - obtain Microsoft Updates now even well beyond its official EOL (End Of Life), through taking advantage of the "technique" described e.g. in the thread Windows XP security updates until 2019! and Simple Hack Gives Windows XP Users 5 More Years Of Support etc. Like probably "most other" people I left XP when its support ended, and for my part I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on the small fleet of T42's and T42p's that I am managing. Since Win7Ult runs absolutely well on these laptops, and is fully supported by Windows etc., then I haven't felt any inclination to play with XP after its end-of-support.

I had recently purchased an Alterec mSATA-to-IDE-Adapter-With-Frame and decided to pair it with a Samsung EVO 850 120 Gb mSATA SSD drive. I hooked the Alterec/Samsung combo to a USB/IDE adapter cable and plugged it into a USB port. The drive was recognized immediately. .

I then rebooted the machine with Parted Magic (part of Ultimate Boot CD V5.3.2...another HIGHLY recommended disc to have in your software toolbox!) and proceeded to clone the 60/7200 drive to the USB Alterec/Samsung 850 mSATA SSD combo. Elapsed time for the clone procedure ran to about a half-hour.

I removed the 60/7200 hard drive from the computer and installed the Alterec/mSATA drive in its' place. First boot took about a minute, which was what the 60/7200 hard drive had taken, and I noticed a bit of screen lag as the icons were populating the desktop and Taskbar.... I can assume there were some background processes going on in XP from the switching of the drives, as a subsequent reboot took my start time down to thirty-five seconds!

Congratulations with your new mSATA adapter, and your 120 GB Samsung EVO 850 mSATA SSD! By the way, as you've perhaps seen I have collected a list of all the mSATA SSD's that I have been able to find were compatible with Aleratec etc. mSATA-to-IDE/PATA adapter (the list is in this post - note that I took the liberty of also adding you!), and you will see that the 250 GB version of the Samsung 850 EVO mSATA SSD seems to be a tad faster (although under Win 7, as far as I recall, but not certain?), compared to what you've recorded for your 120 GB smaller brother under XP, in your T42p; see the benchmarks pointed to in this post... interesting!

When you installed XP on your 7200 rpm HDD, then the drive was formatted (at some time!) but was most likely not partition-aligned. Therefore when you subsequently cloned the HDD onto the new SSD, then you ended up with the SSD also not being partition-aligned (unless Parted Magic has a built-in option that will partition align SSD's if being cloned from non-partition aligned source... some programs have this option, but I don't know if Parted Magic does?). Anyway, assuming that your mSATA SSD w/XP is not partition aligned, then your write-times will suffer to some extent, and the lifetime of the SSD will also be degraded, compared to if being properly partition aligned. Suggestion: Google a bit about what "partition alignment" is and why you absolutely want your SSD to be that!

Hint: To check whether your SSD is partition aligned or not, this is most easily done using the Windows “chkdsk” utility to verify that the cluster-size is 4kb (= 4096 bytes), and then use the “MSinfo32” tool to find the partition-offset. If dividing the partition-offset by the cluster-size (e.g. 4096), the result must be an integer if your drive is partition aligned. In Windows 7, the "chkdsk" program is run from an elevated command-prompt (CMD.EXE) which must be "Run As Administrator". In XP, MSinfo32.exe is found under C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo Find the info you're after under Components --> Storage --> Disks --> Partition Offset.

I guess the next project will be to load Win 7 X32 and see how it performs I'm pretty sure it will be my O/S of choice on this machine when all is said and done. One question, if anyone cares to comment: Should I load Win 7 directly to the SSD, or to a hard drive first, then clone the installation to the SSD?

As already mentioned, I have installed Windows 7 (Ultimate, 32-bit obviously!) on a number of T42's and T42p's (all having SSD's), have been running W7 on these for a couple of years now, and I can only say: Go ahead and do the same; it works very, very well; I've had zero isues or the like! I'm actually posting this from a T42p (2373-Q2U, 2.1 GHz, 15" UXGA FlexView/IPS LCD) that's running Win7 Ult and of course on a fast SSD...

I absolutely suggest that you fresh-format your Samsung 850 mSATA SSD with Windows 7 (before installing Win 7 onto it!), since doing this will automatically partition-align the SSD before Windows begins installing itself... so, hence, I absolutely wouldn't recommend you to install Win 7 to the old (slow!) mechanical HDD first, and then clone - there's really no benefit in doing this, only the opposite!

A couple of other, useful hints:

- in this fantastic friendly forum we host all the T42/p drivers (since Lenovo sometime ago decided no longer wanting to host them; thus simply and totally ending of their support of older ThinkPads!): When you're logged in to this forum you will find all drivers at the top of the page... here - where would you find such a fantastic service, except, of course, here!!

- see the thread What version HotKey-driver for T42p under Windows 7?... valuable info there!

- see the thread Access Connections on R50e running Win 7?... more valuable info there! Note that I have only been able to get the Fn+F5 to switch on/off the wireless radio (under Windows 7) if using the "IBM 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter II" and not the (older) "non-II" ... see this post for more info.

- during the past six months or so I have experienced that Windows Updates have been running veery slow on these T42/p's (as well as on a couple of T60's that I also have; these likewise running the same Windows 7 Ultimate). I don't know the explanation (is there some connection with the launch of Windows 10, perhaps??), but even if installing the Windows supposed-to-be-fix, the Microsoft KB3102810 the problem persist, unchanged. You can use the free - and highly recommended! - Sysinternals tool Process Explorer to suspend that particular thread (wua...something), but it is still too annoying, so what I've therefore simply done recently is completely shut off the automatic Windows Updates (in the Control Panel). In stead I will manually search for new updates from time to time, and although this is still a pain (somewhere!), because being sooo incredibly slowly, then the automatic search for updates will at least no longer slow down the laptop neither during boot (which was a real pain... somewhere), and also not when in use. I would love to know how to fix this issue!?!

- keep very clear of all the Windows 10 "GWX" (virus!!) stuff that will install itself on your Win7 installation unless you are very vigilant; see e.g. the thread Don't want W10? Concerned about privacy? Make sure to kill/uninstall these updates.... You simply DON'T want this GWX-stuff on a T42/p, period!!

- antivirus: Like the Windows Updates (here, in W7) have recently started being veeeery slow and taking up 100 % of the CPU during boot for an annoying long time, so has unfortunately also the free Microsoft Security Essentials (antivirus) that I have been using for the past year of so. MSE has also recently become a huge, painstaking resource hog (especially during boot); again I dunno why?? I am often reducing its process priority - manually - after boot (again using Process Explorer), since I unfortunately haven't been able to find a way to automatically and permanently reduce its process priority. Before switching to MSE I used the AVG Free but it also became too annoying with its pop-up advertisement and also gradually became too slow and too CPU-intensitive, so I swapped it out for the free MSE. I really wish I could find a new (and preferably free) anti-virus that would allow a fast boot-time under Windows 7 on my T42/p's without loading the CPU or memory more that what's acceptable. Any recommendation(s) in this regard would be highly welcome!

- I (warmly!) suggest that you install Notebook Hardware Control (skip the first pages if in a hurry, and follow the links in this post)... it is very easy to use, and allow you to undervolt the CPU, downclock the GPU, control the fan, and monitor both CPU, GPU, fan etc etc. The result? A cooler, quieter, less power-consuming ThinkPad - which is why i always highly recommend NHC Installing this free program will make you even happier for your T42p!

- alternatively, install the newer smaller, similar program; the IBM_ECW: Power management tool for T4x/R5x or Shimodax'/troubadix's ThinkPad Fan Control (start reading that thread from the end, not from the start!). Get TPFC here.

-a real "Windows hardliner" (like you!) will perhaps also want the Windows Master Control Panel (also called Windows God Mode by some bloggers!).

... I guess that's it for now! Summing it all up; I'd wholehearted say: Absolutely go for Windows 7 on your T42p with its new mSATA SSD, and I'm you won't be disappointed. Everything works here; all the IBM ThinkPad utilities - power manager, Fn+F5, Access Connections etc etc. - it's just humming happily along!

P.S. Almost forgot to mention... MANY thanks to members of this forum, especially Johan, for posting their results of conversion methods for the T4x series... it was after reading the many useful posts that I decided to attempt my conversion. Certainly glad there is a community of dedicated users that are willing to experiment and discuss the results!

Oooh, wouw, geee; thank's a lot for (not forgetting!!) this very nice remark; much appreciated! As you've no doubt guessed I am rather fond of my T42/p's and try to keep them running as long as they are working acceptable well. I have taken a lot of benefit from this forum over the years, and since forums like this - and like many other of the same kind - are based on sharing experience rather than just and only and always taking advantage of what others have contributed, then I am glad to share! Something that absolutely "fuels" my continued contributions to this forum are folks like now you; people who recognize the help they've had, and show their appreciation. If you spend a serious amount of your own, private spare time, and no one ever seems to care a bit, then... it gets less funny at a time. So, Dave, thanks for your mature remark. I do appreciate it. And I (and no doubt also many other forum members!) will be glad to help you with any other advice(s) in the future, should you need any.

So, what could be left to say, except of course: Happy Windows 7 upgrading!

Aaah, wait; of course there's a final, important thing: Merry Christmas to you up in Canada!

Best regards,

Johan