SSD PATA 44-Pin for T4x

[lophiomys]

Hi,
I am planning to put a PATA IDE 2.5" SDD into my T42p.
Most of the new SSDs are SATA II. The only
big PATA SSD I could find what the 64GB Transcend
with slow MLC memory.
The feedback on amazon.com abouth these drives
is very negative: those are supposed to be very
slow under Windoze.

Does anyone have experiences with PATA SSDs in the T40-series?

Are there other SSD models supporting PATA (IDE 44-Pin)?

/L

[Johan]

This is absolutely a highly interesting topic – as I have thought exactly the same as you for some time: Upgrading my T42p mechanical HDD to an absolutey no-noise (!!) SSD. If you Search the T4x-forum for “SSD” you will find many threads discussing this issue – there are quite a few T40/T41/T42-users who have upgraded their PATA HDD’s to SSD (I haven’t been interested in SSD’s on T43’s - since I am a sworn "T42'er", but also because of the T43/p PATA-SATA bridge/"2010-error" issue).

One particular good reason for trying to find an IDE/PATA SSD for a T42(p) now is that the development seems to go towards SATA – so who knows for how long it may even be possible to get an IDE/PATA SSD? Because of this, I will make a move in not too long, I think…

What I have found (as you have) is that the first generation MLC SSD’s (Multi Level Cell) are not suitable for use with NTFS (used by Win XP) – this is e.g. very clearly stated by a MLC manufacturer:

MyDigitalSSD Solid State Drives feature the world’s fastest MLC read and write speeds, and offers superior Data Security, Longevity, Performance, Reliability and Power Savings to conventional HDDs

Formatting this drive in NTFS will dramatically reduce its performance. We do not suggest using this or any other MLC SSD with an OS using an NTFS file system. If you are going to use NTFS and need high performance you will need to buy an SLC SSD

It seems that Transcend has a number of both MLC and SCL IDE SSD’s – see them here – but I have no idea of their actual performance in a ThinkPad under Win XP (NTFS)…

However, a very recent review strongly indicate that the newest MCL SSD’s – by Intel (unfortunately SATA’s) seems to be much, much faster that the first generations MLC’s by other manufacturers – see for yourself Intel X25-M SSD: Intel Delivers One of the World's Fastest Drives.

More interesting information is found here:

[quote="In the thread FLASH disk instead of my 2,5", in the post of Fri May 30, 2008 8:39 am, anchoman"]I had success dropping one of this into a T42.

After cloning the disk (WXPP) with trueimage, including the recovery partition, which works. Not cheap, but fast and completely silent. Just make sure you leave the jumper attached for the drive to be master, otherwise it won't show up on the boot list - documentation is sketchy on this.[/quote]
I believe that Newegg has a review by the very same user:

Pros: Fast, silent.
Dropped this into a T42 thinkpad Win XPP and now finally have the long-dreamed-for _silent_ laptop.
Performance seems very good, more than adequate for office apps and browsing. Program start-up seems much faster than before.

Cons: 1) price/GB
2) Seems that the jumper on the last two pins must be present for the drive to be master. Drive would not show up on the boot list unless the jumper was connected, so make sure your interface does not connect the last four pins, leaving room for the jumper.

Actually, it seems that the few Super Talent IDE SSD’s on Newegg have received quite good user feedback – look for yourself here. The Super Talent IDE SSD’s are SLC (Single Level Cell), as described on the Super Talent homepage – and are available with up to 128 GB capacity (as IDE’s); see the datasheet – and note the endurance specifications!! (NB: What is their power consumption??)

Also see:
[quote="... the thread FLASH disk instead of my 2,5", in the post of Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:20 am, where chansonbleu"]I had the same idea as you, except I used a T42p (2373-HTU) and a 64GB SuperTalent IDE SSD drive. (…) and have since enjoyed working in near silence, with just a bit of fan noise.[/quote]
… and see the thread Replacement of hard drive with SSD (incl. the post of Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:06 pm).

Finally, I suggest you see the (SATA) SSD review: Four-Way SSD Round-Up, OCZ, Super Talent, Mtron which also address the very important issue about these (extremely-expensive-per-GB!) drives: The length of the warranty-period!

Bottom line? None so far – but now I have shared some information with you (hopefully of your interest!), and I hope that you will remember to post back here if you go ahead and purchase a SSD for your T42p. All interesting information about fast SSD’s for use in T42/ps’ that you may come across – please share! As already said, I am not-so-far from doing this also, but I would like to avoid getting a wrong/old/slow type – because of the very high prices!

PS: I have noticed during some time that your posts are very ”narrow” and therefore ”unnecessary” long – in the sense that your editor apparently uses very short fixed-line lengths (only 50 characters per line) – are you aware of this? From a forum-cosmetic point of view, your posts would appear ”nicer” without these short lines. Small problem, however, compared to the world-wide economical crises going on right now!

Subsequent update: It just crossed my mind that I recently came across an European shop (located in England) selling a wide range of SSD's (UK distributor of Memoright products as well as distributor for Mtron, Supertalent, Samsung, OCZ, Soliware, Transcend and Veritech SSD products) - see Future Storage Ltd. Unfortunately they only ship to UK, so if you know someone over there, nice - otherwise it is a bit difficult. Their prices (on many SSD's) seems unrealistic high, but the fairly wide selection shown on their homepage is a good starting pont, in any case.

Many more SSD's may be found at the SSD reviews homepage.

Johan

[lophiomys]

Thanks to Johann for the helpful answer.

The link to an article in Anandtech about the performance of SATA SSDs
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/in ... i=3403&p=8
in this thread
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=
was also very helpful.

So far I checked out the prices of PATA SSDs by SuperTalend and MTRON, and these where out of reach. The cheapest MLC about 400 EUR and the interesting SLC models more than 1000 EUR!

From what I learned until now, I'll gonna have to wait for the PATA 44-Pin version of the Intel 80GB SSD.

[rbena]

So far I checked out the prices of PATA SSDs by SuperTalend and MTRON, and these where out of reach.

Well spoken. I think the majority of users would prefer a high capacity relatively silent drive, vs a high priced low capacity silent drive.

But Johan does have a point about SSD's going SATA. There will certainly be increased demand when SSD's are competitively priced in GB's compared to other storage media. It appears SSD's are still in their developing stage, with speed and also capacity increasing, while remaining at a high price point.

[lophiomys]

Adtron seems to have some 44-Pin PATA SSDs,
and they even clearly declare energy consumption:
http://www.adtron.com/products/
the same also here under the name of Smart
http://www.smartm.com/product/product.cfm?productID=85

Intersting to see that all but the XCeedLite are quite some engergy consumers.

The Adtron website gives a very good impression to me and the
model XCeedLite2 SG9IDE2F64GPHABy 64GB PATA looks very interesting.
I'll have to some more research though...

Any opinions on this?

[p78]

I've seen some recommandations for the MTRON MOBI 1.8" 32GB PATA ZIF SLC SSD ( $249 at http://rocketdisk.com/product_info.php? ... ucts_id=83 ) on http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=208242
but the problem is now to find some kind of adapter to put it in our 2.5" IDE thinkpads ...
there is the addonics AAT18ZIF25 zif to 2.5" IDE converter ( http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aaedt18ide25.asp ) but we miss something to hold the drive ... any idea ?

[sjthinkpader]

There are quite a few threads in the X2, X3x, X4x forum about using CF cards and a CF to 44 pin PATA adapters mainly in the X40/X41. I have a RiDATA 233X 8GB CF card in my X40.

16GB CF cards are in the $30-$40 range now in the local market.

[p78]

good idea about CF sjthinkpader !

now if we use the Addonics AD44MIDE2CF Dual CF-IDE Adapter (2 slots) ( http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_ ... midecf.asp ), can we put 2 CF cards in it that will be visible in our T4Xs ?

for example we could put a fast 16GB card and a cheap 32GB card in the adapter, that would provide more storage than a 32GB SSD drive... but will it provide comparable performance ?

by the way, on the addonics web site they advise to hold the "custom drive" with some double face tape and styrofoam ... that would also be possible with an 1.8" drive ... and then we could use a CF/SDHC to pcmcia adapter to provide additional storage for our T4Xs ...

[p78]

wow the RiDATA NSSD-I25-32-C03 Ultra-S 32GB IDE 2.5-inch SLC SSD is only $236 at http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdeta ... 1440591758 ... and seller accepts international orders ... very tempting !
any opinion on this drive and this seller ?
(drive is $375 at newegg ... strange ...)

... or maybe I should try a clean install of my T42P first to see how speed will improve ;P

[p78]

well, the Transcend 2.5" Solid State Disk - Solid state drive - 32 GB - internal - 2.5" - IDE/ATA TS32GSSD25-S SLC SSD for $276 at amazon market place is probably a safer bet ... still a little bit more expensive than the 1.8" mtron though ...

[sjthinkpader]

There are a lot of adapters out there. I used a single card short IDE-CF adapter in my X40.

Here is a long IDE-CF adapter in a T23.

Here is a IDE-Hitach ZIF adapter in a X30. This is a very quiet 1.8 inch drive in the picture. A piece of closed cell foam holds the drive in place.

I bought a no name dual CF to IDE adapter and it has ircube's marking on it.

http://www.ircube.jp/main/product/index.html#ICF