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Budget SSD / Adapter Combo for X41?

X20/X21, X30/X31, X40/X41 Series
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AHAB13
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:18 pm
Location: Hildesheim, Germany

Budget SSD / Adapter Combo for X41?

#1 Post by AHAB13 » Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:38 pm

Me did my research on this and found the right 3.3V Adapter & a few mSATA Drives which could fit.

Adapter (mSATA/IDE 44Pin):

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073ZD5LPS/ref ... uage=en_GB

or similar (cheaper) https://de.aliexpress.com/item/2016-New ... 59868.html


So far, so good. I also did find several SSD's with the right Specs (As far as I can tell..) Yet, also got a bit lost here:

Main pick (best price & reviews): https://www.amazon.de/TCSUNBOW-mSATA-M1 ... B01N9ZWJV2

or this one (shipped) from China: https://de.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 24020.html?

While the TCSUNBOW would be a little easier & cheaper, I didnt find much specs on this one. Its 3.3V and should be Sata 1 or 2; would this work inside the x41?

Alternative most of the cheaper stuff can be found on AliXPress, yet the info there is tricky & mostly hard to really grasp, so askin in here seems a better idea.


Also found (Maybe) something like a Gem for people like me, who need a cheap SSD in their X41s:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/mSATA-SSD-to-h ... 1762518210?


Many thanks in Advance for helping me out here & just ask, if I didnt explain, or missed some more info to add.

schaki
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2005 10:12 am

Re: Budget SSD / Adapter Combo for X41?

#2 Post by schaki » Fri Jul 20, 2018 5:29 pm

For an other laptop with IDE/Pata I bought two used Samsung PM830 mSata 128 and 256gb and an adapater that resembles about the last one you list.
Samsung PM830 mSata is available in 32gb and 64gb as well as the other two which I went for. Like the two you list, it also uses MLC Nand.
Thinkpad X61s with Middleton bios 2.22.

axur-delmeria
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Location: Metro Manila, Philippines

Re: Budget SSD / Adapter Combo for X41?

#3 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat Jul 21, 2018 12:40 am

You might run into some compatibility issues.

IDE to mSATA adapters use an IDE to SATA bridge chip to allow the SSD and Thinkpad to communicate.

However, the X41 itself uses an IDE to SATA bridge chip because the Intel 915GM chipset only has 1 IDE port (which is routed to the docking port, to connect the IDE optical drive in the Ultrabase).
Experience with the T43 and R52 (which also use the 915 chipset and an IDE/SATA bridge chip) shows that having two bridge chips in series causes a lot of issues, like the drive not being detected, disconnection issues, etc.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

zod
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Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 6:28 pm
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Budget SSD / Adapter Combo for X41?

#4 Post by zod » Tue Aug 21, 2018 2:21 pm

AHAB13 wrote:
Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:38 pm
or similar (cheaper) https://de.aliexpress.com/item/2016-New ... 59868.html
I'm using this adapter with Toshiba mSATA 128GB SSD in my X41t. It will make problems if you try to clean install Win7, but it's easy to solve - I made first half of installation (until first reboot) in my T61p, and then put the drive together with adapter in X41t to finish it. Everything works like a charm for a year now, with 2.5GB RAM and fast mSATA SSD the machine is really snappy. But you have one more solution as well, unfortunately not applicable to my X41t, but working fine with X41 - just search the forum for X41 SATA mod. In fact, you don't need adapter at all, you can easily bypass the PATA bottleneck in your machine and enjoy full SATA speed.

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