Thinkpads Forum

Recently resurrected my old X60s to use as a secondary work (email, browsing, documents) laptop at home and have been unsuccessfully trying to get the HDD (60 gb) upgraded to an SSD (120 gb Samsung 850 EVO). I initially couldn't get the HDD cloned, now I seem to have figured that out but the newly cloned SSD won't boot. This is what I've gone through:

- tried using the Samsung Data Migration tool, but it would freeze at 19% of the source disk cloning.
- Used the Windows XP disk manager to partition and format the drive in NTFS.
- Then downloaded EaseUS Todo Backup to clone the HDD onto the SSD.
- When I swap the HDD out for the newly cloned SSD, it will POST but then I get a blinking cursor and a blank screen; it won't boot into Windows or give me any kind of error message even.

Any ideas? I can read all the data on the SSD just fine through windows explorer, so I think the cloning process itself worked alright.

Thanks,
Anthony

It is missing the Master Boot Record (MBR).

Try this: http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/483/xp_r ... y_console/

With Thinkpads you have to put the target drive, the SSD in your case, into the Thinkpad.
The original HDD can be connected with a USB adapter, or if you have one, a Ultrabase HDD caddy.
Cloning will not work otherwise.

XP? Seriously?

wileE wrote:. . . . . . .

XP? Seriously?

well, first, welcome to the forum..

second.. XP..??!
heh, it works for just fine on my pristine X60 i have been running in a dedicated, sort of, job, online 24/7 with ESET ESS6 and newer..
XP runs and as long as it does, i'll leave it alone..
so don't be put off by mocking if XP works for you.. even though M$ would like to forget XP..

the X60 is, IMO one fine little thinkpad.. as good as the S30 next to it though a bit bigger..

lastly, i have not tried upgrading an SSD in this X60 but your efforts seem to have inserted an idea..

Hey, thanks everyone. I'll see if I can fix the MBR on the SSD, otherwise I guess I will try to swap the drives for each other and clone them again.

Yup, still running XP on it. Have thought about putting windows 7 (I guess it will be 10 soon) on it but not sure it is worth the expense, especially for a laptop that really isn't used for any "power" type of work. Actually it runs pretty well all things considered, but the hard drive access is brutally slow.

Hmm. Alright, so still running into some issues. Here is where I am at so far:

- since I don't have the XP disc (never came with my laptop) I tried the EaseUS Partition Manager's "repair MBR" tool. This time, however, when I try to boot off the SSD, instead of the flashing cursor, I instead get "Boot disk error."
- I've since wiped the SSD again and tried the other method, booting off the HDD attached to a USB-SATA cable with the SSD in the drive bay, however the laptop won't boot off the HDD on USB. I've played around with the boot order and done it with both the cloned SSD and the clean SSD in the drive bay and it won't boot. However, ironically I can load the Rescue and Recovery workspace off the HDD when it is attached to the USB port.

Other thoughts? What am I missing? Seems like others have successfully migrated to an SSD on their X60(s) and it's really the only major performance bottleneck for what I use the laptop for.

Thanks!
Anthony

however the laptop won't boot off the HDD on USB

Of course not. You have been trying to clone from a running XP?
That will never work.

You have to use a cloning software you can boot from. Create a bootable USB stick or a DVD. Did your SSD come without any software?

I use clonezilla on a USB stick, but that might be difficult if you have never used a Linux system. There are tools you can use depending on the HDD manufacturer. Like the WD Acronis True Image from Western Digital.

I use this and have found it to be very reliable and simple:



https://www.paragon-software.com/techno ... OS-to-SSD/

Thanks everyone for the help. I eventually gave up on cloning my old OS and decided now would be a good time to try out Linux. So far it's working pretty well and quite a bit faster than XP on the HDD.