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mSATA SSD + HDD + SSD in DVD bay?
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:07 pm
by fackamato
Hi folks,
Is it possible to have 3 drives in the T420? mSATA SSD plus HDD plus SSD in the optical bay, yay/nay?
Cheers,
Re: mSATA SSD + HDD + SSD in DVD bay?
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:49 pm
by wolfman
Welcome to the forum!
Yes, this is possible to do. The internal drive bay and ultrabay will be SATA III speed and the mSATA port will be SATA II speed. Actually, all three drives could be SSD's if you wanted... (e.g., no requirement that one be an actual mechanical drive, although I have a 750gb, 7200 RPM mechanical drive in my ultrabay slot).
Re: mSATA SSD + HDD + SSD in DVD bay?
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:25 pm
by Kaso
1. The T420 usually comes with a 2.5" 9mm HDD. You can retain this, or you can replace it with a 2.5" 9mm SSD.
2. Unless the PCI-Express WWAN/mSATA slot in the underside of the T420 has been occupied by a WWAN card, you can put a mSATA SSD in that slot.
3. You can replace the stock CD/DVD drive by an UltraBay caddy adapter (price ranging from US$10 to US$70, with no significant differences in quality) that holds a HDD or a SSD of your choice. This drive can be 7.5mm or 9mm thick.
By default, the HDD in the main bay is the boot drive. You can designate any of the drives to be the boot drive.
(A related topic is how to transfer the system image from the stock HDD to a new boot drive, preferrably a SSD.)