Thinkpads Forum

Yes, I'm a Nervous Nellie, having never done this before. I have the SSD and the Lenovo site gives pretty good remove & install instructions. But, how to I get my operating system, programs, and files onto the new drive? Is that what Rescue and Recovery disks do? Or do I need to buy a mSATA to USB adabtor and clone the old drive onto the new one? Thanks in advance...

Yes, if you want to preserve your OS, apps, files and everything else just as it is now, you will want to clone the existing drive to the new SSD.

If you want to start fresh with a clean install just like the ThinkPad left the factory...that's what the R&R disks are for. Back up all your files and data to an external storage media, then copy them back after you have re-installed the apps you need.

Do you mean mSATA or SATA? AFAIK, T410s does not support mSATA.

Assuming it's plain old SATA, then yes - a SATA-USB adapter is the easiest way to connect it as an external drive and clone it.

Some people will advise a fresh installation of everything, but if you have many programs set up and lots of custom configuration, it may be worth the time to clone it.

Thanks. Yes, I want to keep my programs and configurations. Sorry. micro-SATA...

The T410s uses the same 1.8" drives as an X301.
My own X301 has an adapter card like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/301360345057, together with an mSATA SSD.
I taped a piece of black plastic along the bottom, to make it equal in depth and width to a 'regular' 1.8" drive.
Top-view:

Bottom-view:


Works like a charm.

SUCCESS! Got the $7 adapter below, connected it to my new drive and a USB port. Used Macrium Reflect Free to clone the old disk to the new one. Easy peasy. Had a bit of a problem expanding my C: partition because the Lenovo Recovery (D:) was between it and the unallocated space. Used Easeus Partition Master (also free) to copy D: to a flash drive, then deleted D: from the SSD, expanded C: to incorporate the now neighboring unallocated space, then copied the D: back to the SSD. Done!

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003 ... UTF8&psc=1

Sadly, I still can't update Windows 7 Service Pack 1. After having tried all the tools Microsoft suggested, I thought it was a space or disk issue. Guess not. But, I now have tons of space and that's a good thing...

Thanks everyone for your help...

Which SSD did you buy and what size?

Great news.

Can you see if you can now still access that recovery partition on your new SSD?

Try pressing F11 at startup to see if Rescue and Recovery can start.

I haven't heard of anyway to move that recovery partition and still have it work as it should. I have tried myself many times.

Maybe this just might work.

Thanks in advance,

Brad

anthony wrote:Sadly, I still can't update Windows 7 Service Pack 1. After having tried all the tools Microsoft suggested, I thought it was a space or disk issue. Guess not. But, I now have tons of space and that's a good thing...

Can you describe this issue in more detail ?

Have you tried this tool from Tweaking.com ?
Repair Windows Updates 2.8.8 :
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details ... dates.html

Regardless, I would recommend you delete the Recovery partition, and then leave that space UNused for best SSD-performance.
Once you have installed all your updates and other programs, take an image and keep that for future reference/reinstall.

RealBlackStuff wrote:Regardless, I would recommend you delete the Recovery partition, and then leave that space UNused for best SSD-performance.

Agreed. That space should be left as "unallocated" and serve for over-provisioning. That's what I do with all of my SSDs.

Once you have installed all your updates and other programs, take an image and keep that for future reference/reinstall.

Agreed once again.

I would have done a fresh install of Windows, especially since you are having problems updating.

Microsoft has made .ISO's available for free to download. Just grab Windows 7 SP1 and it will work with the COA on the bottom of your machine.

Then during install, leave a small space unused.

My problem installing windows update turned out to be the simplest thing. I had disabled bluetooth at start up. enabled bluetooth and voila. Installed with no problems. found this solution with a google search. Who knew?