Thinkpads Forum

So I now have my 500gb HDD on my T420 but I would like to upgrade it to 36 or 64gb SSD with mSATA, by using my WWAN slot. That way I would keep my old HDD for data and the new SSD for Windows and all the programs that I use (web browser, spotify etc.). Because I'm not a pro with computers I would like to have step by step instructions on how to do this operation. Remember: I would like to do a fresh installation of Windows, and probably even Windows 10 when it comes out (I'm now using WIN7).

First of all, you should go with at least 120GB mSATA drive. Smaller SSDs are significantly slower than the larger ones.

All you have to do is locate a W7 install disk that matches the COA on your system (Home, Professional, Ultimate...) pull out the HDD, install mSATA SSD and load the OS from your media drive.
Then you can put your HDD back in and use it for storage.

If nothing is done to change the original HDD, in other words it still contains a bootable Win7 system, would it not be safer to erase it before attempting to use as a "data" drive? After copying all of the important files off of it first, of course.

I ask as I've always thought it was a bad idea to have two separate bootable drives installed at the same time. Much confusion could occur if BIOS somehow forgot which drive to use as the main one.

I don't have a T420 as of yet. Here is what you would do. Remove the standard HDD main HD bay. Install a Msata in the WWLAN port under the ram. Install Windows 7 on the Msata without any other HDD present. After installed, wipe the (typical main drive) primary HDD bay drive clean. Go into bios and select boot order and locate the Msata drive and have that ahead in the boot order. Reinsert the HDD in the main HD bay. Go into disk manager and discover the drive after you boot up your PC.

I have a USB 2.0 external HDD reader for both 3.5" and 2.5" drives. Obviously with SSD drive you perform a secure erase. I do wipe SSD with quick formats myself using the USB cradle.

I assume that most computer tech people on this forum have the USB external drive cradle. I know the rubber mallet (other recent post) is not typically in the average tool box.

rkawakami wrote:If nothing is done to change the original HDD, in other words it still contains a bootable Win7 system, would it not be safer to erase it before attempting to use as a "data" drive? After copying all of the important files off of it first, of course.

I ask as I've always thought it was a bad idea to have two separate bootable drives installed at the same time. Much confusion could occur if BIOS somehow forgot which drive to use as the main one.

I agree with you, Ray. It's never good to have dual HDD with an OS on separate drives. Most with dual boot OS's have them on a single disk with different partitions.

Hans Gruber wrote:I don't have a T420 as of yet. Here is what you would do. Remove the standard HDD main HD bay. Install a Msata in the WWLAN port under the ram. Install Windows 7 on the Msata without any other HDD present. After installed, wipe the (typical main drive) primary HDD bay drive clean. Go into bios and select boot order and locate the Msata drive and have that ahead in the boot order. Reinsert the HDD in the main HD bay. Go into disk manager and discover the drive after you boot up your PC.

I have a USB 2.0 external HDD reader for both 3.5" and 2.5" drives. Obviously with SSD drive you perform a secure erase. I do wipe SSD with quick formats myself using the USB cradle.

I assume that most computer tech people on this forum have the USB external drive cradle. I know the rubber mallet (other recent post) is not typically in the average tool box.

He doesn't have to wipe the drive at first. You could use this procedure:

1. Remove the HDD from it's bay by unscrewing the 1 bay screw on the bottom. Pull the tab and remove the HDD.
2. Install the mSATA drive in your WWAN slot.
3. Go into the BIOS and change the boot order. I typically set mine to USB then DVD, then HDD or for you mSATA
4. Install Windows
5. Re-install the HDD
6. Boot and press F12 to select boot device. Choose the mSATA drive. This way we make sure that for this 1 time, your machine boots from the mSATA drive even though you have 2 bootable drives installed in the system.
7. Copy your data from the HDD to the mSATA drive (pics, docs, downloads, video's, favorites, etc). Don't copy any programs that you had installed
8. Once you are sure you have all the data you need - open 'My Computer', select the HDD, right click on it and choose format. Let it do it's thing.
9. Reboot.
10. You should be booting off the mSATA drive at this point and have all your data and a clean HDD to hold your files.

Regarding SSD's. Someone mentioned 120GB however I recommend 250GB. The price difference is only a few dollars and you get double the storage space.

I forgot step 11: Enjoy your Thinkpad!

Thanks for all the helpful comments! Now I just need to pick the best possible SSD.

I went with a Crucial M550 256 GB. It's a SATA-III drive, but the T420's mSATA port is only SATA-II. Speed is as good as it can be on that bus, plenty of capacity for the OS and lots of storage for other things on the HDD, plus price was pretty good at about $100 USD.