Thinkpads Forum

hi all,
i do have an old but trusty IBM Thinkpad 390x laptop, it has the 6 Gb harddisk.
is it possible to install a solid state drive instead?
(guess it will not, but you folks will know for sure )
thank you.

I have a EIDE SSD Msystems 16GB SLC in one of my 390X (2626LOU).


The best you could get would be an mSATA > IDE adapter like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261230790332 with an SSD like this one: http://amzn.com/B00BQ8RFAI

A 390X maxed out with 512MB RAM, SSD, USB 2.0 PCMCIA card would not be a bad machine for XP.

thank you for the answer.
i doubt, it will be possible to find the space to put that adapter AND that ssd disk into my Thinkpad..
anyone who did this before??

It will fit inside the space for the hard drive.

oldmanstool wrote:thank you for the answer.
i doubt, it will be possible to find the space to put that adapter AND that ssd disk into my Thinkpad..
anyone who did this before??

Have a look at the picture in this link. It will give you a better sense of the size and orientation of the adapter/disk combination: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Low-profile-mSAT ... 19e6e6a893

I've tried a cf-to-ide adapter in my old thinkpads before, without success. I can't say whether you'd experience similar difficulties with this ssd-to-ide adapater, and this is a fair amount to spend on an old machine.

But maybe someone else has used an adapter like this successfully and can give you pointers.

thank you for the fleabay link...
i was NOT aware these ssd disks were that small and tiny.
i see they doubledecker with the adapter card and should so fit into the slot.

where was your problem with the combination that did not work?

i could imagine the thinkpad's bios is unable to handle a harddisk/ssd that big, as afaik the origina equipment ibm launched them with was a 4 or a 6 GB harddisk...

bad is, that as a main reason computes fail is damage of/on the harddisk(s).
changing my hd for a secondhand 6 GB disk (when mine had failed) would be a problem to find and only offer a short extra life (as the 'new' disk would be equally old too).
sad, such fine pieces of machinery must be sent to heaven for that reason...

no other old boys using a Thinkpad 390X any more????

oldmanstool wrote: i could imagine the thinkpad's bios is unable to handle a harddisk/ssd that big, as afaik the origina equipment ibm launched them with was a 4 or a 6 GB harddisk...

My 390X came stock with a 12GB drive, and I have used 80GB drives in the past with Windows XP. I would buy the adapter and test with a couple of the mSATA cards I have laying around, but that is just so far down on the priority list, I'm doubtful I'd get around to it.

oldmanstool wrote:no other old boys using a Thinkpad 390X any more????

I used my 390X all the way up until July of 2012. It was my garage computer that I used to look up service manuals for my cars & lawn equipment. I would also stream music from my network to the 390X which was connected to speakers in the garage while I worked out there.

I retired the 390X when the 80GB WD Blue hard drive that was installed quit working. The 80GB hard drive was still under warranty, and WD replaced it with a refurbished 250GB. During that downtime, I decided to decommission the still fully capable 390X into storage and my R400 became my garage computer.

oldmanstool wrote:thank you for the fleabay link...
i was NOT aware these ssd disks were that small and tiny.
i see they doubledecker with the adapter card and should so fit into the slot.

where was your problem with the combination that did not work?

If I knew what the problem was, I would have fixed it and made use of the CF card! I never figured it out.

I think if I replace the hard drive on this machine, I'll use another spinning drive, probably 40GB or 60GB. It's not worth putting too much more money into... and I am sure that it wouldn't have any trouble with a regular IDE drive of that size.

Sorry it took me so long to respond...

In the T4x forum, there's a big thread about installing SATA SSD drives in a T4x machine: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=112081
Those drives are the same size as in your 390X.

If that option should NOT work out for you, I suggest you go to Hoppe on 't Spui and have a kopstoot, to bury your misery!
Or go to Papeneiland on the Prinsengracht, if that's nearer to where you live.