Thinkpads Forum

Hello to all on the forum. Apologies if this topic has been discussed, but my search didn't really bring up anything relevant (my search skills are admittedly terrible).

Anyhow. Am looking to upgrade the HDD on my Thinkpad T430. It comes equipped with a stock 500gb HDD. I'm planning to add a mSATA SSD (128gb) for boot but was hoping that I could upgrade the HDD as well, to ensure I have enough storage. Are there any users out there who have done this and have some good recommendations for a 1tb+ HDD? I'm not picky about speed or anything (so a 'green' 5400rpm drive is fine), just want a reliable and compatible drive. If it doesn't draw too much power, that's great.

Thanks again people!

In addition to the boot mSATA drive, you can also add a third drive in an ultrabay second hard drive adapter in place of your DVD drive. That would give you the option of adding more space as you need it and retaining the 500gb drive as an initial data drive.

I think for hard drives anymore is a "pick em" - they all seem to be largely the same. Stick with a name brand like Hitachi, Western Digial, Seagate and you should be fine. You mentioned speed doesn't matter, so you can get a 1tb 5400 RPM drive (the 7200 rpm's top out at 750gb unless I'm mistaken).

I have a Hitachi 750gb in an ultrabay adapter. I'd have 0 issues with getting a Western Digital or Seagate as well. I bought by cheapest price. Good luck.

The T430 uses a 7mm bay. The biggest drive that will fit is the 500GB you have now. You can put larger drives in the modular caddy that replaces the optical drive if that works for you.