Thinkpads Forum

Had spec'd out a new T430s - and was advised that the configuration I wanted was only available with a 180 GB ssd. That's running a bit spartan so I inquired about an ulta-bay mount for a file storage drive. Was told the adapter caddy was made by a company now out of business and ultrabay mounting of a second drive was not an option at the moment. My only option, I was told, was to purchase and then replace the main drive with a larger ssd. Unimpressed, I ordered anyway on the assumption that I could utilize the mSATA slot for which I see there are mSATA drives of 240 GB and larger that seem to fit the bill. Are there any problems with mounting a large capacity mSATA drive inthe T430s? I was not planning on making it my boot drive - is there any advantage to doing so if my primary drive is an ssd? Any guidance would be appreciated. Been with Thinkpads for more than a decade but a bit unimpressed with inflexiblity creeping into the configurations. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

There's plenty of T430s hard drive caddies available on eBay. I don't foresee any issues with using the 240GB mSATA SSD as a boot drive. I've had the 80GB Intel mSATA SSD as the boot drive in my X220i for almost two years with no issues. Good luck and welcome to TPF.

Thanks for the welcome and the input. Had forgotten about eBay! Though I plan to use the ultrabay for extra battery power as well, there is no harm in seeking out a drive caddy there to maintain flexibility. Given Lenovo's rather protracted production schedule, I've got the luxury of time to sort things out.

As a follow-up, the suggestion was made to load the OS on an mSATA on a T430s. If one has a primary drive SSD on a SATA III hook-up, if there an advantage to loading the OS onto an ssd in the mSATA slot which is only SATA II? My first thought would be that the SATA III connection would be preferred or is there more to it than that?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

There's very little practical difference between SATA II and III for most uses unless you're putting a heavy load on the controller, which typical notebook usage does not do.