Thinkpads Forum

Bought a T430 used. Came with a non-factory 250 GB HDD, which is way too small for what I need.

I own and play a lot of games and I have around 300GB of music and pictures alone.

Was looking into getting at least a 1TB HDD.

Any recommendations?

msm0075 wrote:
Any recommendations?

Install mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot as a boot drive, put a Hitachi 1TB in the main bay for storage.

That's what I would do anyway.

^^^ I second that idea.

HGST (Hitachi) are probably the most reliable drives to get now.

if you want less noise/heat and more battery life, get a 5400rpm drive
if you want to setup games on it, and have better load times, get a 7200rpm drive

if money allows, get a large SSD and put everything on it, no noise and faster than any hard drive, but more expensive, .. a 1TB SSD may come close to the price of the used laptop

Get an mSATA SSD. Install Windows on it.

Get a 250/500GB SSD for the main bay for your games and programs. This way your programs and games run super snappy.

Get an ultrabay HDD adapter and stick a 1TB HD in it.

I moved most of my stuff to a 5TB NAS a few weeks ago which helped me any my T410 a lot. But since the T430 can handle 3 drives and you appear to want to take all your data with you wherever you go, the above steps are the only way I can think of to handle your data.

" But since the T430 can handle 3 drives"

Where is the location for the 3rd drive?

I have an Intel 180GB SSD in the primary drive location and a Crucial 512GB SSD in the ultra bay location. I backup to a 1TB Seagate SSHD in a docking station connected to a 3.0 USB port but do not know where there is a 3rd location inside the T430.

Please advise.

Dive locations:

1. Internal 2.5" main drive slot
2. mSATA/WWAN slot
3. Ultrabay HD carrier

That gives you 3 drives.

Thank you.

Thanks for all the responses guys!

I don't think I'm going to go for the mSATA option as I don't want to loose my ability to connect to WiFi.
I also don't want to remove the optical disc drive as I do use it often for older media and music.

I was thinking about this for the standard HDD slot;
https://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/mobile ... ar-z5k1000

I don't see an option to get 7200RPM 1TB under the 7mm requirements..

What do you guys think?

You won't lose your ability to connect to WiFi with the mSATA SSD. There are two miniPCI slots, one with the WiFi card and the other you can do a WWAN card or mSATA SSD, so if you get the mSATA SSD you wouldn't be able to do WWAN if that's what you mean?

WD makes a 1TB 7mm drive, which would be your other 1TB option for the T430. Unless you're planning on using WWAN, I think the mSATA SSD and 1TB HDD is the way to go. I have this set up in my Dell. It's quite slick.

ZaZ wrote:You won't lose your ability to connect to WiFi with the mSATA SSD. There are two miniPCI slots, one with the WiFi card and the other you can do a WWAN card or mSATA SSD, so if you get the mSATA SSD you wouldn't be able to do WWAN if that's what you mean?

Ohh, silly me, thinking of my T61. Theres only 1 mSATA slot and thats for WiFi if im correct..

ZaZ wrote:WD makes a 1TB 7mm drive, which would be your other 1TB option for the T430. Unless you're planning on using WWAN, I think the mSATA SSD and 1TB HDD is the way to go. I have this set up in my Dell. It's quite slick.

So I'd have to get a mSATA SSD big enough to install windows on, and everything else including games and programs go on the HDD?? Which mSATA would you recommend and what size?

msm0075 wrote: Which mSATA would you recommend and what size?

This would be my pick:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... gnorebbr=1

my POSITIVE experience installing 1 TeraByte 9,5mm HDD in my T430:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 59#p751253