HDD crash on my T60p

[redrocker]

Bad news for me that my original HDD crashed on my 5-year old T60p. My intention is to replace the crashed drive with a Kingston SDD and upgrade from XP Pro to W7 Pro or Home.

Is there any reason why I can't upgrade from XP Pro to W7 64-bit and to the SDD?

What drivers would you recommend that I download on my desktop prior to this upgrade? Any other tips and suggestions from the Forum, since I never have updated a laptop before with a new OS?

Thanks in advance,
Lyle

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the forum.
The first thing to check, is if you have a 64-bit CPU, either one of these: T5500, T5600, T7200, T7400, T7600.
Without that you cannot run a 64-bit OS.
Once that's in place, you can install your SSD and install W7 64-bit.
It contains all the drivers to get you going at least.
Then do an MS Windows update, followed by Lenovo's System Update for W7, that you download from here:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... D=DS012808

Give us the TYPE and PRODUCT ID from your laptop, looks like TYPE 2007-CTO and PRODUCT ID: 200764U on the bottom of the laptop.
We'll take it from there.

[redrocker]

First of all, thanks so much for the quick reply!

My Type is 8743-CTO
S/N L3-AT421
PRODUCT ID: 8743CTO

I do have the INTEL CORE 2DUO PROC T7200 installed, as I had this custom built for me in China. It took a little longer, but I did NOT want Vista.

Any other suggestions? I am getting NTLDR is missing when booting.

Thanks,
Lyle

[RealBlackStuff]

You have a 15.4" Widescreen T60p with WSXGA+ LCD, that came with 100GB HD and 1GB RAM.

I thought your HD crashed?
Either way, don't bother first installing XP, then upgrading to W7.
Do a fresh W7 install from scratch on your new SSD.

[redrocker]

Why do you say, "I thought your HDD crashed"? I think it did, as it no longer boots. Does the error "NTLDR is missing" indicate that it might not be crashed?

Please advise,
Lyle

[ScottyBoy]

You have a 15.4" Widescreen T60p with WSXGA+ LCD, that came with 100GB HD and 1GB RAM.

I thought your HD crashed?
Either way, don't bother first installing XP, then upgrading to W7.
Do a fresh W7 install from scratch on your new SSD.

+1 - You might want to check out this guide redrocker.

Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

[ScottyBoy]

Why do you say, "I thought your HDD crashed"? I think it did, as it no longer boots. Does the error "NTLDR is missing" indicate that it might not be crashed?

Please advise,
Lyle

The missing NTLDR would imply that the HDD is still accessible and the issue maybe down to missing/corrupted system files for the OS on the HDD (check out the link below).

How To Fix NTLDR is Missing and Related NTLDR Error Messages

I'd be tempted to remove the mechanical HDD from your T60p and then connect it to another computer (via a USB adapter) to recover any data files off of it along with checking the SMART status via CrystalDiskInfo but also to run error scan check via HD Tune Pro...that's just my tuppence worth.

[redrocker]

Thank you for the tip and the link. I booted from the XP disc and selected "R" for repair. It says, "setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer".

I suppose that makes me SOL?!?

[ajkula66]

You must change the AHCI mode to "compatibility" before a XP disk can "see" a drive...

[redrocker]

I'm sorry to be dense, but I don't know how to accomplish this.

Please advise and thanks so much.

Lyle

[ajkula66]

Press F1 on initial boot to enter BIOS, go into Configuration then choose SATA mode, make sure that it's set to "compatibility", press F10 to save and exit.

[redrocker]

I'm sorry, but that didn't work.

I booted up into the Recovery Console, then tried to copy over good files to the c:\ drive as follows:

copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\

copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

That was unsuccessful. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Lyle

[RealBlackStuff]

Bad news for me that my original HDD crashed on my 5-year old T60p. My intention is to replace the crashed drive with a Kingston SDD ...

and a few posts further down:

Why do you (RBS) say, "I thought your HDD crashed"?

See the first quote of this post...

[redrocker]

I'm just trying to make sure that the HDD is in fact, actually crashed. I'm not an expert, by any means.

I know, however, that it is going to be a huge time-sink to reinstall the OS, Office and all of the other drivers and apps. I would just like to make sure, once and for all, that the HDD is dead.

Thanks for your help today!

[Neil]

It was suggested a few posts up, that you take the HDD out and put it in a external enclosure, so that you can connect it to another PC to see if you can get you files off of it. If you don't want to, or can't, do that, I would suggest booting up a Linux LiveCD, and see if you can mount the hard drive. If you can, and are able to find your files, the HDD might still be functional. If you can't even mount it..well...it's a goner.

[BKthink]

I did a fresh install of Win7 Pro x64 onto a new SSD in my T60p project a few weeks ago. The process was not too painful. I did it with an ethernet connection and the installer loaded everything I needed. I thought I would follow-up with the Thinkpad updater, but I prefer things lean and mean, and life without "thinkvantage" has been just fine.

Unlike you, I had the advantage of a working previous HDD, so I was able to easily transfer over key files after loading the OS.

As part of my initial T60p project testing I also did an XP Pro system restore onto a spare HDD from the Lenovo discs and applied all the service packs, lenovo updates, etc. That was pretty gruelling. Win7 onto an SSD was much easier/faster.

Either way it's a time investment, but a fresh install is sooooo nice. From one newb to another I say go for it. Grab an ultrabay caddy or USB enclosure to pull data from your old HDD after you load the OS.

BK

[redrocker]

Thanks for all the help today from everyone on the Forum. I appreciate it!

Lyle