T43 upgrade to SSD?

[wmgeorge64]

I've got a T43 with a 40 Gb HD, is it possible to put a SSD into this machine or am I wasting my time? I know standard HD's are pretty cheap but looking for a performance boost.

I tried to get it to upgrade to Win 7 but no go, it said it was not compatible.

[ajkula66]

I've got a T43 with a 40 Gb HD, is it possible to put a SSD into this machine or am I wasting my time? I know standard HD's are pretty cheap but looking for a performance boost.

You should take a look at this thread and decide for yourself: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=112081

I tried to get it to upgrade to Win 7 but no go, it said it was not compatible.

Then you're doing something wrong, because many of us around here have been running W7 on T43/p units for years now.

[wmgeorge64]

Yes... I found it right after I posted.

I inserted the Win 7 disk and after some churning it came back and said it was not compatible with my system??? Maybe not enough HD space but I took just about everything off except the Windows XP Pro system.

Thanks for posting and I will monitor the "other" Thread.

[thinkpadcollection]

Is your CPU fsb 400?, This might explain this issue, windows 7 requires PAE that all Pentium M 533 are so equipped with. Upgrade to 2GB, they are inexpensive upgrade using DDR2 memory.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection.

[ajkula66]

Is your CPU fsb 400?, This might explain this issue, windows 7 requires PAE that all Pentium M 533 are so equipped with. Upgrade to 2GB, they are inexpensive upgrade using DDR2 memory.

No, those CPUs are 533MHz. His problem is elsewhere.

[sdfox7]

Is your CPU fsb 400?, This might explain this issue, windows 7 requires PAE that all Pentium M 533 are so equipped with. Upgrade to 2GB, they are inexpensive upgrade using DDR2 memory.

I believe you may be thinking of Windows 8 and later, which require PAE. Online sources demonstrate that Windows 7 has no such requirement; it can be installed on a processor as far back as the Pentium II but must be modified for the original Pentium.

[wmgeorge64]

My T43 is already at 2 Gb. I am wondering if the install disk did not have the 32 bit package. Thinking of downloading the 32 bit recovery install disk using the activation code from the package I have and trying that route.

[Xenomorph]

I've got a T43 with a 40 Gb HD, is it possible to put a SSD into this machine or am I wasting my time?

I have two SSDs in my ThinkPad T43!

The easiest way to add one is with a PATA to SATA adapter. The more-difficult way involves soldering a SATA connector to the logic board.

I've used at least 4 PATA to SATA adapters and several SSDs on my T43. Some combinations don't work with TRIM, and NONE of them play nice with SandForce-based SSDs.

SSD1:
Crucial M500 mSATA, 120GB.

I have this one in the HDD bay, using a 44pin PATA to mSATA adapter. TRIM does not work with it (not sure if SSD chipset issue or adapter chipset issue), and must be disabled or Windows takes a huge performance hit (HDD "Active Time" indicator stays at a constant 100%).

SSD2:
Samsung 850 EVO, 250GB.

I have this one in the optical bay, using an optical bay PATA to SATA adapter. TRIM seems to work (at least, I don't have to disable it).

With this configuration I set SSD2 as my primary boot drive, running Windows 10 Pro, and SSD1 as my secondary boot drive running Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS.

All OS and media installs are done via USB, so the optical drive wasn't needed for anything. This isn't the exact one that I got, but my Ultrabay adapter looks like this one: http://ebayitem.com/300745090125

Some Ultrabay adapters don't work as well as others! My first one had its own HDD indicator LED, and didn't use the system's built-in one. My current one does use the system LED.

Before you get an SSD, make sure you update to the latest patched BIOS. It will enable things like unsupported HDD/SSDs and WiFi adapters to be installed.

You don't have to stop at SSD upgrades, either. I have an internal 802.11n WiFi card (2.4 GHz / 300 Mbps), a nano USB 802.11ac WiFi adapter (5 GHz / 433 Mbps), I've swapped my CPU with a faster one (up to 2.13 GHz, now), and I've added a USB 3.0 ExpressCard.

I've probably dumped $1,000 into a system worth less than $100. It's still really fun. It gets used almost every day - and that is GREAT for a system nearly 10 years old.