PATA SSD in T4x series?

[thinkpad1]

I was just curious whether you can use a PATA drive in a T41 or any T4x series Thinkpad.

I suppose it's not really cost effective but it might prolong the life of the Thinkpad and give the advantage of applications starting up faster?

Also, the 32GB to 64GB sizes or capacities are similar to the stock drives so you go to the same amount of storage but a faster drive and no moving parts so that should be an advantage.

If these PATA SSD drives can be used, can they be installed in the same way or is there an extensive mod needed? Will the BIOS detect them? What's involved?

Lastly, I only found the Transcend brand available so is it any good or are there other drive brands that would be good? What is the controller? Do any of those have the stuttering that the JMicron ones have (although, they feature SATA)?

I don't want to buy another PATA IDE/ATA drive if I needed to get another one so the SSD drive is appealing to me if I ever needed a drive or invested in another Thinkpad of this vintage although I think I'd like a T60/T60p/T61p if I was replacing it. Those are SATA, right? So, all the SATA SSD drives would apply? Would they be restricted to only SATA 150 speeds though?

Thanks for any answers.

[Joe_Lafrieda]

I've been thinking about doing just this with my T42, so I'd love to get some input from other forum members that are knowledgeable in this subject.

[rookworm]

did it; sitting pretty!

[spikex34]

did it; sitting pretty!

What drive did you use? What kind of numbers are you getting for read/writes?

[Harryc]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Tweaks -
- Disable write-caching
- Disable prefetching
- Set memory usage to favor system cache
- Disable background defragmentation
- Set pagefile to fixed size (I recommend 1GB)
- Disable hard disk power management (and shock protection)

[sjh953]

I'll add a few comments, since just this week I added the exact same Transcend 64gb drive from Newegg as Harryc referenced. I'm on a T42p, and had been using a WD 5400rpm 160gb drive that I had also gotten from Newegg several months ago.

My reason for going with the SSD is the infernal hesitating I was getting every time I tried to do anything. I would click on a link in Firefox, for example, then wait as nothing happened while the hard drive thrashed around. It got old real quick. I tried defragging, cleaning out temp files, clearning FF cache, etc. I finally decided to jump on the SSD bandwagon. It was that, or buy a new machine - which I didn't want to do because I love my UXGA screen too much.

So far, so good. I used Acronis to clone the WD drive to the SSD, with no issues. (I only had 30gb used, so no space constraints). I then moved the WD drive into the side drive bay; it's now taken on the role as a back up start-up drive which I can triggen in the bios, and is also where I have Acronis deposit nightly differential backups.

As for performance, the big difference is that the lag time has disappeared. Before, it was like driving a car, stepping on the gas, and then having to wait before the acceleration kicked in. Now, it's MUCH quicker - and smoother. The hard drive is no longer the weak link, and the computer itself can perform at its 'natural' speed. Now, I just use the machine and don't have to think about it.

On the Newegg site, there is also listed a 128gb version of this drive, but at a current price of $399 vs. the $195 for the 64gb. Plus, there is also a 32gb, among others. I opted for the 64 just because I couldn't justify investing more in a 'deadend' technology like PATA. If my T42p used SATA, I might have gotten the more expensive drive knowing I could move it to a new machine when the time comes. But for now, the SSD makes my machine perform nicely enough that for my uses, I can probably resist for another year or so. If the newer machines had better screens, I probably just would have gotten a new computer.

[rookworm]

What drive did you use? What kind of numbers are you getting for read/writes?

Transcend ts32gssd25-m. Ran me about $120 last year. i think I posted the numbers in another thread already