Intel X25-v SSD as boot drive on T43p

[lynch1234]

Hello,

I am a first time poster here

Just wanted to share my experience on installing a Intel X25-v SSD (40 gb) as a boot drive using a Ultrabay SATA caddy on my T43p in case anyone is interested in pursuing a similar setup. Saw a lot of posts dealing with SSD's on the X41 and X6x series but not that many dealing with SSD's on the T4x series.

The T43p (type 2668) has 15" UXGA Flexview, 2.13Ghz Pentium-M, FireGl V3200, 2GB RAM and runs Windows XP SP 3. My primary hard drive was/is a Fujitsu 120gb, 5400rpm that is compliant with the T43/p (no error 2010). (Warning: Your results may be different based on your setup/memory/cpu)

My motivation to get the SATA x25-v instead of a PATA SSD was availability and cost per GB. I bought the X25-v for about $100 (after Bing cashback) new from E**y. The Ultrabay SATA caddy was about $25. Note: You need to get the one for the T60 series and grind down the plastic pin on the connector side.

One additional benefit of getting a SATA SSD is that I can re-use it if I ever come across a reasonably priced T60/p with UXGA flexview

I cloned my primary hard drive using Acronis to the SSD. And set the boot order in the BIOS to boot from the SSD first. The machine booted right away into Windows XP (no 2010 error).

I did run CrystalDiskMark 2.2 and got the following results:

Drive : x25-v |Fujitsu 5400rpm |Hitachi 7200 rpm
Sequential Read : 90.26 | 32.897 | 47.418
Sequential Write : 43.24 | 31.732 | 42.055
Random Read 512KB : 81.92 | 18.688| 30.069
Random Write 512KB : 43.123 | 21.55| 25.291
Random Read 4KB : 14.67 | 0.325 | 0.613
Random Write 4KB : 20.453 | 0.854| 0.907

The Hitachi 7200 rpm drive is on my other T43p (type 2687, 2Ghz CPU but otherwise same config).

Note that the IDE bus of the T43p is saturated by the X25-v when reading sequential data. The rated max read speed of the disk is 170MB/s. The rated write speed is 35MB/s but apparently Intel rates their SSD's conservatively since CrystalDiskMark Measured 43MB/s!

I kept the 120gb Fujitsu in the main hdd bay for storing data and plan to use the x25-v exclusively for OS and Programs. I almost never use DVD/CD's anymore but have an external Ultrabay slim compatible USB enclosure on order so that I can use my existing DVD drives if needed.

The machine feels faster. Firefox opens almost instantaneously. Pages from the internet also load faster (or so it seems). Video playback and opening large pictures using Picasa or GIMP is also very fast compared to the fujitsu or hitachi. I still will have to "tweak" XP to make it SSD friendly but am already very happy with the purchase.

Please let me know if there are any questions.
Mehmet

[jhin82]

Good post. I wish I had read this before I bought the pata ssd.

[Tasurinchi]

Really good news! (At least for my T43p) Thanks for sharing! I have two questions...

-How fast does XP boot?
-Could you post some CrystalDisk Benchmarks?

I was also thinking to do the same as you, but due to the SATA-IDE interface and some threads I read here I was afraid a SATA SSD would be slown down a lot. Nice to hear that is not the case...

Have fun with your SSD...

Tasurinchi

[AMATX]

I just installed a KingSpec 32G SSD in a Z61p. Cheap, $107 off of Ebay; Australia listing(checked the seller's other items, noticed that currency conversion rates made it cheaper if ordered in another currency/country). Ran the drive in both the primary HD slot and in the ultrabay while checking it out. SATA for both. Kinda confirmed what I'd noticed with mechanical drives in the past. Ultrabay runs noticeably slower than when the drive is in the primary slot. Similar situation when using SSD, although the SSD is way faster than what I'd been using.

I run a second drive in the ultrabay slot and will continue to do so. Fast SSD in the primary slot for booting WinXP & cranking up apps; mass storage with the older drive in the ultrabay for data & video stuff.

Giving me an extra boost for an old laptop.

I don't know anything about the T4x series, so would guess you're running from the ultrabay cuz of the SSD being SATA and the primary slot being PATA only??

[lynch1234]

Tasurinchi,

1. XP does boot significantly faster. I did not do timings but subjectively speaking: It used to take > 2min, now it takes about 20 seconds (max) from pressing the power botton to the logon screen. It takes less than 10 seconds for all the startup programs (tpfancontrol etc.) to load while it used to be at least 1/2 min. This is without tweaking anything.

2. The numbers quoted in the post are from crystaldiskmark 2.2.

I have done quite a few upgrades (Memory, CPU, hdd) on various machines (mostly desktops) over the times and have not seen one which gave that much bang-for-the-buck! Only drawback is that I don't have on-board DVD/CD anymore but this is not a big loss to me.

AMATX,

I think the Z61p is SATA on the primary bay and PATA (actually a SATA-to-PATA bridge) on the ultrabay which might explain the differences you are observing. The T43p controller is actually SATA and there is a SATA-to-PATA bridge in both the primary bay and the Ultrabay. I am utilizing a T60/p SATA Ultrabay Slim Caddy for the SSD. In my experience there is no noticeable speed difference between having a hard drive in the primary bay or the Ultrabay for the T43p (or the T41).

Best Regards,
Mehmet

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks Mehmet! I'll definitely will give it a try in the near future!

Cheers

[ebear]

I also use SATA ultrabay caddy to put my 200GB Hitachi 7200rpm sata hd as 2nd system drive on my T43 2668AJU. That's a good way to put in use of SATA hd instead of PATA hd on T43.

Glad to know you go one more step to use SSD.

One more question maybe you guys can confirm here: the sata ultrabay hd caddy should also be able to use on T60/T61, right? Cause I remember the CDRW/DVD drive on T43 and T61 can switch. I also wait for a good price on a T60p with UXGA (1600x1200) or better T61p with 1900x1200 flexview.

[ajkula66]

ebear wrote:

better T61p with 1900x1200 flexview.

Nope. LCDs offered on T61/p units and later models are not FlexViews, just sorry TN panels of the worst kind in majority of cases.

[ebear]

Nope. LCDs offered on T61/p units and later models are not FlexViews, just sorry TN panels of the worst kind in majority of cases.

So T60p with UXGA (1600x1200) IPS Flexviews are best to go ? Even T61/p has higher resolution (1900x1200)

[ajkula66]

If you're looking for a reasonably modern machine, yes, T60/p are the very last non-tablet ThinkPads with IPS/AFFS screens.