Upgrading to SSD (T43)

[jiv]

Hello,

I have a T43 (1872A3) that I bought in 2005. It still works fine but the HDD is insufficient for my needs and seems to be getting slower. I've been thinking of upgrading to a larger HDD or SSD but am worried that it will not be compatible. Would appreciate any advice on this issue, thanks.

[ajkula66 Guru]

Welcome to the forum!

Three solutions exist regarding T43 and SSD:

a) Obtain a PATA SSD. These are pretty rare and quite expensive.

b) Get a SATA SSD and run it from UltraBay using the UltraBay hard drive adapter.

c) Modify the motherboard to natively accept a SATA drive.

I currently have options b and c working in my household, and am a very happy camper. YMMV.

[jiv]

Thanks for the reply, but how do I modify the motherboard to accept the SATA drive? (I'm a computer noob, sorry)

[ajkula66 Guru]

Nothing for you to be sorry for.

If you are a computer noob as you say, just scratch that option out.

I've been toying with ThinkPads for over a decade and had someone else do it for me...not an easy operation to perform.

Good luck.

[jiv]

In that case, I might just have to find a PATA HDD that's compatible. Option a is too costly and b won't work as I need the optical drive.

Thanks for the help!

[ajkula66 Guru]

Don't worry about compatibility - any 9.5mm laptop PATA drive will work just fine.

Good luck.

[jiv]

I've read that the T43 has some issues with most HDDs though. Apparently there are only a few outdated HDDs that work with it.

[ajkula66 Guru · Accepted solution]

No.

Any laptop PATA 9.5mm hard drive will work.

The drives that are not white-listed in BIOS will throw a "2010 error" on boot but will function regardless of the warning.

A modded BIOS is availeble for those annoyed by this (harmless in my not-so-limited-experience) error and warning.

Good luck.

[jiv]

Alright, thanks for the advise.

[andkar4]

Hello.

I have a T43 (2668) that I have run with a  KingSpec128 GB PATA SSD since January 2010. I have also upgraded the prossessor (2.26/533MHz) and RAM (2 Gb). All  purcasted on EBay. Clean installation with W7 and with no trouble since. Windows performance for HDD are 6.0.

Yours

Kaare