SSD in an old toshiba laptop

[Teufel]

I want to replace the hard drive in my 3 and a half year old Toshiba L305 S5885 laptop, is it possible to put a SSD to replace the existing drive in thus laptop?

 

[TheStu]

Yes.

Regardless of the connection type, you will be able to find an SSD that fits your needs (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ don't let the fact that it says Apple everywhere deter you, an SSD is an SSD is an SSD). They have almost every interface type, though their prices are generally higher than average. Their performance is also higher than average though.

It should have a SATA drive, in which case, just hit up Newegg.com and order one from there. The previous link is just in case you have something exotic.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Probably the single best way to breathe life into an aging laptop. I'm going to be doing the same thing to a 4 year old t61 as soon as I have the money.

 

[Teufel]

Thanks for the replies ... Will the laptop support any type of SSD? I have read you need a specific type of a connector for a SSD is that right and if it is, does my laptop have one? could not find a lot of details on SSD connectors in my laptop

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[roguelife6]

yes,

I did it for my satellite a205, around the same age as yours, and it is a significant change from the previous 5400rpm. Your model specs suggest SATA connector, so installation should be a cinch. Some people with laptops a year or older than yours have had issues with the mobo not recognizing the drive, but it depends on the drive manufacturer, or so they say. Stick with a familiar manufacturer. Also, sata1 is 1.5gbits/s, so your read/write is bottle necked at roughly 150MB/s. So there's no point spending money for a high speed sata3 drive, unless you plan to use it in another upgrade soon.

The cheapest sata2 should be your best bet, and they are really cheap these days, and are backwards compatible. Don't bother looking for sata1 rated SSD because they are more expensive. I'm using an ocz agility 3 on my laptop, but I'm planning to utilize it in my next desktop build.

 

[Teufel]

Thanks roguelife that clears up a lot of things ... Any advice on anything else I can upgrade in my laptop? I am asking as you have firsthand experience in upgrading a Toshiba laptop ...

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[corkyg]

Connector must be SATA - otherwise, if it fits, wear it.

 

[TheStu]

Thanks roguelife that clears up a lot of things ... Any advice on anything else I can upgrade in my laptop? I am asking as you have firsthand experience in upgrading a Toshiba laptop ...

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You miht be able to upgrade the CPU, but only within the same thermal spec, so you couldn't drop in something ridiculous just because the socket is the same.

If it is 3 years old I would imagine that it will take up to 4GB RAM. Do that.

 

[thx1128]

What OS? WinXP doesn't support SDDs very well. TRIM support, automated garbage collection, partition alignment ect is lacking for that OS. I placed 4 GB RAM (3.5 useable) and a SATA2 Sandforce drive in an old Dell Core2 Duo laptop and loaded Win7 on it. I used it for another year and just recently free-cycled it. I am looking for a new laptop mainly for 4+ GB RAM but that is another post.

 

[Teufel]

I have windows 7 32-bit, so should not be a problem. My laptop already has 3 GB of RAM, so I may have to think about upgrading to 4 GB because then I would need to buy Win 7 x64 separately.
One more question is since I will have to remove my existing drive to put in a SSD, could I use a disk imaging utility like Acronis to take a backup and then restore the data or a fresh install of Win 7 has to be done?

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[roguelife6]

I've heard hd imaging onto SSD isn't a good idea. I believe win 7 does something to optimize SSD , which is done with a fresh install only. Not 100% on that though.
jumping to 4gb from 3gb is probably not worth the cost, assuming you'd have to buy 2 new dimms. Unless of course you do ridiculous amounts of Photoshop editting, or such.

there really isn't too many other upgrades, besides external stuff. CPU might be a good idea, you could find a used core 2 duo for cheap. But it is a lot of work getting in there to replace, not to mention what TheStu said.