Toughbook cf-19 mark 3 ssd upgrade

Hi i am using a toughbook cf-19 mark 3 with win 7. I would like to upgrade the hard drive from HDD to SDD. I would really apriciate some advice on a few things, or the whole lot basically.
Firstly I need to know what I should purchase as far as a sdd itself.
Secondly I know that the drives have a caddy and I am wondering if I can simply open up the existing one and replace the hdd with sdd, and what other parts/connections I would need to do this.

Kind Regards

HD

 

Given that it's a core 2 era machine, the HDD should be SATA so technically any SSD will fi the bill as long as it is the same form factor as the HDD. It's a 2.5" drive for sure, the only question is is it 7mm thick ot 9.5mm thick.

 

Thamks for the quick response. I will check on the dimensions and take it from there> While I am at it i will find out what connections are in the caddy.Thanks again.

 

I'm pretty sure it will be a standard 9.5" drive, by the way if it's SATA, it's as simple as remove the drive caddy, removing the drive from the caddy, placing the SSD in the caddy and putting the SSD back in the laptop. Once that's done, reinstall your OS and programs. Voilà. We also have a toughbook subforum, you can take a look at it too, it's possible someone already did what you're trying to do.

 

Much appriciate your help and advice. This is my first attempt at putting the software together on a pc. Have so far managed to upgrade to windows 7 and get the mini pcie wlan card working with a tiny piece of sellotape to get round the hardware switch problem. Lerning lots and having fun though. Thanks again.

 

@HeavenlyDragon....Welcome to the NBR Forums.

The Panasonic CF-19 MK3 uses a Sata to Panasonic proprietary interface connector housed in a heated & shock-mounted caddy. It's a 2.5" form factor with Sata-II & Sata-III being backward compatible.

The different drive heights will be accommodated in the compression of the shock loading foam housed in the caddy. The link provided is for a Cf-29 model with a Pata Interface connector but the CF-19 is very similar in construction, just a different size caddy with a Sata connector. http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/221725-cf-29-toughbook-hard-drive-swap-tutorial.html

Note that the Fully-Rugged Toughbook models are built with hostile operating environments in mind & DO have Bios restrictions due to the absence of a cooling fan, so you may want your up-grade to be based on attributes other than maximum sequential read/write performance.

In short, the Internal temperature regulates the Bios throttling of the In/Out operations to the effect that at low temperature you will obtain Sata-II performance & as the temperature increases the performance is reduced to Sata-I speeds....that's part the reason why Toughbook's survive for so long in the conditions they mostly operate in....have fun & NO gaming....or video editing....or

 

hmmm, okay kool, or not as the case maybe. So I need to research into buying a rugged SSD that will better handle higher temps. I doubt this will solve the problem but cant hurt, Right?

Could you explain how the cf-19 regulates its own tempreture withouth the fan. Is it a performance thing or is the actual hardware designed to handle high temps. Would it be possible to install some kind of cooling fan inside the chasis somewhere, I appriciate this would be difficult as ther are no air intake or exghust available for air flow. Thanks again for your advice.

 

Temps are regulated by throttling (decreasing) the performance.

Installing a fan in an enclosed space will only accomplish heating the interior even more via the fan motor's heat (if it is even physically possible to install, of course).

Installing a fan and creating intake/outake vents (I'm sure it's not possible...) would take this notebook out of the 'toughbook' class completely, I'm sure.

I wouldn't worry about a 'rugged' SSD - the quality ones are already rugged by design (solid state and all).

The one I would recommend for your application is an Intel 320 160GB SSD or larger.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.