SSD install question(s)

I installed an Intel SSD X25 in my T400.
The SSD seems to flop around in the drive bay (is that what it's called on a laptop?). The original HDD had a rubber "insulator" on each side. I removed the SSD and put those insulators on and it seems to have eliminated the "flop".

Is it OK to have installed these insulators?


The original HDD had a handy ribbon attached to it, making removal very easy. The SSD doesnt have any such ribbon. Removing the SSD from the T400 is kind of difficult. Am I doing something wrong? Is there any trick to make SSD removal easier? I dont plan on removing the SSD often 9hopefully never), but if I do have to it would be nice to if it were easier.

TIA

 

Many of the IBM/Lenovo's I have owned have what's called a Hard Drive caddy that attaches to the actual hard drive. Usually by 4 screws. I haven't owned or worked ona T400 but Imagine from what you are describing that you need to remove the caddy from the original drive and attach it to the SSD. The caddy might just be a thin piece of metal with lots of little holes on the bottom side and that ribbon you were describing is also attached to it to assist in removal from the laptop. There's no harm in attaching those rubber shock absorbers either though on a SSD it's purposes are somewhat less important.

Hope that helps.

Here's an image of what I was trying to describe:
http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/hi/79/78538/lypc.middle.t40_caddy.gif

 

Obviously, just install everything that was on the original disk onto the SSD.

 

i will check out the "caddy". I feel kind of lame for not realizing that.

Thanks for the info.

 

Ya, you shouldn't have any issue. I had to get a caddy though when I went from a 1.8inch SSD in an adapter to just a plain 2.5inch SSD in my x200.

 

I'm using the caddy and the rubber rails and my X-25M fits very snuggly in my T500's drive bay. In fact, it's so tight I thought I did something wrong at first.

 

Yep, you need the caddy that was on your 2.5" HDD. Alternatively, if you had a 1.8" SSD you would need a converter that has appropriate spacers built on. Pictures of both are below.

 

Yup, it is extremely hard to get in an out.

 

My original HDD used the caddy (with remover-ribbon) and the rubber guides. With my Summit SSD, it was too tight a fit with both caddy and rubber guides, too tight with caddy on its own, but too loose without the rubber guides. I dumped the caddy, use the rubber guides to make a snug but not excessively tight fit, and place a little piece of electrical tape directly onto the SSD as a remover. After 6 months use, not a problem. It is easy to remove and put back SSD.

 

So I pulled the SSD out and installed the caddy and rubber guides. The OEM Lenovo caddy screws are a different thread pattern than the thread in the SSD. The SSD comes with screws for the caddy, so I used those. For some reason though, one screw on each side (opposite end) would not thread in all the way - I left it as is and put on the rubber rails and attempted to install. It was waaaay too tight. I then removed those 2 screws, reinstalled the rubber rails and it fit nice and snug. Those 2 screws that didnt thread in all the way caused the rubber to stick out to far and made it too tight. So the caddy is installed with 1 screw on each side, digonally apart and the rubber rails and it fits perfect. Now I have the ribbon to remove the drive, if needed.

Are these caddys universal? I am thinking of getting a spare in case I need to put my original drive back in and dont want to bother transferring the caddy over. or do I need to buy one from Lenovo? part number?

Thanks for everone's help. Hopefully, someone else will benefit from this thread in the future.

 

Mostly universal in that mostly all the 2.5inch drive bays that have been around recently all fit. Just look on ebay. You can get them for $2 or something cheap.