SSD in CF-19 Mk3

Hi Folks,

I am looking at squeezing some more performance out of my CF-19 so I was looking at swapping out my HD for an SSD. I had a few questions around this.

1.) Will I have to mess with the existing HD caddy to get the below SSD to fit? Seems like some people had to add some padding.
Newegg.com - Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW060A3K5 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2.) Is it going to be better to build the new SSD with W7 from scratch (ugh) or should I look at a program to try copy my existing hd image over? I just remember when putting W7 on 2 years ago it took a large effort to get everything just right.

3.) Last if I wanted to add in some more storage outside of the SSD would I be better of use the SD card or a PCMCIA CF card adapter?

Thanks for all the help as I want to make sure I get the right hardware before ordering it online!

 

Based on my experience installing Intel SSDs in both my CF-19 Mk.4 and CF-30, I think you'll be VERY happy with the results of your project. On your questions:

1. My Intel 320 series SSDs installed perfectly into the existing CF-30 and 19 caddys without any modification required.

2. Probably always better to start from scratch but, since you're not changing your original HD, you could try the image copying technique and see if you have problems. If you do, go back and reinstall on the SSD from scratch.

3. Not sure on this one but I would think the SD card would be the better option since it is "wired" into your computer and, as such, would skip the "conversion" process requred going through the PCMCIA to CD card.

Good luck with your upgrade!

 

1. Any 2.5" SATA SSD.
2. Reinstall, formatting new drive
3. External USB HDD or cloud/home server (for backup). SD cards are very slow and will die soon if you try to use them constantly. CF cards work veeeery slow because they don't use DMA (PIO mode only) and eat CPU time, will die soon too

 

That is what I did on my 19 MK1. Works great

 

Blair would know better than I but I saw some good deals on the 520s and almost bought one. I did a little research and found a lot of people having trouble with them in machines the vintage of my CF-30 MK3. It seems that SATA lll drives don't play well with SATA l & ll machines or at least the 520 has issues. I saw enough that I didn't buy one even though they sound like great drives.
CAP

 

Cap...I am using the intel X25G2 in my 30 MK1 and 52 MK1 and the intel 320 in my 52 MK2 and my 19 MK2 . I have not looked at the newer intel drives because these ones work great and they are cheaper

Check this out, very good deal on a intel 320 160GB $152.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Intel-3...894?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c5f30dde

 

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I think I will order the 320 over the 520.

I am excited to get this upgraded as I just ordered up the gamber johnson docking station and some new navigation software.

 

FWIW, my wife has been using a 16GB SD card for the last 3 years to backup her crap (only backs up a few times a year (like 10 times)) and it is SLOW AS HEEEELLLLLL!!!, but I've never had a problem with them dieing... It's the same concept as a USB flash drive, just slower...

 

@ScurvyDog:

As said....the 520s look to be having problems....as the 510s did before them. Giving them a "Wide Berth" would be the "Way to Go".

o.g.

 

(in HDD role)

 

Ahhhh.

Okay

 

That's why I almost bit on the 520, it was $20 cheaper than the 320 on Newegg with free shipping. The guys on your favorite SSD site were raving about the 520, but a few pointed out the SATA lll issue. Thanks for pointing me there by the way, saved me a $169 mistake.
CAP

 

I made an exact image of my HDD to my SSD. Worked like a charm, and I didn't need to install everything again.
I used HDclone IIRC via USB. took some time, but you don't have to watch it, you can just do it overnight.
Installing a fresh copie of W7 might be best and the install procedure isn't that bad, but it's getting all your mail back, accounts, other programs like office, adobe, vlc and all the other progams that takes a lot of time. Then you'll have to update everything.
So if your install of W7 is not to old, a clone might be the fastest way to go.

 

I see the one's I pointed out did not last long...someone bought the last 9 he had...

 

Samsung SSD for a very good price.

 

The cool part about Intel SSD's is the Intel SSD Optimizer, which can run TRIM commands and other SSD-only necessities even in a Windows XP environment, making it ideal to use for upgrading CF-29s, and for those of us who still love good old WXP.