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Question regarding an mSATA-IDE Adapter for the X41

X20/X21, X30/X31, X40/X41 Series
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Penguinboy829
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Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2023 8:15 am
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Question regarding an mSATA-IDE Adapter for the X41

#1 Post by Penguinboy829 » Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:25 am

Hello everyone,

Recently, as part of my journey to restore the X41 that I bought a couple of weeks ago and run WinXP on it, I decided to go ahead and purchase an mSATA to IDE adapter alongside a used ADATA 32GB SSD from my country's online marketplace. I've already done a lot of research on the whole adapter, PATA-SATA, Southbridge debacle thing with the X41 so I made an educated purchase and bought this adapter. from the same seller, however, it won't work out of the box.

https://prnt.sc/G3A6iVKaiNmH

Apparently, after reading some other threads about the difference between the 3.3v and the 5v adapter, I'm pretty sure I bought the 5V one. The problem is that in my country, I can't find any local sellers that sell the 3.3V variant, and the ones that do sell it, imports it from china at an exorbitant price and are madd sketchy.

So I noticed that the difference between the 5V and 3.3V variant is just a tiny black "module" in the bottom half of the PCB. Would it be possible to desolder/remove that small module away from the PCB and make it compatible with the X41? and if that doesn't work, is there some other way for me to insert some kind of flash/solid state storage into my X41 without directly doing a SATA mod?

3.3v adaptor in question: https://prnt.sc/C6jaIw1V0bBl

Again, apologies if I seem like a bit of a noob with this whole thing, I'm fairly new to old electronics in general so I'm really not sure when to start.

- Penguinboy829

olex126
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Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 3:46 pm
Location: London, Ontario, CANADA

Re: Question regarding an mSATA-IDE Adapter for the X41

#2 Post by olex126 » Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:04 pm

Hi.

I have a pair of X41T models, one of which has been converted with an MSATA-IDE board. Runs flawlessly with WinXP.

On the weekend I can dig out the converted model (and my associated notes) from storage and let you know exactly which IDE board and MSATA drive I used, probably can include a few pics as well. I can't remember if the adapter was a dual 3.3/5V board or a straight 3.3V board... it's all in my notes. I remember I had a devil of a time finding the correct one.

If I'm not mistaken, I think at the time I purchased two of the MSATA boards. If so, it will still be packed away with the rest of my X41T stuff... It will still be NIB, never used, if you're looking for another one which works with the X41 series.

Till the weekend!

Regards.
Dave
Previous & Collection Thinkpads: 701C A22m A30/A31p T23p x2 T30 T41 X31 various 750's 760's & 390's.

Test Benches: X41T, X60T & X61T's, various T42p-T43p's, x200 x201 x220T x230 T520 W530 T601F LED (X9000/8Gb/250SSD/W7 U)

DD: P50

"Life Is A Journey...Enjoy The Ride!"

Penguinboy829
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2023 8:15 am
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Re: Question regarding an mSATA-IDE Adapter for the X41

#3 Post by Penguinboy829 » Wed Oct 25, 2023 5:44 am

olex126 wrote:
Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:04 pm
Hi.

I have a pair of X41T models, one of which has been converted with an MSATA-IDE board. Runs flawlessly with WinXP.

On the weekend I can dig out the converted model (and my associated notes) from storage and let you know exactly which IDE board and MSATA drive I used, probably can include a few pics as well. I can't remember if the adapter was a dual 3.3/5V board or a straight 3.3V board... it's all in my notes. I remember I had a devil of a time finding the correct one.

If I'm not mistaken, I think at the time I purchased two of the MSATA boards. If so, it will still be packed away with the rest of my X41T stuff... It will still be NIB, never used, if you're looking for another one which works with the X41 series.

Till the weekend!

Regards.
Dave
Oh man, thanks for the reply, Dave. Will sure do!

Oh and in the meantime, do you know of any other way to add fixed solid state storage onto the X41? I've heard of people putting CF to IDE adapters though I've barely seen anything in-depth about doing that, or anything outside of using IDE-mSATA really.

- Penguinboy829

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