How To Upgrade T43

I have a 2687D7U ThinkPad T43 (IBM Think Express Program)
IBM 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini
PCI Adapter II
768MB PC2-4200 CL4 NP DDR2
SDRAM SODIMM

40 GB (5200ram)

Here are my questions:

how to upgrade 40 GB to 80 GB?
to buy additional 40 GB from IBM and send my laptop to them to configure it for me ? or what am I suppose to do?

by the way, Is that true my laptop will run faster if I add additional 40 GB to it?

Thanks

 

or how to change from 5200 ram to 7200 ram?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mysbca

 

To upgrade to an 80GB harddrive, you can buy an 80GB harddrive from anywhere. Don't have to be from IBM. zipzoomfly.com and newegg.com have good prices. Then you will need to clone your old harddrive to your new harddrive and then swap them. You can use cloning software like Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage.

Or you can re-install everything on your new drive. Make a set of recovery discs with your T43 and use it to prepare your new harddrive to the factory-installed state.

Another way to increase capacity is to get the ultrabay slim HDD adapter and add a new hard drive that way, but you will have to take out the CD/DVD combo drive to use it.

No, increasing capacity does not make your laptop run faster.
Using a 7200rpm drive may make laptop boot faster and your programs load faster, but not run faster.

The only widely available 7200rpm large capacity drive is the Hitachi 60GB (7K60). Both Seagate and Hitachi have announced 100GB 7200rpm notebook drives, but they are not available yet.

 

I have another question...

can I just buy a 40GB and add it to my orginal harddrive or I must have to buy a 80GB harddrive to make it 80GB?

 

To add capacity in addition to your existing harddrive, you will need the ultrabay slim HDD adapter with a new 40GB harddrive and use it in place of the CD/DVD drive. You will need to format the new drive.

If you don't want to do that, then you will need to buy an 80GB harddrive to replace the 40GB. You cannot simply add extra capacity to an existing drive.

Replacing a harddrive is easy. Just need to remove 1 screw and pull the old one out. Unscrew the old harddrive from the caddy and replace with the new one. Plug it back into the laptop.
Here's the hardware maintenance manual for the T43:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-58791

That's the easy part. If you want to start fresh, then run the System recovery discs that you've made on the new drive.

If you haven't made your system recovery discs, make a set now. Requires around 6-7 CDRs. IBM/Lenovo charges $45 for a set.
Go to Programs -> Access IBM -> Create Recovery Discs. The system allows you to make one set.

Sounds like you will not be too comfortable with cloning.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mysbca