Panasonic CF-S9 Laptop SSD Upgrade - is it Worth Doing?

[ToughbookSSD]

Hi there, I'm having issues with my laptop and have to reinstall Windows so was thinking it may be the ideal time to upgrade to an SSD to speed up boot times etc.
I've already maxx'd out the ram - and it's running 64-bit windows 7 pro. (for spec see http://screencast.com/t/SXXVj4FlN )

Is this update dooable and/or worth doing? Recommends for ssd's gratefully received.

When I bought this laptop, I always said I would keep it and update it rather than fling it and buy a new one - but now i'm not so sure... apart from the recent bluescreening, everything else is pretty much perfect.

Thoughts? Help? Advice???

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The answer to your question is it depends on the exact Panasonic model you have. Please provide the complete CD-S9 model number. The earliest versions do not support modern 3rd generations SATA 3 6Gb/s solid state drives.

 

[ToughbookSSD]

Thanks JohnnyLucky

it's CFS9KWBZEDM (does this look right?)

cheers

 

[ToughbookSSD]

The answer to your question is it depends on the exact Panasonic model you have. Please provide the complete CD-S9 model number. The earliest versions do not support modern 3rd generations SATA 3 6Gb/s solid state drives.

it's CFS9KWBZEDM (does this look right?)

 

[JohnnyLucky]

That is a valid Panasonic CFS9 Toughbook model number.

Based on the model number you have an old version that does not support SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's. It doesn't even support the SATA 2 3Gb/s ssd's. The good news is you just saved yourself some money and frustration.

 

[ToughbookSSD]

That is a valid Panasonic CFS9 Toughbook model number.

Based on the model number you have an old version that does not support SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's. It doesn't even support the SATA 2 3Gb/s ssd's. The good news is you just saved yourself some money and frustration.

"The good news is you just saved ME some money and frustration!!!"

Thanks very much JohnnyLucky from sunny Vancouver - it's help from knowledgeable guys like you that helps the world go around, have a great weekend - I'm off laptop shopping.... (worse luck)

:0)

 

[Ray890]

Just to debunk a common myth that has spread upon many people: all versions of SATA are backwards compatible with each other, its just that modern ssds just don't perform quite as fast when connected to older sata interfaces as they have worse/slower bandwidth caps. (SATA1-150mb/s, SATA2-300mb/s, SATA3-600mb/s)



I've bought several SSDs in my past, as I really quickly ceased being able to tolerate mechanical hdds after I bought a solid state drive in my old-main SATA2 Acer 7741g laptop, it was definitely worth it.

Once I got my new laptop 2 days ago, I simply moved my solid state drive to my new one and put the original hard drive back into my old laptop, I actually forgot how slow my old laptop used to boot on a mechanical hdd until I did that.


But I see you have a SATA 1 laptop, which is capped at 150MB/s, this isn't much faster than the fastest desktop harddrive sequentially, but the "slow seek time" from hdds is totally gone. I actually went as far to buy an SSD for my old entry-level netbook that has the same SATA1 interface along with a crappy intel atom CPU.
I still noticed a significant improvement in boot time, even though not quite as much as my other laptops, I blame the intel atom it contains for the slow data transfers though.

The SSD I used is the Crucial MX100 512GB that I bought 3 months ago for only $200, it hasn't given me any trouble to this day. I highly recommended it due to it's great value. (and yes, there's a 256GB version for $100)


Anyway, personally I think it's worth a shot, I don't think SATA1+i5-520m will be that bad (just make sure you have the ability to enable AHCI mode in the BIOS so software-issued ssd garbage collection commands (TRIM) will work), plus it'd actually make your already drop-resistant laptop even more drop-resistant due to the lack of moving parts.
If it doesn't give a noticeable enough speed improvement, then just shop for a new laptop, and move the SSD to the new laptop. SSDs can make great upgrades even for the newest of laptops out there. I'd be interested to hear how that'd actually turn out

 

[ToughbookSSD]

Just to debunk a common myth that has spread upon many people: all versions of SATA are backwards compatible with each other, its just that modern ssds just don't perform quite as fast when connected to older sata interfaces as they have worse/slower bandwidth caps. (SATA1-150mb/s, SATA2-300mb/s, SATA3-600mb/s)



I've bought several SSDs in my past, as I really quickly ceased being able to tolerate mechanical hdds after I bought a solid state drive in my old-main SATA2 Acer 7741g laptop, it was definitely worth it.

Once I got my new laptop 2 days ago, I simply moved my solid state drive to my new one and put the original hard drive back into my old laptop, I actually forgot how slow my old laptop used to boot on a mechanical hdd until I did that.


But I see you have a SATA 1 laptop, which is capped at 150MB/s, this isn't much faster than the fastest desktop harddrive sequentially, but the "slow seek time" from hdds is totally gone. I actually went as far to buy an SSD for my old entry-level netbook that has the same SATA1 interface along with a crappy intel atom CPU.
I still noticed a significant improvement in boot time, even though not quite as much as my other laptops, I blame the intel atom it contains for the slow data transfers though.

The SSD I used is the Crucial MX100 512GB that I bought 3 months ago for only $200, it hasn't given me any trouble to this day. I highly recommended it due to it's great value. (and yes, there's a 256GB version for $100)


Anyway, personally I think it's worth a shot, I don't think SATA1+i5-520m will be that bad (just make sure you have the ability to enable AHCI mode in the BIOS so software-issued ssd garbage collection commands (TRIM) will work), plus it'd actually make your already drop-resistant laptop even more drop-resistant due to the lack of moving parts.
If it doesn't give a noticeable enough speed improvement , then just shop for a new laptop, and move the SSD to the new laptop. SSDs can make great upgrades even for the newest of laptops out there. I'd be interested to hear how that'd actually turn out

Thanks Ray! I've been looking for a good replacement - and getting more and more frustrated! What's with all these laptop manufacturers producing machines with fast 4 core i7's - then slapping in a 1TB 5400rpm dog of a hard drive and 8gb ram as 2 x 4gb using up all the RAM slot space? My toughbook is very light, very portable and usually has been great - it's just recently that I've realised it needs a windows reload so thought it time to whack in an ssd for speed/boot up and reliability - to find the whole world saying "what's the point?"

The point is - to replace it with a truly superior machine is going to cost at least $1000 and probably for a true advantage $1500+ because many of the cheaper machines have those truly horrid and - unusable on the move - shiny screens...

Can you possibly tell me in laymans terms or even better with some url's which ssd's will fit my machine? I'm going to do exactly as you suggest - try it and post here what a difference it makes to encourage others in my predicament to "give it a go" or not!!

Cheers

 

[Ray890]

Just to debunk a common myth that has spread upon many people: all versions of SATA are backwards compatible with each other, its just that modern ssds just don't perform quite as fast when connected to older sata interfaces as they have worse/slower bandwidth caps. (SATA1-150mb/s, SATA2-300mb/s, SATA3-600mb/s)

Personally I think it's worth a shot, I don't think SATA1+i5-520m will be that bad (just make sure you have the ability to enable AHCI mode in the BIOS so software-issued ssd garbage collection commands (TRIM) will work), plus it'd actually make your already drop-resistant laptop even more drop-resistant due to the lack of moving parts.
If it doesn't give a noticeable enough speed improvement, then just shop for a new laptop, and move the SSD to the new laptop. SSDs can make great upgrades even for the newest of laptops out there. I'd be interested to hear how that'd actually turn out

Thanks Ray! I've been looking for a good replacement - and getting more and more frustrated! What's with all these laptop manufacturers producing machines with fast 4 core i7's - then slapping in a 1TB 5400rpm dog of a hard drive and 8gb ram as 2 x 4gb using up all the RAM slot space? My toughbook is very light, very portable and usually has been great - it's just recently that I've realised it needs a windows reload so thought it time to whack in an ssd for speed/boot up and reliability - to find the whole world saying "what's the point?"

The point is - to replace it with a truly superior machine is going to cost at least $1000 and probably for a true advantage $1500+ because many of the cheaper machines have those truly horrid and - unusable on the move - shiny screens...

Can you possibly tell me in laymans terms or even better with some url's which ssd's will fit my machine? I'm going to do exactly as you suggest - try it and post here what a difference it makes to encourage others in my predicament to "give it a go" or not!!

Cheers

I agree with you on the posting the differences here for reference

I actually just quickly looked up "Windows 7 boot sata1 ssd" on youtube and came across a guy putting in an SSD into a 8 year old Dell D620/D630 laptop, and boot times from windows logo to the desktop was 15 seconds as opposed to 40, very promising right there.

The SSD I use in my main laptop is the Crucial MX100, I highly recommend it. You can get the 256GB version for about $100 or the 512GB version for about $200. I went with the 512 because I found it to be the best in capacity and value for the price, and I've never had any trouble with it, goodluck.