Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Can you put a SSD into an older Dell XP laptop?

Mar 10, 2017 8:53AM PST

It's a Dell Latitude D600 with a 40GB hard drive. Can I put in a 128GB SSD? Checked the Crucial website and found nothing. Any other options?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Clarification Request
Iffy.
Mar 10, 2017 9:17AM PST

Is the drive SATA? Then sure. I did that. I took a dell e1505 Inspiron that had XP all the way to W10 and installed a SSD.

No, it's not supported. Yes it works great. Can upset folk that demand it is supported.

- Collapse -
Not sure
Mar 10, 2017 9:22AM PST

Spec is: HARD DRIVE, 40GB, I, 9.5MM, 5.4K, SEAGATE, NEPTUNE

Can't see anything about SATA.

- Collapse -
Try a Speccy report to see what's inside.
Mar 10, 2017 9:29AM PST

Post was last edited on March 10, 2017 9:31 AM PST

- Collapse -
Answer
No, it won't accept a standard SSD
Mar 10, 2017 7:14PM PST

The specifications for Dell Latitude on the Dell website say: "40GB EIDE/ATA-100" which means it uses the old type of hard drive with a whole bunch of connecting pins. SSDs use a newer, faster type of connection called SATA which uses a smaller connector. There are a few SSDs made with your type of connector. The problem is they are kind of expensive, they're slow compared to any standard SSD, and you can't re-use it in a newer computer later on. You MIGHT be able to plug in a fast USB flash drive and run your computer from it, and it MIGHT speed things up a bit. If you absolutely cannot part with the old Dell you might give that a try. Any new laptop around $350 - $400 will be super fast and powerful in comparison to your Latitude D600. There are also good refurbished laptops that come with a full 1-year warranty if cost is an issue. The coolest option these days is a laptop that combines a 128GB SSD + a 1TB hard drive to provide both speed and large storage capacity in one laptop.

- Collapse -
Why not IDE SSD?
Mar 11, 2017 6:33AM PST
- Collapse -
Yes that might work!
Mar 11, 2017 9:08AM PST

The Kingspec 64GB model appears to be decent value. In the past the few PATA SSDs we saw were significantly more expensive. I've used a couple of Kingspec SATA SSDs to refurbish old computers that friends just wouldn't let go of, and they worked OK. Hey, at least they use MLC NAND in most of their models!

- Collapse -
Answer
No.
Mar 11, 2017 2:52AM PST

The D600 uses a PATA connector, not a SATA connector, which all modern SSDs use. There were a very few PATA SSDs in the early days but they were wickedly expensive, had a very low write cycle rating and were not very fast.

The machine is also a first generation Centrino Banias, running at 1.4 GHz on mains power, dropping to 500 MHz on battery, if the battery still works, so even if you found a solution, I'm not sure it would do you much good.

The USB ports are 2.0, so a portable SSD won't help much, you need a 3.0 to make sense.

Depending on why you want to replace the HDD, if it's for performance, you would be much better off with a newer machine, even a refurb, which you can get with a warranty of 3-12 months. If you go down that route, a factory refurb is better than an independent in most cases. Or if you are more adventurous and you know what you are doing, you could try an auction. The machine I'm using now, I bought ex-lease 4 years old for $39 Australian. It will take an SSD. It came with a wiped hard drive but the CoA was still attached, so I used that key to install Win7, upgraded to Win10 on the free upgrade, runs just fine, though for my use, I have it running OpenSUSE Leap 42.2 Linux (yes, I'm cheapskate!). What's not to like?

If you just want to increase your storage capacity, you will find it extremely difficult to source a PATA drive these days. I did manage to source a Samsung Spinrite a couple of years ago at 160 GB but it was a long exercise searching.

You could always look at using an external drive if you just want capacity, not performance; there are lots of 32 GB USB 2.0 thumb drives around, which will almost double your capacity.

The D600 was a nice solid machine in its day but I fear it is coming to the end of the line, unless it's still useful in its present configuration. It will run Windows 7 or 8.0 (why would you!) but nothing later, the processor is hardware deficient. It would run Linux quite well, if you want a challenge and you choose the right distro!

- Collapse -
Answer
NO
Mar 12, 2017 11:43AM PDT

The Dell D600 and D610 use HDD w IDE interface, so SSD, being SATA interface, will not fit. Sorry.

- Collapse -
Look up? I spy IDE SSD.
Mar 12, 2017 12:49PM PDT

Why not one of those?

- Collapse -
Yes
Mar 12, 2017 12:54PM PDT
- Collapse -
I know why.
Mar 12, 2017 12:59PM PDT
- Collapse -
I think I did better today
Mar 12, 2017 1:16PM PDT
- Collapse -
For me,
Mar 12, 2017 1:24PM PDT

I stick to Amazon, Woot, Newegg for gear. Ebay has been the goto place for things I can't get elsewhere like auto parts, a new cooktop insert etc.

- Collapse -
Good Resolution!
Mar 12, 2017 7:24PM PDT

As long as it's in decent condition you've scored a bargin there.
It may be worth getting a can of compressed air at the local office supply store or computer store and blowing several short bursts of compressed air through the vent holes in the rear, side and bottom of the laptop to clean out any dust accumulation. The person who refurbished it should have done this, but it doesn't hurt to be certain.