Here's a short tale for anyone trying to fit an SSD into an old IDE interface laptop:

I've recently been playing with an old IBM-Logo Thinkpad 570E, trying various Linux and other x86 operating systems on it. Originally, it came equipped with either a 6GB, 8GB, or 12GB HDD.

I don't have such a small HDD around, but perhaps a larger HDD or an SSD could work, right?

So I tried a few, but initially, the Thinkpad IDE controller appeared to be highly unreliable, to the point that I was thinking it might be defective:

- HDD 20GB (HItachi DK23BA-20)
- HDD 60GB (Toshiba MK6026GAX)
- HDD 120GB (WD1200UE)

- SSD 32GB (LiteOn LST-32S9G), via M.2 JM20330 SATA to IDE adapter
- SSD 128GB (LiteOn LMH-128V2M), via mSATA JM20330 SATA to IDE adapter

The actual problem was the 12mm HDD slot, where all of the 9mm HDDs have enough room that the 44pin IDE connector can easily be mis-aligned. It's very difficult to see, since the connector is at the far end of the HDD bay and visually obscured when the drive is fully plugged in.

This is particularly true for the ill-fitting JM20330 adapters, which have an even greater chance to be mis-aligned *(see explanation below).

Luckily, this kind of mis-alignment simply caused the HDDs and SSDs to not show up in BIOS or in any OS, but there was no permanent damage to any of the drives or to the IDE controller.

In conclusion: All of the above HDDs, and the SSDs via JM20330 SATA-to-ATA bridge chip, appear to work well in old Thinkpads. If it doesn't seem to work, consider whether the IDE connector might be mis-aligned.

*Explanation of JM20330 fitting trouble:
1.) Some JM20330 adapters have a plastic 9mm case which slightly wider than a real HDD, so the Thinkpad HDD caddy doesn't quite fit.
2.) Many JM20330 adapters uses a through-hole 44pin header, rather than an SMD header. This results in the 44pin connector position being a little too high for a good fit in a Thinkpad HDD bay.
3.) As a result, most JM20330 adapters will only fit into the Thinkpad HDD bay *without* the HDD caddy - but without the HDD caddy, the risk of connector mis-alignment is even greater.