I was bitten with the bug to purchase a new Sony Vaio TT Series, but a combination of high price and having to part with my beloved TR3A kept me from doing so.

After several years of faithful service from my TR3A, I decided to finally do some upgrades.  I added another 512MB of memory for 1GB total.  I saw a bit of an improvement, but it was the addition of a Kingspec 64GB PATA SSD ($240, ebay, shipped from USA) that made the big difference.  WOW!  This machine now fully boots in just over a minute.  Internet Explorer 8 comes up super fast.  MS Word 2007 comes up about 3 or 4 times faster than before.  It comes out of standby instantly, and the machine is very quiet.  It is weird seeing the hard drive activity light yet hearing nothing but the faint whisper of the CPU fan.

I highly recommend the Kingspec SSD.  I did a complete recovery using the excellent Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery Desktop 8.0 (Found for $17.00 on Ebay) in about 37 minutes.

I will not miss my S-l-o-o-o-o-w, noisy 40GB Hitachi HDD.

UPDATED: 7/3/09.  Everything I said above was running XP SP3.  Windows 7 runs super fast on this same machine.

Additional Notes (links were posted 7/3/09).

Two drives are supported by the TR3A bios, the Hitachi 1.8” (44-pin) and the Toshiba 1.8” (50-pin).  I can only confirm that the following applies to the TR3A, however it might apply to other TR models.

The KingSpec SSD uses the same cable as the 44-pin Hitachi 1.8”. 

If you are replacing the 50-pin 1.8” Toshiba drive in your TR3A with the KingSpec SSD, you’ll need the 44-pin cable Sony part # 1-689-155-11.  (Link: This is a really good price for this cable.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Vaio-PCG-TR-Series-HD-Flex-Cable-1-689-155-11_W0QQitemZ260393397120QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item3ca0a7eb80&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Link to the KingSpec 64GB SSD seller who ships from the USA.  There is also a 32GB version.
http://cgi.ebay.com/KingSpec-1-8-IDE-PATA-SSD-MLC-64GB-IBM-X40-X41-X41T_W0QQitemZ250432837470QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item3a4ef5d75e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65:7|66:2|39:1|293:1|294:50

I have a TR2 which I swapped the old HDD for a 1.8” 32Gb Samsung SSD (PATA 50-pin ATA6) a year or two ago. My friend also has a TR2 and wishes to do the same. I noticed that you have a TR3 and the SSD you ordered has 44 pins, not 50 pins. How is that so? Do TR3s use a later interface than TR2s; an interface which has fewer pins? I am interested to know because this will assist me in finding a drive for my friend’s TR2.

Thanks.

Classact, I updated the post above yours to address your question.  Thanks for bringing this up.  I own two TR3A’s, one has the 44-pin cable and the other the 50-pin. 

When you find a 50-pin Samsung SSD for your friend, please post the link here.  That will be great information to include in this thread.

Thought I’d add to this.
I’ve got a TR3A which used to have a Hitachi hd w/cables for that setup.  Since then I bought cables for a Toshiba drive which was used to attach a 50pin 32GB PATA SSD—http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147021R

Oh but I see the issue now, those 50pin SSD’s are dying out… at least none are available on Newegg.  So going the 44pin route is the future now.

I wonder if there’s any benefits between the 50 or 44pin drives? Maybe these newer 44pin drives run cooler or faster?