Best approach to swap HDD for SSD in T420

After plenty of deliberation I just pulled the trigger on a new T420 and am anxiously awaiting its arrival! In the meantime, I have been trying to determine the best approach to swap out the HDD with an aftermarket X-25 SSD. I've spent a lot of time trying to research the best way to do this and have some questions. There are a lot of competing views I have found online and wanted to throw the question out there and see if there are any specifics of the T420 that would drive one approach over another.

The consensus seems to be that the better approach is to do a fresh install of Windows as opposed to creating an image and restoring to the SSD (i.e. - via Acronis, Ghost, Clonezilla, etc).

What I do not understand and cannot find good instructions on is how to perform a fresh install when the only copy of Windows will be the OEM copy that is already installed on the T420. When I placed the order, I asked about getting a disk and it sounds like I do not get a copy. Is this true? Without the disk, how do I perform a fresh install? Is this initiated via a basic recovery disk that I would first create?

Once I get Windows installed, are there any specific drivers/software tailored to the T420 that I need to install?

While I clearly have little experience in this area, I would certainly appreciate a push in the right direction. Detailed instructions would be even better There is certainly a ton of information on the web on this but I am really having a difficult time synthesizing this down to the best approach. Perhaps I would have been better off simply paying the outlandish markup to Lenovo for a factory installed SSD, although in addition to the obvious savings, I was hoping to learn something new in the process by trying the swap myself.
Thanks!

 

Follow the directions here.

This will allow you to do a clean install with OEM key that came with your Windows machine. Here's a general outline of the procedure:

1.- Use ABR to backup your activation info onto a USB drive.
2.- Replace HDD with SSD
3.- Install Windows using the clean install .iso image you created
4.- Upon first boot, plug in your USB drive and use ABR to restore your activation.

Drivers can be easily found from Lenovo's Support & Downloads website, or even simpler, you can use ThinkVantage System Update to automatically fetch your drivers (plug your clean-installed T420 into Ethernet, or install the WiFi driver manually first).

 

Great link, thanks. That link, a degree in computer science from Stanford and a couple of days and nights and voila! your new computer will be booting off the SSD.

Seriously, thank you for the link, but hopefully there is a better way.

One of the biggest drawbacks of buying a new computer from Lenovo is that there is no easy way to restore the OS when the inevitable happens. No matter whether the inevitable is a crash or a simply larger/cheaper/faster HDD install.

Perry

 

Although Lenovo (like most computer manufacturers these days) does not supply the System Recovery discs with the notebook, you can either create them yourself through a ThinkVantage utility or order them from Lenovo for about $40.

You may decide to do a fresh install of Windows 7 onto your new SSD. Regardless, I recommend you initialize Windows 7 as you turn on your T420 the first time, and then create the Recovery discs (1 boot CD and 2 data DVDs) before swapping out the HDD. BTW, those discs may be used to "recover" the system onto another drive -- no degrees required.

 

Step to create recovery cd

1. Click on blue button on thinkpad.. you will see the recovery option.

2. NOW ready with 1 CD & 3 DVD (blank)

3. Recovery process will ask you to insert "Bootable" disk & that is CD NOT DVD. It is also first one to go in DVD drive.

4. After that process will ask you for DVD 1 .. 2 & 3 in that order.

Pretty simple but make sure you have power supply connected and do this FIRST before doing any formatting to the main drive. It is ONE time process & no second chance (hate lenovo big time..how much DVD cost this days...dammm)

After that take out your HDD & put SSD.

Put you "Bootable" CD in DVD drive. Turn ON laptop and it will guide you to install fresh Windows on SSD.

You are done & enjoy performance of SSD>

 

nni123: I have a stupid question what about the driver for your ssd? at what point does it get installed? For example if the recovery cd was burned in a system with the HDD, would it expect to be recovering the system onto a new HDD not an SSD?

 

hey hcg aka OP

great question and very timely with the new systems shipping. i joined this site today to find the answers for that exact scenario so I'll be following your progress. i'll be using intel's new 320 ssd when i get my rig.

lenovo's markups on components are crazy talk. i don't mind getting my hands a little dirty. my only thing is annoying driver issues or bugs down the road as well as the windows license. what are the pro/cons of the clean install option vs the colon?

i'm also assuming this will not void the 3 year extended warranty?

 

Just ordered the X120e. The best price I got was $413 plus tax $24 something, plus free shipping. Shipping date is 4/12/2011.

I hope that your direction will work as I do not have any experience with Lenovo. I do have an Intel X-25 120 GB that I want to put into the X120e.

Thx for posting this.

 

Hi David, thx for the review of the Lenovo X120e. I was going to buy the HP DM1z but the touchpad did not work for me. Your comment about the Lenovo keyboard and touchpad convinced me, hope that the Lenovo have better build quality.

 

Thank you nn123. This is very helpful.....so Recovery Disks are really clean install or system replacement disks? That is helpful. I have a day job so don't speak Lenovo speak particularly well.

That is the good thing. I have had a T61 for 4 years and have had no need to use the "Recovery Disks" I made years ago. And actually have changed disks several times, but opted for the "pay for it" method by buying disk cloning software and taking full advantage of both the ultrabay drive caddy as well as putting a new disk in an external enclosure for the process. Although that took a while at USB speeds.

This method does cost several hundred dollars as you need to buy the software and also the drive caddy as well as possibly an enclosure.

I like your method better although would still probably have the older HDD ready in a caddy or an enclosure in case my "Recovery" goes awry.

But than again I am a belt and suspenders kind of guy.

Perry

 

I have completed the process of swapping out my factory HDD to an Intel X-25 SSD and am happy to report this went very smoothly. One of the concerns I had going in was the size differences between the HDD (250) and SSD (160) - I had read of issues with partition allocations when the drive sizes differ. This has evidently been worked out as there were no issues when using the Lenovo Rescue and Recovery process. The process couldn't have been any easier - the only 'issue' I had was with nearly stripping the screw to the HDD access cover

The basic steps I took include:
1. Launch Rescue and Recovery utility
2. Burn recovery media - 1 bootable CD and 3 DVDs
3. Turn off laptop and replace the HDD with the SSD
4. Turn machine back on and follow instructions to recovery using the disks

I didn't have to do anything with BIOS settings, driver re-installation etc - the process took care of everything and seems to be working fine.

For anyone considering making the switch yourself but on the fence due to perceived complexity, rest assured - there really is nothing to this!

 

I have just tried this process on a T420. Burnt 1 boot disk at 3 data disks. I am able to boot okay, but when it asks me to insert the first data disk i do so and it doesn't recognise it. The disk is readable when I put it in another computer.

What could I have done wrong?
Thanks

UPDATE: To make this worse, my computer thinks I have already burnt a set of recovery disks and wont let me create another. What do I do now..?!

 

Try using the other computer to make a copy of the disc that you can't read in the T420.

John

 

Lenovo only allows 1 set of recovery disks. Too strict, IMHO. And I do not not see any mistake from your part. It should have worked, but it did not. The good news is there are several alternatives. Assuming that you still want to copy your HD to a new HD or SSD.

1. Rescue and Recovery allows you to copy your HD image to a backup media, i.e. not the disks that you already made, but to a HD USB. Look for backup instead of recovery disks. I have done this, it will take a long time, mine took about 3 hours or more. That will allow you to boot up and recover from your backup of the system you now have. This is different from the recovery media disks you made, which restore the factory windows as shipped.

2. I have used other methods to just clone my HD to a new drive and/or SSD. No need for any recovery disks or backups. Acronis or Clonezilla are well known applications. If you have an Intel SSD, Intel provides a program to clone your HD and align your SSD and another tool to maximize the SSD use.

I still do not have any idea why your data dvd did not work, except that there might be a compatibility problem. It happens.

 

You won't be voiding the warranty. Any aftermarket parts you put in will not be warranteed, but the remaining factory parts will. I have already swapped out the hard drive and RAM in my T420, and added an Intel 310 mSATA 80GB SSD.

To answer the OP's question and yours, there are several pros to a clean install:

-Your SSD will be perfectly aligned (restoring from an image will put the SSD in an unaligned state, resulting in poorer performance and quicker wear to the memory cells)
- You get the most efficient configuration available because you choose which ThinkVantage software you want, and install only that. You also can install the latest drivers immediately, rather than updating on top of existing files. One big advantage is that you can probably obtain a copy of Windows 7 with SP1 already integrated, saving you tons of software updates, and making for a cleaner system.

The cons to a clean install:

-If you're not of a technical bent, it's a bit more difficult. Note that if you're good at following directions (which have been provided by others here), it shouldn't be bad.
-It requires more preparation, and is more time consuming. Your best bet is to download all of the drivers and software you need from Lenovo's website ahead of time, and put it all on a USB key, so once your clean install is complete, you have everything you need already. Alternatively, you could just download the necessary wired and wireless networking drivers and ThinkVantage System Update, install them, and use System Update to get and install all of your drivers. This is a little easier, though I'm picky enough that I like to do a lot of the first-run driver installs myself.

 

Trying what John Ratsey mentioned may solve your immediate problem. When you make the copy, burn the disc at a slow speed (e.g. 4x); this will minimize the chance for errors, and also increase the likelihood that the disc will be readable by your ThinkPad's optical drive.

Long term solution, I'd call Lenovo tech support; they might send you a set of recovery media.

 

I would phone Lenovo Support too, I would explain the situation that you can't make another set despite "successfully burning" your recovery CD's. It's not as if you wiped out the parititon without attempting to make some recovery CD's. Hopefully Lenovo will be lenient and send you a fresh set of recovery discs considering you haven't had the T420 that long.

 

Favoriting this thread.

I once tried making a bootable USB drive on an older notebook a year ago. Didn't work. Lenovo's arriving today, but probably won't open it up until after finals.

 

Install Windows 7 Or Windows 8 From USB Drive/Pen Drive

 

Updating this issue. Two things:

I called Lenovo and explained my issue and they offered to send me the recovery disks for free! I'm very impressed with their service.

But most importantly, you can burn more than one set of recovery disks in the event you may loose yours. If you browse the recovery partition (show hidden files first) you will find a text file called service_done. In there you will find a line that says "DONE=1". Change it to "DONE=0" and you can burn again. I am writing this from memory, but I'm sure my instructions will be clear enough.

Mitch