How can I upgrade harddrive for X301

Hi
I currently need to upgrade my SSD harddrive for X301. I find that the price is 380 for 128g on lenovo webpage. However, I actually dont need such large harddrive.
My question is, can I buy SSD harddrive from other manufactors, as long as it is 18 size? Is there any special requirements? Do you have advice on cheaper SSD drives?
Thanks.

 

Any SATA SSD will do. Just pick whatever fits your budget. Decent deals can be found on NewEgg.com.

 

actually that is not correct, there are several ssd on the market that doesn't work.

 

Care to explain hmmm?

The problem with 1.8 drives is they're a little harder to find. I like the intel SSDs as they have the best reputation for reliability, just my impression from reading stuff on the internet.
Newegg.com - intel x18-m

OCZ Vertex2 SSDs would be my second choice. But if you look at reviews on newegg and amazon they (2.5" I think, not sure about 1.8") do have more complaints of the drive dying. They do have a 3year wanatee, I think, can't remember.
Newegg.com - ocz vertex2 1.8"

 

The Crucial C300 is also worthy of consideration.

See the 128GB at Buy.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 128 GB Internal Solid State Drive

Or the 64GB at Buy.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 64 GB Internal Solid State Drive

 

X301 with newly mounted 256 GB Lenovo SSD Windows ... - Lenovo Community

here is one case in point, so there could be others. I am trying to find out more about this, since i want to upgrade my X301 which currently has no hdd.

 

Seems like the ICH9M-SFF is pretty widely used so I don't know why the X301 would cough up incompatibility issues.

 

They are really much more inexpensive. If I buy them, can I return them if they dont work?
Another question. It seems X301 can only replace the current hard drive. That means it only has one slot for one harddrive. Then, I have to find a way for my original hard drive. Is it possible to make it as mobile disk? Any link would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

the general rule tends to be never buy upgrades from manufacturers except things that are hard to upgrade, e.g. processor, discrete graphics, sometimes display option. buy anything else like HDD/SSD, RAM etc off newegg/etc at a way better price.

 

Even with the 1.8" drives you can goto IBM parts or find an ebay seller to sell the adapters that can fit the 2.5" sata using the 1.8" drives. this way you can use your swapped out existing 1.8" and put it into conventional mobile 2.5" usb hdd caddys.

but since you need a new 1.8" ssd, newegg has a few for a good price

 

Hmm I wonder the technical reason is too. I thought storage drives are modular so it doesnt really matter what it is as long as the module functions and according to SATA specs.

 

A USB harddrive enclosure allows you to put the harddrive in an...enclosure that plugs into your computer via usb. You can either buy one made for 1.8" disks or buy an adapter 1.8" to 2.5" harddrive caddy, and then put the drive in a 2.5" enclosure.

I paid $10 for a 2.5" enclosure. can't find any that cheap though. Look around on newegg.com and amazon.com.


Newegg.com - StarTech SAT1810U2 Aluminum / Plastic 1.8" Black / Silver USB to Micro SATA Hard Drive Enclosure


1.8" to 2.5" harddrive caddy
Amazon.com: Micro SATA 1.8 Inch Drive to 2.5 Inch Laptop Drive Caddy: Electronics

 

What OS are you running? Windows7?
How do you plan to install it on the SSD?

 

It is vista. We will go to some shop to install it. We are newbie. Any other options?

 

You might want to upgrade to windows7.

Windows7 was engineered with SSDs in mind. Amongst other things it supports the Trim function which prevents SSDs from slowing down over time with use. You might want to read:
Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

If you want to upgrade to windows 7, newegg has the upgrade disk for $110, the family pack is a better value at $124 for 3 computers.
Newegg.com - windows7 upgrade

You could do a clean install with a Windows 7 upgrade disk on a brand new SSD. I used the double install method, outlined in this article by Paul Thurrott. He's written several books about windows, meets with Microsoft execs, etc. He's a reliable source.
Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

 

I guess the harddrive caddy requires special slot on laptop, right?
Basically the first method is to make the ssd disk as USB disk, right? Basically I just put my old SSD disk into it then it is a USB disk.

Thanks.

 

These Intel SSD are actually more expensive than the lenovo disks.

 

The post says: "but the 256GB SSD from Lenovo is not compatible with the X301. It just won't work". Very interesting. X301 can not use SSD from lenovo....

 

(1)The harddrive caddy
I actually don't know if every notebook uses a harddrive caddy. My Thinkpad x61s and T60 do. The harddrive or SSD is bolted to the caddy and the caddy slides in and out of the notebook drive bay. If the drive bay is 2.5" and you have a 1.8" harddrive or SSD, then you need a 1.8" to 2.5" adapter. This one on amazon is referred to as a 1.8" to 2.5" Laptop drive caddy, it "onverts a 1.8 Inch Micro SATA Drive to a 2.5 Inch drive form factor"

(2) The USB harddrive/ssd enclosure
Yes, a USB harddrive/ssd enclosure allows you to use a harddrive or SSD over USB. Keep in mind USB 2.0 is much slower than SATA.

They are also better. Recommend you read this article from anandtech.com to understand why intel and some Sandforce drive are considered the best.
The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

You can use this chart at PCper.com called the SSD Decoder Ring to findout what controller a SSD uses, whether it supports TRIM, it's speed, and reviews for most SSDs.
PC Perspective - SSD Decoder Ring - an SSD comparison guide (Rev 3.0)

I had not heard this before. I don't understand what the issue is. Maybe ask on Lenovo's official forums which SSDs if any the x301 can take, or phone their tech support line.

 

Yeah I never heard of that problem too nor do I know how credible that advice is. SATA drives should just work. They are modular. If the drive follows SATA specs, it should work for the computer. Thats the purpose of the standard and modularity in the first place.

I think it is more likely the drives have problems, rather than the X301 unable to handle 256GB 1.8" SSDs.

 

I guess you could purchase that 256 gigs ssd from lenovo and found out for yourself first hand.

 

My suggestion is that those drives are probably flawed in some way, either in hardware or software, instead of some other reason why X301 simply cannot take 256GB SATA SSD drives in general. It makes little sense, since SATA drives are modular. Unless you can come up with even a plausible reason why a windows notebook cant take 256GB SSDs.

BTW, I looked into that thread, and the error code being reported by the user is due to access limitations. This error occurs even for non lenovo 256GB SSDs (e.g. 3.5" HDDs, etc). Most of the cases they are bad drives.

Is the X301 just limited in its capabilities or are those SSDs just flawed? That is the question.

 

Well we are about to find out if the Crucial 256gig SSD will work on the X300.
I ordered one and its here. I just haven't decided which Win 7 version I'm going to load. Its either going to be 64bit pro or enterprise. If anyone cares I can update this thread tomorrow when I'm done.

ym

 

If it does not work, then make sure to verify its not the drive's fault too if you can.

As for your OS version, you are the only one qualified to choose it but I'd suggest the enterprise version.

 

I can report that the Crucial 256gig C300 drive does indeed work fine. So for those with a X300 your in the clear with Win 7. Since I don't own a X301 and don't know what the difference is other than the cpu change "if the CPU is all there is" then The following drivers - intel chipset are needed the rest below are all up to the user. WAN/LAN all works.

Bluetooth
Intel WAN wireless and Lan drivers
Unltra Nav tool and driver - this is a must for me since I use the track point only.

If someone can please post the sata bios hack the enables faster speeds that would most appreciated. I think its from the same guy that wrote the one for the x61 but I can't find it. ATTO tools is showing 116778 write and 142448 read so not bad but not smoking fast as this drive is capable of. All and all I'm really happy that it worked since I really needed the space.

Oh you guys will love this. boot time from dead till you hear the chims 27 secs.

ym

 

Thanks for reporting back.

I guess it supports the idea that those 256GB drives in the X301 from the other person in the other forum, must have been faulty drives. Basically that error code occurs for other harddrives too, even on desktop systems too, as the error code only relates to access limitations.

27s boot is nice.

 

From the way I read his thread was it was the lenovo 256 gig drive that had issues. So at least we have an option now. I'm still hunting for that faster
Sat a bios......

Ym

 

If you read the thread linked from the lenovo forums, the user of the failed 256GB drives claimed to have tried both the lenovo drive (which was probably a rebranded samsung FDE SSD) and the kingston drive. Both he claims failed, so probably just bad luck with the first batch high capacity SSD drives.

 

Guess I need to go re-read that thread when I have time. For now all I care about is a bios workaround to switch from sata 1.5 to 3. From the thinkpad site threads at least from what I can understand our 300s use the same or similar as the t61. I'm still hunting but this drive bumps right up to the limit.

Ym

 

So after 6 hours or more hours of searching I found it. Here's the link so if anyone else with a X300 doesn't have to go through what I did.
Also the X301 has the Sata 2 already turned on so there's no need for this on that model.
A few notes on the update. Leave your or put your old SSD HD back in.
I tried the CD flash option and got a bitlocker warning.
I'm running Win7 Enterprise so thats why but UL has that as well. So its just easier to pop the old drive back in copy the file over
and do the update while in windows. The Drive I have is the Crucial C300, my Atto tools max write/read

Before Sata 1
116megs write
142megs read

After Sata 2
214megs write
281megs read

So basically the difference is massive you also can choose to swap the FN and ctr key if you so choose. Here's the link. Enjoy.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... ion-8.html


ym1