More T420 SSD questions

Reading all about the pros and cons of buying an SSD from Lenovo when ordering a T420 has made me more confused than ever, so hopefully someone can help me out or point me in the direction of an answer.

Apparently Lenovo is not telling anyone what model the 160GB "Intel" SSD is shipped in the T420 (non-s). Sounds like it might still be the X-25 rather than the 320 series. Is this still the case?

As a result, I'm considering buying my own SSD (Intel or OCZ) and installing (and using the stock 320GB/7200 HDD in an external enclosure). But I'm utterly confused which specs to get -- 7mm or 9.5mm? Sata II or Sata III? Can someone set me straight?!

I originally thought it was simple... SATA II version of Intel's 320 series SSD for 9.5mm drive bays. But now I'm reading about some T420 (non-s) models shipping with 7mm drives -- I presume, however, that that would not be the case for a stock 7200rpm HDD? In which case would a standard 9.5mm intel SSD just slot right in to the drive bay, or would I still need to get hold of new rails? See how confused I am?!

I would prefer to pay the slight premium and get the SSD straight from Lenovo, but I'm only gonna do that if I *know* it's the latest intel drive (320)

 

I've been looking to upgrade my T420 with a SSD as well, so I'll share some of the things I've found out so far.

Even if your T420 has a 7200rpm drive, it could be either 7mm or 9.5mm thick. My T420 shipped with the 320gb 7200rpm disk, which is identified as a Hitachi HTS723232A7A364. I looked up the model number and found out that it's definitely 7mm, so this complicates things for me. This is the first thing you want to check.

The T420 supports SATA III as well as SATA II. From what I've been reading, the extra bandwidth afforded by SATA III doesn't have a big impact on real-world speeds in notebooks yet, so don't write off SATA II drives just because it's a slower interface.

The Intel 320 is a great choice, because it's one of the only SSDs on the market that will work as either a 7mm or 9.5mm drive. The drive ships in a 9.5mm configuration with a shim attached. If you remove the shim and replace the screws with shorter ones that you can order on eBay, you'll have a 7mm drive. I've heard that the Crucial M4 is another SSD model that can be modified in a similar way between the two sizes. Almost all the other SSDs on the market are the standard 9.5mm size.

The thing that I'm still trying to figure out is whether it's possible to fit a 9.5mm SSD in my T420 if I simply replace the 7mm rubber rails with 9.5mm rubber rails. I read one post where somebody said that this worked for him, but other reports say that the SATA port on the motherboard won't line up anymore if the rails are swapped, making it impossible to install a 9.5mm drive even with the correct rails.

One more note on the Intel 320. While the retail drive ships as 9.5mm with the included shim, it's possible to get a 7mm version directly from Newegg. This way, there's no need to buy special screws, and you won't void the warranty. Newegg.com - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2BW160G301 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD

I'm not sure about the SSDs that Lenovo sells directly. Maybe someone else knows more about these.

 

Thanks for the info, especially about the 7mm drive size.

I am still curious if anyone knows whether Lenovo definitely supplies an intel 320-series SSD or not. I'm still worried they're randomly sending out older X25 units

 

To be honest at the moment it isn't bad to have the Intel X25-M as it has been very reliable, 4k speeds are pretty decent too. The Intel 320 on the other hand had recently been discovered to have a serious bug that causes the drive to crash completely and become inoperable.

For sure the rubber rails lottery are not helpful, I was fortunate to have 9.5mm rails when I ordered a 250GB 5400RPM hard drive but I don't think Lenovo sells this option anymore. But even so the part should be relatively cheap to acquire on sites such as eBay.

 

I've been wondering about this as well. I'm going to order a T420 soon and was going to replace the hard drive with an OCZ ssd but I'm glad you brought this issue up. I didn't know there are 9.5mm and 7mm height drives. I guess its either that crucial drive or the intel drive that are 7mm. Guess I can't cram that 9.5mm ssd drive in there.

 

Yeah, I heard about that "8MB" bug... I'm hoping a firmware update is forthcoming soon, like before I order an SSD! but considering Lenovo charges $300+ for the 160GB SSD I would be a little annoyed to be receiving an X25 when I can buy a new 320-series version for the same price.

I guess the answer is to order the T420 with a regular HDD and see what I get in the drive-size lottery before buying an SSD. Still very annoying that lenovo cannot give a definitive answer on what model SSD they're putting into a machine.

 

isn't it better just to upgrade by yourself? What is the problem of byuing Intel ssd and inserting it into the laptop? It's cheaper and you do not have to worry too much.

Hard drive is the easiest upgrade to the laptop (on pair with memory). Just buy it and upgrade.

 

Do you actually need the extra screws if you go 7 mm? Can't u just use tape to hold the plastic thing together?

I have the Intel X-m25 G2 80 GB version in my desktop. It's plenty fast (even though it is slower than a 160 GB version).

 

pipsqeak - Why not make it easy (as I did) and order whatever 160BG Intel SSD Lenovo provide? For most operations you wouldn't be able to tell which SSD you have. And if it is the Intel X25-M, you will have the most reliable SSD on the market. Lenovo provide an SSD that it is happy to provide support and warranty for. For peace of mind that's the way to go (smile)

"...The sheer speed we see when using a SSD in normal computer use comes from the almost instantaneous disk access time, the SSD access time being approximately 90 times faster than a hard drive. The key to SSDs, however, is that most have very similar access times that are about 0.1ms to 0.2ms making them hard to differentiate in normal use."
http://thessdreview.com/our-reviews...pcmark-vantage-comparison-and-final-thoughts/

re continuing problems with the Intel 320:
http://www.storagereview.com/intel_acknowledges_problems_intel_ssd_320s