Purchased Intel X25-M 80GB for X200s

Hey guys,

I decided to jump on the SSD bandwagon so I purchased an Intel X25-M for my X200s. Are there any things I should know before installing this drive? Does it work basically like plug-in-play or do I have to tinker with any settings to get this drive to work? I plan on installing Windows 7 x64 on this drive. Thanks!

 

Congrats! I wish I had the money to add in an SSD into my X200

Have you researched if you need a different set of rubber rails for the drive slot? Take a look through the X200s user manual, they mention that there may be a need for a different set. One user mentioned that the HDD rails will work, but it will be a tighter fit.

 

Make sure you configure Windows to not hit the drive with background defragging, indexing service, etc. It has a negative effect on the health and lifespan of the drive.

 

After reading Jon Lumpkin's posts about SSD performance, I want one in my X200T. Alas, the times are such that's not feasible. Nonetheless, I'll follow performance threads and upgrade experiences with great interest and hope for a sale.

Cheers,
~tdr.

 

Disable defragging, disable superfetch and that's it. You'll be very happy with your X25-M, personally I consider it to be hands down the best single component upgrade I've ever made.

 

Thanks for the help and encouragement, guys! Ashura, did you need different rubber rails for your X25-M or did the standard ones you took off the HDD work just fine? Also, where do you access defragging and superfetch?

Also, would you guys recommend Windows 7 or Vista x64 for this SSD upgrade?

 

I used the rubber rails that came stock but I have a x200, dunno if your x200s comes with something different.

Also, I'm not 100% sure where to disable those things for you since I've never used W7. If you end up going with Vista x64, I could point you in the right direction.

 

Hmm, yeah, I'm actually debating going with Vista x64 because there's some slight compatibility issues with my ThinkVantage utils and BT drivers. How did you set up your X25-M with Vista x64? Did you simply put the drive in and installed Windows w/o tinkering with any settings? Please share your secrets with me, if you don't mind

 

Defragging should be disabled automatically by Vista and 7. Also note that the Active Protection system driver will recognize the SSD as well and disable automatic head parking (it's unnecessary on a SSD).

I personally don't think that disabling SuperFetch and Swap is necessary on a high quality SSD (e.g. a Samsung or Intel Drive), but a quick google will tell you all you need to know about disabling them if you so choose.

However, you should enable all of the Enhanced performance options on the drive. This will trade some reliability in the write for improved performance (power loss could cause writes to be lost). However, because your laptop has a battery, the risk of lost writes is very small. To enable these features do the following (Vista/7):

1. Right click on C: in my computer
2. Select properties
3. Select the HARDWARE tab
4. Find the SSD in the list, and click "Properties"
5. Click "Change Settings" on the general tab
6. Select the POLICIES tab
7. Check ALL of the boxes.