X220 and mSATA SSD: A Resource

Recently received this question via PM, figured that others can benefit from my answer, so I'll post it here:

Question:

I was just curious if there was a guide you recommend on how to setup mSATA + HDD, as far as what to put on which drive. I thought I remember someone saying os, progs on SSD. While having the users folder on the HDD. Would the users folder be pretty much all that went on the HDD?

Also is there a site/post you would recommend as far as tweaking the ssd to work alongside the HDD?

Answer:


If you're considering mSATA SSD for X220, you should know that there are two choices, Renice or Intel SSD. Intel SSD is famous for reliability, and Renice SSD is a new entry, and competes on performance. Respective reviews are here:
The SSD Review | The Worlds Dedicated SSD Resource and Review Site.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...1-renice-x3-sf1222-msata-ssd-user-review.html

It is important to know that if you're installing OS on the mSATA SSD (which is what many people, including me, recommend), you need to remove the original HDD first, install the SSD, then install Windows. The exact guide can be seen here for T420, but should be applicable completely for X220:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/572616-t420-msata-uefi-only-20-sec-boot.html

The recommendation is for the OS to be stored in the SSD, while media files (pictures, movies, and music) to be stored on the HDD, as high access speed is not required for the playback of these files. If you play games, then it is recommended to store them on the SSD for fast loading.

For SSD tweaking, this guide is very good:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/533819-ssd-tweaks-tips.html

I follow most of these tweaks, and have used various SSD's for over 3 years, with no issue.

Additional info and comments are welcome.


NOTE: Most, if not all, 9.5mm 2.5" SSD can be disassembled, and one side of the case can be removed to reduce the thickness of the SSD to <7mm. If you already have an SSD, and don't mind voiding the warranty, this is an alternative as well. This method has been confirmed to work for Vertex 2 and 3, as well as Intel 510-series with SATA-III support. For Intel X25-M and 320 series, simply remove the black rectangular bracket to reduce the height to 7mm.

NOTE #2: There have been reports of mSATA SSD not playing nice with certain models of X220 (as in, undetectable by the laptop). Please refer to this thread to learn more of the issue:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/582887-x220-msata-not-possible-i7-usb3-0-a.html

Lenovo has promised that a BIOS fix is coming soon:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7621718-post103.html

 

None of your links work.

 

You left out the MyDigitalSSD ones, which are on sale and dirt cheap right now. In fact, if I had bought my comp a month later, I'd have gotten the MyDigitalSSD 128gb for $240 instead of the Intel 80gb for $190. Even if it's a little slower, that's 50% more space for 25% more cost. Hard to beat.

 

Haha sorry, those darn NBR auto-link >_>

I wouldn't recommend MyDigitalSSD, since they use a SSD controller from Phison, an unknown company. Renice SSD uses Sandforce controller, a well-known name recently thanks to their presence in high-performance SSD, including the Vertex 2 and 3.

 

I think that this is a little bit premature.

First of all, OCZ has had some issues with some of their Vertex drives; checking their forums mentions it. It appears to be related to the Sandforce controller, and possibly the drive firmware. Corsair has had a few issues with some of their drives using a similar Sandforce controller, and has issued a voluntary recall on those drives.

Secondly, very few reviews have been done of the MyDigitalSSD review, so I'd say it is exactly as you said, an "unknown" company, neither good, nor bad. Also, Patriot is using the identical Phison controller in their Torx 2 series of 2.5" SSDs; reviews of their drives may yield additional information, but I don't think they would use a controller if they didn't trust it. It doesn't seem like a leader-of-the-pack drive, but appears to be reasonable in the value category.

Patriot Torx 2 review @BenchmarkReviews

Patriot Torx 2 Preview @Tweaktown

Patriot Torx 2 Review @LegionHardware

I'm hoping to receive a 128GB MyDigitalSSD drive in the next week or so; if so, I'll be comparing it to the Intel 80GB I already have; I will also post periodic updates to ensure long-term reliability. Meanwhile, I think "not recommending" is a little bit strong, considering that neither MyDigitalSSD nor Renice are incredibly "well-known" as vendors. I think it's too early to tell either way.

 

All valid points. I should clarify that I'm not comfortable with them, but that shouldn't deter anyone from trying them out. Obviously the standard return policy and warranty policy are still in effect, so you don't have to worry too much if it doesn't live up to your expectation.
Also, when I say that the Sandforce controller is "well-known", I'm not necessarily implying that it's good reputation. I do know that there are problems, but last I heard they are resolved via firmware update.

 

SandForce has had their hiccups and known issues. The SF-1222 has known stutter/BSOD on wake up issues. SF-2000 have had a massive recall by Corsair (recalling all their Force 3) and it's probably not long before OCZ recalls their XX 3 series SSDs.

If you absolutely want the most reliable drive on the market, take a look at Intel. They have consistently been the most reliablie, and their mSATA drives are basically their normal SATA 2.5" drives, just in a different form factor.

 

I only mention it because nowhere in your post did you mention that these were recommendations. You said simply that there are two to choose from and that's factually incorrect.

I understand why you might choose not to recommend them, it just didn't come across that those were recommendations rather than an exhaustive list.

 

I wouldn't say theyre an unknown company. Doesn't ASUS source chips from them for their EEE lineup?

 

I don't know that. Plus I have no experience using EEE, so I can't comment on them.

Yeah I may not have made it clear :/
The SSD's mentioned in my post are my recommendations. You're free to try something else and let the community knows how it goes. That would be a great resource as well.

 

I've got a Intel 80gb waiting for a BIOS update. Next time tho, I could see myself trying the other one... Good value, assuming it's not complete garbage.

 

One consideration for a msata (for me at least) was power consumption. I found (well websites told me) the Intel to consume the least power. Granted it is less than a watt difference, but it may mean a half hour or so to battery life. If that matters to you, just something to think about. I believe the Intel was said to consume 0.150 w while in use. Another one I was looking at said 0.9 w. I don't know if the numbers were accurate or not in the real world, but it could make a difference for sure.

 

Hmm, I'm not sure if I should if I should buy a MyDigitalSSD right now in case it goes back up in price, or if I should wait for more reviews on it and the possible release of a Samsung msata SSD.

Does anyone know what kind of performance people are getting out of their MyDigital SSDs?

 

Funny thing is that Samsung mSATA was the first to be released ever , even before intel msata SSD.
Samsung PM800 128GB mSATA SSD Review – Samsung Quietly Releases another Top Tier SSD | The SSD Review

 

I think the OP's post should also contain information regarding the X220's inability to detect mSATA SSDs across a wide variety of models based upon WWAN configuration or not, going by Lenovo's posts on their forums.

 

Many of the cheapo netbooks used a mini PCI-E mSATA SSD. They just use the cheapest crap they can get their hands onto, they buy those drives OEM and in mass bulk.

 

Added link to one of the current threads on the issue. Please let me know if a particular post in that thread contains particularly specific and useful info. Thanks!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...-not-possible-i7-usb3-0-a-11.html#post7621718

This post has the quote from Lenovo detailing the problem and the fix time frame, as well as the link to the Lenovo thread.

 

Anyone seen them for sale?

 

Some pdfs on tech info are appearing online but apparently it is 100% OEM now.

Gotta buy a laptop to get one.

However there is bound to be some showing up soon even if only on EBay.

 

will the Samsung drive mentioned in the earlier post work with the x220 wwan slot?

 

I've snagged a 128gb one. should I install it? I don't want to risk blowing the drive.
is it compatible? does it adhere to the SAME protocol as the mydigitaldiscount ssds?

 

Short question:

As far as I understood, WWAN and mSATA ssd would use the same slot? or can you have wwan and msata?

 

they use the same slot. can't have both unless you plan to chuck the hdd and shove in a 7 mm ssd in its stead

 

I can get the x220 fairly cheap for 1 week (student rebate). msata route would be nice for enough storage however i think a 120 gb ssd will be enough too since my desktop is my data tank.
Sadly the crucial m4 doesn't fit. Best value here. How much does the 320 GB hdd weight? HDDs arent that light so you could probably save another 100g compared to an ssd?

 

I look at it this way: mSATA increases the capacity immediately without wasting the cost of the drive already in the notebook, which you can likely not resell for much if at all. It also improves the battery life (if you choose the right disk) and speed in similar fashion to a 2.5" SSD. Using mSATA you can run two drives and still have the UltraBay free for your DVD drive or, down the road, yet another hard drive. If you're very concerned about weight, an mSATA is about as light as it gets; you could just take out the factory drive for now. mSATA offers the most flexibility for someone who doesn't plan to use a WWAN card.

 

imagine the msata drive plus an hdd combination. best of both worlds. storage of an hdd coupled with the speed and.convenience of an ssd. I love my x220 now. soooooo speedy

 

Have a Runcore SF-2281 mSATA and a Samsung notebook 1Tb hd which I would love to get into a single system...

 

Hey guys,

I have a question regarding msata.

I recently bought an X220 and I would like to upgrade for an SSD.

After reading the review from thessdreview.com on the Runcore T50, I am pretty impress and I am strongly considering this ssd drive.

However, I have read somewhere that the PCI interface for the x220 is limited to sata 2 speeds. Is this true?

Thank you,

 

Anyone seen this, OCZ mSATA SSD available in 30/60/120GB. Looks pretty fast. I can get a 30GB one for about the same price as an Intel 310 40GB and I'm thinking it might be worth it considering the speed increase. What do you think?

 

so anyone using the mydigitalssd 128GB ? I've been using it for 2 months, no noticeable problems to report.

 

I think you'll regret getting a 30gb msata.

 

Well, maybe but it should be enough for Windows and the most important software. Expecially if you slimline Windows a bit. I'm thinking I can get Windows down to about 15GB, and lets say 5 for the other software (firefox, office etc.). That means I still got (about) 10 GB for updates and whatnot. I'm not gonna play games on it or anything like that, maybe some Photoshop, but there is really no need for PS to be on the ssd, and I wont use PS that much anyway.

 

... and I don't think OCZ has the best track record for reliability either. There's no way I'd pick any OCZ 30 GB (!) drive over an Intel 40 GB one.

 

I did a bit of research and you're right, it doesn't seem as OCZ SSDs are reliable at all. So I guess I'll be buying the Intel X-25 instead.

 

I'm not saying it isn't possible, I trimmed this install down real nice. Without my full adobe suite and full office it would be around 25. But frankly, I want all my software on the ssd. That is why I got it, so everything would be faster. I personally don't find a point in even getting one if it isn't running it all... even the stuff I rarely use. Smallest I'd go is 60 personally.

 

I've had mine for a couple of weeks, still switching over everything to my new X220 but so far no issues with the mydigitalssd 128GB. Took a week or so to arrive after ordering.
It feels fast combined with 2- 4 gig sticks of 1600 mhz kingston hyper x ram. I don't really know what benchmarks mean and I'm not a gamer but my I-5 WEI is:
7.1
7.5
6.4
6.4
7.1
Premium screen is quite exceptional when compared to what is available, I'm struggling a bit getting used to the smaller resolution and reduced text size but it's going to work out just fine!

 

FYI, the OCZ Nocti mSATA is compatible with the x220, see my review here: OCZ Nocti mSATA 120GB Unboxing + Benchmarks

 

Looks mydigitalssd msata is pretty good. I am also considering getting one because of its extra 8gb capacity and good price.

 

OCZ Nocti is cheap but their quality is utter crap. I'd advise against Ocz.

 

Here my Experience with upgrading to mSata SSD and clean install. It actually is not working yet and this is sure more troublesome that I expected reading forum post here and on other places.

Before doing anything I created the R&R backup using the think vantage tool. But admittedly i did not check if it would actually work.
I will need 15 GB of space for this. I used an external USB 2 500 GB HDD.
(I don't have an english copy of Win 7 so I can't exactly reproduce the exact menu/command names used)

Step 1: R&R backup

1. Backup the hdd or flash drive
2. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management
3. shrink the partition of the hdd by 15 GB. right clicking in it and select the appropriate command (something like reduce size)
4. format new partition to NTFS
5. right-click in it and mark partition as active

Open the think vantage tool for creating R&R backup. The Above created partition should now be selectable as target for the R&R backup.

Step 2: Install mSata SSD

Go to Lenovo Service and Support Training and then under Notebooks -> Thinkpad -> X Series -> Videos select CRU Removals/Replacements and follow the video for the WWAN adapter. Note that it look a lot easier in the video... the guy obviously did not do it the first time.To put it back together I had to press it together to be able to tighten the screws again.

Step 3: Bootable USB Win 7 Install Media

You will need a PC with a DVD drive and a Win 7 Installation disc. I had one for my desktop. If you do not have one try Google. AFAIK you can download a Win 7 installer legal online.

Follow this Guide:
Installing Windows 7 with UEFI boot on an x220 from USB : Heavens and Nines

In my case I reused the same 500 GB HDD, created a new Partition again as above (10 GB, but 5 Gb would be enough), format as fat and set it to active. (Note: You can always change the active partition without destroying data on it!). Following the above link for getting it UEFI bootable.

Step 4: Install Win 7 on SSD

1. enter BIOS and set boot mode to UEFI only
2. connect above created USB drive and restart
3. Press F12 to get into the boot drive manager
4. select the usb drive
5. follow win 7 installation procedure

In case you get an error similar to: "missing device driver for CD/DVD...", press cancel and close the window so that you are back at the initial Win 7 installation screen. Now unplug your USB drive and plug it back into a different USB port. Now installation should work. (very strange...)

Step 5: Install drivers and update

I had a working Win 7 installation but no drivers and hence no network and so on. I suggest you then follow this Guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/572616-t420-msata-uefi-only-20-sec-boot.html

If your Win 7 disc did not include SP1 it is crucial to install that prior to the intel HD drivers. (see above guide). You will need to install the LAN or wireless driver from lenovo homepage Drivers and software - ThinkPad X220, X220 Tablet, X220i, X220i Tablet and then download and install Win 7 SP 1. If you fail to do this, you will need to reinstall windows again.
EDIT: I suggest you download SP1 separatley to a usb drive and install it from there so that windows can't auto-install Intel HD Drivers (no network).

Then download System lenovo system update tool ThinkVantage System Update 4.01 or follow above guide for installing other device drivers.

 

Sorry, sort of asked this in the X220 thread, and then realized it makes more sense to ask it here. So sorry for the duplicate post.

Does the HDD "tic" often when you have the mSSD in place. Can I disable the HDD in the device manager to ensure I am solely using the SSD (and use the HDD more as a "travel drive" that I only turn on when needed?

 

Just ordered an X220 i7 with Intel 160GB SSD. I plan to get a mSATA SSD too.

I'm still searching for info, but I have a couple of questions:
1. Can someone tell me model # of the Intel 160GB that Lenovo provides? Anyone have any CrystalDiskMark scores for it?
2. As far as mSATA goes, does the X220 only support SATA 2 (3Gp/s)? If it does, would there be any benefit in buying a SATA 3 (6Gb/s) mSATA?
3. The Express Card is something new to me. Is the FileMate 96GB with Read 115MB/s and Write 65MB/s even worth considering?

 

Been a while since I visited this thread
I'll answer #2 & 3, as I don't have X220 with OEM SSD

2) As far as I know, there is no SATA-3 mSATA SSD. It may be a physical limitation with using a mini-PCIE slot for storage, or the standard hasn't been expanded to cover SATA-3 speed. Regardless, I don't think SATA-3 is available for mSATA SSD at this point.
3) Express Card SSD is great for storage, and not for programs. Random read and write speeds are horrible, so your programs will lag even though your main SSD may be speedy. Then, you'll realize that spending money on a 128GB SD card may be a better idea for storage, especially with one of those 133x card currently on the market.

I don't think you can disable the HDD in device manager. Instead, try going into Power Manager and change HDD idle time threshold to 1 minute or so. This will allow it to go into idle mode quickly and save you battery. FYI, HDD doesn't "tic" that often, unless the drive is forced to spin up or down very often (aka, used for quick amount of time, then stopped being used shortly after, and repeat, an unlikely scenario).

 

Yes, there is an excellent mSata SATA 3 SSD available right now. The Runcore T50 was reviewed here Runcore T50 6Gb/s 120GB EXCLUSIVE mSATA SSD Review - The Worlds First 6Gbps mSATA SSD Hits The Streets - The SSD Review and I'm going to buy one to put in my new X220.

Actually, I might be buying a cheaper one that is that made by Runcore but performs the same.

 

Ya.... I will have it in the one I have in front of me right now within the next two weeks for testing...

 

@ Series 9 Guy,

Hi. Nice to see you here

Interested to see your testing results. Boot time will be interesting too. I want to see if it's faster than most Ultrabooks...

 

Ah I see. That is interesting. The weird thing is that even though this drive has been out for a while, there isn't much buzz around it, nor have I found any X220 (or any other laptop with mSATA) benchmark for it.

If you do get it, I recommend getting the version with highest capacity you can afford. The higher the capacity, the more data channel will be enabled (proportional to the number of NAND flash chips on the SSD), resulting in higher speed (even though the rated speeds for different capacities are the same).

 

@ zephir

The Runcore 6Gb/s SSD hasn't been discussed much with X220 (yet) but you'll find it mentioned in the various Ultrabook or Samsung Series 9 forums.

Max size is currently 120GB.

 

I spent all morning reading the mSATA.
Just received X220Tablet and mydigital SSD mSATA.
I have looked at the lenovo video of how to remove and install the WAN slot.
I paid extra to have Lenovo send me (3) discs of Product Recovery discs(Windows 7 pro, drivers....).
Now several questions hope you guys could clarify:
1) Since I have the product recovery discs, do I have to set 15GB on my HDD for R&R?
2) After installing the mSATA, should I remove the HDD so the X200T wont get confused?
3) Once mSATA is installed, use my usb DVD with the Lenovo Discs to install?
4) On my mSATA, advisable to have office pro, ESET, Quickbooks Pro, and several other software and my HDD to have files?
5) Which drive should I install drop box?
6) Currently on my HDD, I have:
A) C: Windows7_OS
B) D: Local Disck
C) Q: Lenovo _Recovery
After installing the softwares and files, can I delete all contents above (best way to do this, please)? Afterward, transfer my files in?
Thanks so so so much