X230(t) mSATA/SATA SSD migration/clean install question

I ordered a X230T with 320gb HDD and I'm trying to get the correct info now so I don't frak it up when it arrives. I'm fine swaping out parts, but I'm clueless when it comes to migration, clean installs, etc.

I want to have an SSD boot drive, but I don't want to lose performance. I'm getting either the Samsung's 830 series 256gb (reads at 520mb/sec & writes at 400mb/sec) or the 128gb MyDigitalSSD BP-3 (reads at 500mb/sce & writes at 320mb/sec).

If I get the Samsung 256gb, it comes with Norton Ghost to migrate everything. Looks foolproof (good for me), but I'll lose memory space and a512gb SSD is out of my budget.

If I get the mSATA SSD, then I'm at a loss. Don't know if I should migrate everything over from the HDD or just do a clean install of the OS and try to have Lenovo Recovery partition remain on the HDD. Somewhere on the forums I read that migration to mSATA SSD will cause it to lose performance (boot up times around 1/2 minute?). But, a clean install of OS will preserve performance. First question, am I correct? If so, then just how much performance is lost by doing a migration compared to a clean install?

I'm not even sure I understand how to do migrate over to the mSATA. This is how I think migration is done.
1. Format mSATA SSD
2. Go to All programs > Lenovo ThinkVantage > Tools > Factory Recovery Disks (should take 3 to 4 DVD's)
3. Remove HDD, reboot
4. Go to Bios & make external DVD primary (boot) drive
6. Target mSATA drive
7. Install HDD
8. Format (wipe clean) HDD
9. Hold onto the DVD's incase I want to sell machine or return to factory for replacement
Second question, are those steps right?

I have no idea what the steps are for a clean install of the OS. Last questions, if clean install is recommended, then how do you do it? Is there a clean install for dummies?

I don't want to screw anything up and get the BSOD or worse, making a mistake and returning the X230T.

Thanks in advanced!

 

I'll give you a very quick idea of a similar plan I'm going to undertake and let someone else give you really good details:

1. Purchasing a laptop with a hard disk
2. Buying an mSATA
3. Installing a totally fresh version Windows on the mSATA (+ migrating drivers, etc.) Guide 1, Guide 2
4. Installing only those programs I want to run, not everything that comes pre-loaded
5. Using the the disk for storage

Using Ghost or anything similar can is likely to carry over bloat and is not always foolproof.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the advice!

The X230T I ordered will not have any preloaded software, like Office or Adobe so it shouldn't have much bloatware other than ThinkVantage and some trail software. I don't need the trial stuff, but I'd like to keep the ThinkVantage software. So I'm wondering if a migration would be okay.

But then again, if a clean install is recommended to preserve performance, then would it be better to just have the OS on the mSATA drive and nothing else? I'm assuming that you don't do a migration to a mSATA because you don't want not just bloatware, but any other program and files on the same disk with the OS because that'll will slow down that disk, is that right? Or isn't that how SSD works and am I thinking of how a HDD works?

 

I was in the same boat as you... pretty much after buying my x220. I had a 7200 320gb HDD in it already. I decided to get the Intel 310 80gb (uses basically no energy) as my boot (primary) drive. I highly suggest you use the factory install and strip it down (delete drivers, programs, disable stuff) rather than a fresh. I must have went through five clean installs and a few other configs before landing on this one. I get better battery life (a good 1.5 hrs) out of the factory image. It idles around 4.8-5.0w and the clean install (bare bones drivers) idled at 6.5-7.0. My computer boots in 24 seconds (with password), that is from button push to usable desktop. Considering the Intel 310 is on the slower side of mSata's, that could improve with a faster drive.

1.) Remove HDD. Format mSata so first partition is 1 mb offset. I don't know if the recovery disks do this automatically or not on an unformated SSD... so I just did it beforehand. I just wanted my first install to be perfect, played it safe.

2.) Go through windows and start deleting, uninstalling, etc. I took off a lot of lenovo's drivers like rapidboot (no difference in boot time or program loads for me) and all their thinkvantage stuff (keep Power Manager). Disabled internet explorer and a ton of other windows junk and setup all my programs.

3.) Once I had everything setup, cleaned, updated, etc, I just cloned my SSD onto my HDD and expanded the primary drive to fit the whole drive. Did that with Acronis 2011, worked like a charm. Make sure in BIOS it is set to boot to mSata first. So now when I power on, it goes straight to my SSD (no boot manager, etc.). I prefer this because I boot to my SSD 95% of the time. If I need to boot to my HDD, I just hit F12 at startup and select it.

4.) Setup the two drives to work together. I made them (SSD) C: and (HDD) D:. My HDD is a gaming/movies/junk drive. My SSD stays clean and is the drive I use to run my day to day, business, etc. I only backup my SSD to an external HDD, my internal HDD is expendable for all I care. Anything happens I'll just wipe the HDD and do another clone off the SSD. All downloads and big writes go to HDD. Smaller stuff like documents, webpages, etc are run off the SSD. I'm not too worried about a few MB's of writes everyday to the SSD.



A word of advice though, start with a factory image on a formatted mSata SSD. Then you can take half a day and sort through programs as you install them. That is what I'd do personally because your install can always be simpler and usually frees up a ton of space.


That is it in a nutshell. If you want a little more detail, this thread may help. I had forgotten I wrote it all out until I finished this post, ha. Obviously check the publish date, some updates have occurred since it was written.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/598867-x220-idling-4-95w-what-about-you.html




Oh on one other note, ssd benchmarks were the same on aligned factory vs aligned clean install (to answer the question above).

 

Thanks for the info!

1. I will definitely format the mSATA, however I'm an ignoramous when it comes to partitions. I know what they are in theory, but in practice, I'm oblivious to them.

2. I'm the type of end user who doesn't know that much and gets paranoid about deleting/uninstalling stuff from Windows. I don't know what I'm deleting or if I'll ever need it in the future. Of course, I can identify the crap, like toolbars, that people blindly download from the Internet, but I really can't tell the difference between the Windows junk stuff and the essential stuff.

3. that's a good idea to backup your mSATA to your HDD, so if you're on the road, you can recover your mSATA from the HDD. But, did you just copy everything to the HDD or backed it up to the HDD? I guess I'm asking is what is your method of cloning.

4. Exactly, I want to boot from the mSATA and use it strictly for the all the important stuff and use the HDD as the junk drive.

Now I'm a little lost when it comes to factory image. I heard of it, but had to google it to fully understand it. Factory image is just the partition that stores the recovery data the restore everything back to how when it first left the factory. Is that correct? If so, I was wondering why not just backup the HDD onto an external media and then use the external media to restory everything to the mSATA and then wipe clean the HDD and arrange BIOS to boot from the mSATA. Or am I missing something?

 

1. Just format the SSD first then either clean install or factory image (the partitions will be created on their own).

2. I'd just leave stuff you don't know alone... that is probably the best way. You can disable features and stuff you don't use.

3. I just use Acronis 2011 for all my backing up needs. About every week I'll create a full disk image of my SSD. I'll store it on my internal HDD and an external. I have restored a few images using the program and it works flawlessly.

4. Perfect.



The factory image is basically the initial install you'll have on your computer when you first get it. That has all the drivers, tweaks and such that lenovo installs from the factory. You could make a recovery disk (USB) from the factory image and then restore that to the SSD. Then pull all important data from HDD, transfer it then wipe it. Then clone the SSD over to the HDD, set boot priority and you're pretty much done.

Before cloning I would advise deleting the recovery partition that comes with the factory image. Since you'll be creating backups on a regular basis, you really don't need it anymore and it just takes up space. So get the SSD up and running, go into Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Go into Disc Management and find the Recovery partition. You can delete that then extend the primary SSD partition to fit the whole drive. Then I'd clone from there.

 

Let me get this straight. Delete the Recovery partition on the SSD, because it would already be on the recovery disk and on the HDD. The Recovery partition only contains the data to restore my system to factory conditions (& wipe out anything I added). So the Recovery patition only contains the Factory image? How much space is actually saved by deleting the Recovery partition? And how do you delete it? I can see it in Computer Management > Disk Management, but I don't know how to delete other than formatting the drive. This type of stuff is definitely taking me into uncharted territory, but I'm learning a lot.

 

Should be easy enough to delete, I believe you just (in Computer Management) right click on the volume/partition and click "Delete Volume..."

I'm not sure how much room it takes up because mine has been gone for a while, but it should also say in computer management. The reason I delete it is because I back up my entire SSD with acronis and I have no use for a recovery feature. So I save the space and just delete it and expand the main SSD partition. This can all be done in computer management.

But yes the factory recovery just recovers the factory image and wipes everything else. So basically what I did was make a recovery USB drive (or dvd's if you have an optical) from my original HDD recovery partition. I then recovered that to the SSD AFTER I formatted the SSD and offset it by 1 mb.

Then do the recovery to the SSD and delete that same Recovery partition on the SSD (it should be there using the recovery disks). Then Extend your main partition to take up the rest of the drive. Finally, wipe your HDD and just clone the SSD to the HDD. I recommend this be your absolute last step after you have your SSD totally setup with programs, updates, etc.

Then every time you use a disk imaging software, you basically have your own recovery partition externally. That can then be saved both on your internal HDD and an external.

If anything doesn't make sense just let me know, I was writing this in a rush.


Annotated version of the whole process...

1.) Make recovery media from original HDD, either USB or DVDs
2.) Remove HDD and insert mSata
3.) Format SSD
4.) Recover factory image to SSD
5.) Delete Recovery partition on SSD and extend main partition
6.) Optional* Uninstall, clean, delete all things unwanted
7.) Install all updates and programs you need
8.) Clone SSD onto HDD and expand the main HDD partition to fit whole drive
9.) I'd change the drive names for simplicity... something like SSD (C and HDD (D . This just makes it easier when saving stuff and when logging into the HDD (they switch drive letters).
10.) Integrate SSD and HDD, setting up program download paths and save directories, etc. I keep all big writes to the HDD.
11.) Use Acronis or similar to do a disk image of your SSD and save it in two places.
12.) Do periodic backups if you ever want to roll something back.

 

I was trying to see if I could delete the recovery partition on my T60 to practice when I actually migrate over to the mSATA SSD, but when I right click on the partition, the only option is "help" so I can't delete it. It shows up as "SERVICEV001" and it's FAT32. I'm using XP, so I guess XP won't let you delete the recovery partition, but Windows 7 will or maybe you're using Acronis to do it?

Is cloning or imaging done with special software like Acronis or Norton Ghost?

 

Nope, just doing it in Windows 7 through Computer Management > Disk Management. XP might not let you do it like 7 does... who knows. All I know is that it is fine to do in 7 through CM. The T60 factory image may have been setup a little different as well, I'm not sure.

I use Acronis to clone my drives and I also use it to create disk images that I can revert back at later dates.... or just to backup my system.

 

In step 8, wouldn't you lose the recovery partition on the HDD? The only copy of the factory image would be on the Recovery media. I thought about the pros & cons of keeping the Recovery partition on one of the internal drives versus external drive. I suppose by not keeping it on an internal drive, you gain space, but lose the ability to restore to the factory image espeically if you're without or lose the recovery disk/usb drive.

I don't have Windows 7 yet, so I'm wondering Windows 7 lets you manipulate partitions or if I need partitioning software. Or does imaging/cloning software like Acronis can also manipulate partitions?

 

Me personally, I didn't care if I lost the recovery partition on either drive. For one, I had it on USB in my computer bag anyways. But on another note, I had my whole drive backed up. I never really worried about catastrophic failure since I have a couple outs.

If you want, you could restore the factory image and then do a disk image with acronis and keep that as a backup. Then after you get everything setup, do another disk image of your finished drive. Keep both, so if you ever wanted to revert all the way back to factory you can. But then you'd have both the factory image and your customized image. Both can be stored on your internal and external HDD's.

Windows 7 Computer Management > Disk Management will allow you to do all the partition work you need to do. There is nothing advanced in the whole process, it is basically just deleting and expanding. Both of which can be done in CM.

 

The x230 maintenance manual says that msata should only be used as a "cache" and you should not install the OS on it.

I started a thread here about this.

 

Which means only that if your system had an msata drive preinstalled, you shouldn't mess with it. Otherwise, the msata slot is just an msata slot, and you can do with it what you wish.

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

Been doing it for over a year now, no problems.


Edit... also what Jesus said.

 

Okay, after digesting this, what does step 10 entail? Is this some sort of way where what you do on one drive will automatically synch with the other? In other words, if you're working on a file in one drive and save it, it will automatically do the same to the corresponding file in the other drive. I'm a bit lost here...

 

It refers to changing drive paths to certain directories like the users folder so that writes go to the hdd instead of the ssd.

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

Basically what Jesus said. But I actually don't change the users folder as a whole, just individual folders to suit my needs.

Here is a breakdown of the folders I change (all done on the SSD). You are just going into the properties of each folder and changing the path to the identical folder... but the one on the HDD. When I click my start menu, I can access the folders and go right into my HDD off my SSD.

Just a note, you are only keeping files on one drive or the other, then you don't have to worry about syncing or anything. So my music, pictures and documents are all on the SSD, they aren't on the HDD. On the HDD, I keep movies, vids, etc. All stuff I could care less if it was lost, but the OS is still functional and fully capable.

On SSD
Documents - SSD - C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents
Pictures - SSD - C:\Users\USERNAME\Pictures
Music - SSD - C:\Users\USERNAME\Music
Videos - HDD - D:\Users\USERNAME\Videos
Firefox - Downloads pointed at HDD - D:\Users\USERNAME\Downloads

I want all downloads going to the HDD since it is just excessive writes I want to avoid on the SSD.

So basically if you were on your SSD and went to your start menu and clicked on "Videos" folder you'd go to your HDD folder.

Then on your HDD, you can point the Documents, Music and Pictures folders at the SSD. I personally didn't because I don't use my HDD for anything other than games pretty much. I'm almost exclusively on the SSD so that is really all I cared about. I don't do any work on the HDD.

That is basically what I do. I keep all my music and pictures on the SSD since they load faster and they aren't re-writing to the SSD. I also keep my documents on the SSD since the writes when I save them are just kb's in size.

You can change other folders or less folders, that is just what I do. So when I'm on my SSD, it doesn't even seem like I have the HDD. When I access my videos or downloads folder it is as if I'm accessing my SSD.

 

There's a lot of great and helpful advice on this thread. I'll chime in with my 2 cents.

When I buy a new Thinkpad I usually do a Clean Windows 7 Install. I've found very little use for the pre-installed Thinkpad stuff and can install what I need one by one. I've found that built-in Windows 7 drivers do a pretty thorough job.

1. Receive new Thinkpad
2. Pull main drive out
3. Insert new SSD
4. Pop in Windows 7 disk and do clean install
5. Now I have a very clean install with a few things (drivers) missing.
6. Hit the Internet and Download Lenovo System Update
7. Let it scan your system to see what's missing and let it download and install anything you might be missing.
- I usually install the power management drivers, system drivers, display/screen drivers and skip everything else.
8. And that's a wrap.

I do also use Acronis True Image to clone my drives, and will clone the factory drive to an image file before reformatting it for other uses, that way I can always go back to the original version as shipped from the factory.

I will also clone my clean SSD install after I run through the above setup so if I need to revert back to a clean install I can very easily.

Side note: I also use Acronis with Universal Restore and it works quite well. I just restored 2 completely different desktops running Core i7's with RAID setups, 1 to an X60t and another to a T60p, and with a couple of tweaks worked exceptionally well.


There was a mention of "integrating" your second drive that I thought I would chime in on as well. A couple of things I do;
1. set my page file and temp file to my second drive
2. set my windows search index files to my second drive
3. set my download location to my second drive.

I try to ensure that my boot drive will stay as clutter free as possible, but it is a failed endeavor as their are too many apps that only save to your boot drive and there's not much you can do about it, but I do what I can anyway.

 

Can anyone point me to drivers for the fingerprint reader? That's the only thing I can't find drivers for

 

So has anyone personally confirmed that the X230t uses SATA III for the mSATA port?

 

Hopefully i'll have the necessary hardware in hand to test this on around the 27th.

 

I can't personally confirm it until (hopefully) tomorrow. Mydigitaldiscount.com recommended me the Bullet Proof 3 mSATA III SSD for the X230T. I've got a good feeling that it's an mSATA III port.

 

May be different on XP, all the things I'm speaking of or recommending in this thread are done on Win 7 Pro 64.

In Win 7 you can do this with the general Library folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos). When you are on your SSD partition, clicking on that folder from the start menu would just open up the HDD folder.






For the downloads folder (can also be accessed from the Start Menu)...

1. Right click folder and hit properties
2. Click "Location" tab
3. Change path to D:\Users\YourUN\Downloads.... the "D" being your HDD. When I'm in my SSD, that is my C drive and my HDD is my D.
4. Click Apply
5. You'll probably have to restart for it to switch over.


So you end up with a start menu like this on your SSD.





Clicking on any of the HDD folders will kick you to that folder on the HDD, but it is seamless. For anyone not knowing better, they wouldn't even know it was another drive.

 

Thanks! That's very clear and visual aids always help! My X230T should have Win 7 Pro 64, so changing folder pathways should be a breeze once my Thinkpad arrives. Guess XP just didn't cut it. I'm debating about jumping on that deal to upgrade to Win 8, depending which version they're offering, hopefully Win 8 will let you change pathways too.

 

The upgrade offer is Windows 8 Pro for $14.99

 

Are there any guides to creating the recovery media on a USB stick?

 

Is Win 8 a significant improvement over Win 7?

There should be. I know the USB stick has to have enough memory to hold the recovery stuff. I think 20gb or 32gb, I don't remember. I debated whether to use a USB stick or CD & DVD's. I like the portability of the USB stick, but I'm going with the CD's/DVD's because I had a USB stick (Cruzer SanDisk 2gb) that died on me.

 

Just use the Lenovo program that makes the recovery media (forgetting its name at the moment). I did this without a hitch using a 16 GB stick, and successfully restored the image on an SSD. The recovery material only took up 12+ GB. My only problem was that I had been using that stick for various live Linux distributions, so I needed to replace the MBR before it would boot.

 

Yesterday I received my X230T and mSATA SSD (128gb mydigital Bullet Proof 3). Here's what I did:
1. Made Recovery Media (1 CD-R, 3 DVD-R'S)
2. Unplugged and removed battery. Removed keyboard and palm rest
3. Installed mSATA SSD. While the mSATA SSD came with a screw, I discovered there was already a mounting screw when I opened her up. During reassembly, center screw that corresponds by the space bar would not catch until I pressed a little against the keyboard.
4. Removed HDD
5. Booted up from Recovery Media (external USB DVD burner)
6. Rescue restore automatically happened and installed factory image onto mSATA SSD
7. Went to BIOS and changed boot order; I made the mSATA SSD either third or fourth on the pecking order. Booted up without HDD installed.
8. Downloaded CrystalDiskMark and got lower numbers than advertised on mydigitaldiscount. But SSD still runs faster than a HDD. I emailed MyDigital and haven't heard back yet. Maybe I should have formatted the SSD?
9. Shut down & installed HDD & booted up without any problems. But there was a slight problem shutting down. Got an 0x0000-something error because something was running in the background. Maybe it was my fault for shutting it down right after it booted up.

I'm thinking of doing a clean wipe of the HDD, but how is that done? By formatting or deleting the partitions on the HDD via system manager?

Once I clean wipe the HDD, I'll clone the SDD via Acronis onto the HDD and then delete the recovery partition on the SDD and/or HDD. But, I have enough space on the SSD (it's 128gb) so I'm confused if I should delete the recovery partition from the SSD and keep it on the HDD or just get rid of it entirely from both drives. Since I already made Recovery Discs, what's the benefit of keeping the recovery partition either on the SSD or HDD?

I'm wondering if I should have up to three partitions on the HDD. One for recovery, one for the SSD cloned image, one for photo/video libraries and junk. XP never let me make partitions, so I don't know if there's a danger to making partitions.

 

I typically clone the original drive from my new Thinkpads without ever powering up the system out of the box. These are the steps I go through...

1. Buy the smallest drive available on the system. I'm going to upgrade the drive anyway so why spend too much for something I probably will not use anyway.

2. When the system arrives, before even powering it up, I remove the original drive and clone it to the upgrade drive using another system. I use Acronis True Image Home to perform the clone.

3. I clone everything, even the backup partition. I do this because I cannot always depend on having a useful system restore available, especially if I'm on the road. Sometimes, you'll have to nuke everything to get back to the original configuration.

4. Keeping the original drive in it's pristine state means I can reload the drive in the laptop when, and if, I ever decide to sell it, especially on eBay.

I have a 500GB Western Digital on my X201 now but I will buy the bestest and fastest SSD for my X230t when I get around to ordering it.

As usual, your mileage may vary.

 

Instead of opting for a larger HHD or a 2.5" SSD, one of the reasons why I chose an mSATA SSD is because I figured not having a WWAN card would be wasted space.

I have the standard 320gb HHD. I'm thinking about deleting the recovery partition on the SSD and having 3 partitions on the HDD. One for the recovery partition. Another for the cloned SSD image as a backup partition. Last one for junk stuff, pictures, games, what have you. I know there will actually be 4 partitions on the HHD, because isn't there a small partition reserved for the system?

Of course, I'll first need to wipe clean the HDD, but is that done by formatting it or is there an simplier method? (I know my newbie-ness is exposed here)

Maybe I'm confused, but doesn't starting the Rescue Recovery process take what's on the recovery partition and installs the factory image on the rest of the drive, thereby wiping out whatever you had on it? Therefore, if you keep the recovery partition on the hard drive, you can always bring the Thinkpad back to its factory configuration even if you're on the road.

I just got Acronis True Image Home, but haven't installed it. Once I install it, then it'll update the backup partition. If I ever have to, say, return the mSATA SSD, I can continue working off the HHD.

Of course, I'll have to backup everything to my external hard drive, probably on a biweekly or monthly basis. I've been really bad about backing up stuff and with my new X230T, I want to do it right.

Is my strategy is technically sound? Did I missed anything?

 

Did you change the bios setting to AHCI or whatever it's called?

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

It was already set to AHCI. Here's what I've been getting.

What entails a clean wipe of the HDD? Is it just formatting it or do I have to get some sort of utility? I'm anxious to get this Thinkpad fully configured.

 

I just received my mSATA chip and am trying to to load the OS to it from recovery discs. I noticed that the mSATA SSD has a small 1.8GB partition. Do I need that for some reason? or can i format it and extend the SSD by the small amount of space?

 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but...
Now that I have clean installed windows 7, my battery life has gone south. on a full charge it only estimates a life of 2 hours. Does anyone know what I am missing that would boost the battery life? Besides the addition of a mSATA hardrive the rest of the hardware is as it came from lenovo.

Much Thanks,
~Hanry

 

Anybody here have installed a clean Windows 7?

I can't seem to find a driver for BCM20702A0 after I installed Windows 7, anybody having the same issue?

 

Have you checked the alignment of the SSD? That is why I was saying you should format before you do the recovery partition, just incase the recovery partition doesn't automatically align it for you. But lets check to be sure then go from there.

1. run "msinfo32"
2. Click on "Components > Storage > Disks
3. Look for your SSD and check the partition starting offset
4. It needs to be divisible by 4096

If it isn't divisible, then the performance drop could be because of that. If that is the case, you'll just need to redo... but format the disk beforehand so the first partition is 1024 kb (1mb) offset.

See my post down at the bottom for instructions.

Delete them all, on both SSD and HDD. You can do acronis backups and store them on the HDD and an external. That is just like having the recovery software. I've recovered a few times with Acronis backups, works great.

I don't think you need to frankly. There is no danger to creating more partitions, but I believe there is a limit on the number you can create on a given disk... not positive though. Or maybe it was some other limitation that only allowed you to have four partitions total. I may be thinking of something else.

Mine is laid out like this...

Disk 0 = 1) System DRV 2) (D) HDD
Disk 1 = 1) System DRV 2) (C) SSD

Unfortunately lenovo uses the System DRV on their factory image and I haven't heard of anyone successfully merging it with the other partition... so I've just left it. I took away the drive letters for both System DRV's so they don't show up in my computer and add to confusion.

So in my computer you just see...

SSD (C: ) and HDD (D: ) for the hard disk drives.

Alright do this to completely wipe your drive.

This is assuming you are booted into your SSD partition and in Windows.

1. Start Menu > Accessories > Run
2. Type in "diskpart"
3. Once the dialog opens, type in "list disk"
4. Take note which disk is your HDD (should be 0 or 1... probably)
5. Type "select disk 0" <------- Assuming 0 is your HDD.
6. After your HDD disk is selected type "clean all"

For your 320gb drive, this will take about an hour (mine did).

You can do a "clean" instead of "clean all", but clean all will wipe everything and write 0's on the whole disk. I personally prefer this and you can do other things in your SSD while it works.

There is a chance you'll get some error after typing clean all to the effect of "you can't clean a disk if it has a page file, etc, etc." If that is the case...

1. Right click on "Computer" and hit properties.
2. "Advanced System Settings" on the left.
3. Under Performance, click "Settings"
4. Go to "Advanced" tab
5. Click "Change"
6. First click your HDD
7. Then click on "No paging file" and hit "Set"
8. Apply and restart.
9. Redo HDD cleaning (should work fine).

There is no percentage done or anything like that with clean all. You'll hit enter after clean all and it will just start. Take note of the time you started, for a 320gb drive it should take right around one hour.

 

I actually was just talking about this in a post previous. From all that I've read and tried... I have just left the 1.8gb System DRV partitions on the disk. I've read other have tried merging them and extending, but ended up with booting problems, etc. For now, I'm leaving it until I see someone that has successfully merged them.

For now, just remove the disk letters in Computer Management. Then they won't show up anywhere.... other than CM. I always found it annoying having the System DRV partitions show up in My Computer.

Which msata are you using? The intel 310 only uses a 1/4w while active so chances are it isn't from adding the second drive.

Honestly, I've probably done six or seven clean installs and never got the battery life I get out of the factory image. I don't know what they do, but I idled at almost 2w higher on a clean install than the factory. I also probably got about two hours more battery out of it. With the msata + hdd, I idle at 5w and generally just browsing I get about 8 hours on a six cell. On a clean install I idled around 6.5-7w. That is with the same setup.... msata + HDD.

I say, keep the factory image and strip it down. You can strip that sucker down to pretty much a clean install... with the addition of a few drivers they put on. But you can toss all the thinkvantage stuff and all the additional junk they put on (which isn't much at all). I just kept Power Manager, out of the TV stuff.

 

On the SSD, all three partitions are divisible by 4096. The three partitions are System_DRV, Windows7_OS, and Lenovo_Recovery. Mydigitaldiscount replied to my email and asked if my laptop is SATA 6G compatible and which drivers I'm using. I told them I didn't know and that I'm using a Lenovo X230T. Judging by the numbers alone, it almost seems as if they sent me the older Bullet Proof mSATA SSD and NOT a Bullet Proof 3, but I have no clue. Attached are my recent results.

Figure formatting the SSD first would do the trick?

At this point, I was going to skip clean wiping my HDD and just clone the SSD onto the HDD, delete HDD partitions I don't need (like the System_DRV partition & factory image) and create one for my documents, music, photos. Is a clean wipe recommended rather than just deleting stuff from the HDD?

 

But is the Partition Starting Offset divisble by 4096?

You should see this in msinfo32 > Components > Storage > Disks...

Under your SSD
Disk #1 (or 0), Partition #0
Partition Size - 1.17 GB
Partition Starting Offset - <---- ?? Is this number divisible by 4096?

That is your first partition on your disk. If that isn't offset by 1 mb, you may be suffering performance wise.

Was it that first Partition Starting Offset that was divisible by 4096 or your first partition?

From what I've read, you really can't just delete the System_DRV. I've read of many problems with people deleting that, but you can try at your own risk. I just keep mine until someone successfully merges/deletes theirs. I've heard of others shrinking it down and moving stuff off, but not completely deleting it. To me, I don't see a point... if I can't remove it completely I'm just going to leave it as is.

Supposedly it holds some boot files and such, so deleting will make your comp unbootable. Just hide the drive through Computer Management. Right click the drive and click "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." Then just remove the drive letter from that partition. It is still on the disk, but it just won't show up and confuse you in Windows.

Me personally, I've always preferred to just clean wipe it. It removes everything and I can start fresh and not just overwrite stuff. It isn't necessary, but I always do it.

I just takes an hour and you can do other things on your computer while it works. That is why I just prefer that to doing Kill Disk or something that you have to boot from disk/usb. "Clean all" does the same thing as Kill Disk, but you can still use your computer while doing it. It is only an nour. Just use disk part like I explained in the previous post.

 

Every line that was labeled Partition Starting Offset has a value that is divisible by 4096. There is one Partition Starting Offset per partition; there are three partitions in my mSATA SSD, hence three different Partition Starting Offset and each on is divisible by 4096. I spoke with Dougas Hare of Mydigitaldiscount and he showed me how to switch the ACHI. Apparently, like the X220's, the X230 might have a mSATA II and I'm using a mSATA III SSD. Anyway, I reran CrystalDiskMark and I got better numbers, but still a bit low. Maybe there were background programs running when CrystalDiskMark was running.

You sold me clean wiping my HDD. Gives me an hour of free time.

 

Ok great, just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing with the offset.

I would think your computer was already set to AHCI when you installed the ssd right? The sata II vs III could be the problem if it won't allow the SSD to run at full potential.

I would see how it performs over the next few days. Sounds like everything else is running alright for you, ya?

Ha, good stuff. It really isn't a problem doing it through disk part since you can still use your SSD while it runs. You will not be disappointed! haha.

 

Yes, everything seems to be running alright. I didn't know disk clean would be so simple. I just need to overcome my anxiety of putting on the screen protector (I usually mess those things up).

I'm also still trying to strategize a filing system. My HDD is now a cloned image of my SSD. I'm still paranoid about deleting the Recovery partition, so I might just keep it on the HDD and not on the SSD or vice versa.

I'm still trying to figure out how to backup the integration of SSD and HDD and I'm using your method as a model. You're saving your pics, music, etc onto your HDD, but is it on the same partition that's the cloned image of the SSD? If so, is that what you're backing up? It sounds like you're using your SSD strictly for program and system files.

My problem could due to the fact that Acronis to totally new to me; I think my problem falls in the category of backing up. I have a 128gb SSD and I'm keeping my system/program files on it. Obviously I don't want to clutter it with pics, music, etc, so I'll assign those to the HDD, but I'm keeping my important & work files on the SSD since it have enough memory and I like a quicker access to them. Just trying to figure out how to backup everything (work files on SSD and the pics, music, etc on the HDD) altogether. I'm not used to running a laptop with two drive. I'm from the old school of dumping everything on one drive and not backing it up.

 

There is no problem keeping the Recovery partition on the HDD, play it by your situation. For me, it has no use so it's gone. But keeping it on your HDD only doesn't seem like a bad idea. However keep in mind, that you will be reset back to square one. That is always why I just say get your SSD totally set (programs, files, etc), then take an Acronis image of it. This will act as your recovery, instead of going back to the fresh factory image without any of your tweaks. This can save you a bunch of time in a catastrophic failure.

For organization all I did was keep Programs, Documents, Music and Pictures on my SSD. The stuff that is bigger like Games, Movies, backups all go to the HDD. I like keeping my music and pics on my SSD since they aren't doing constant writes to the drive. Once they are there, that's it. Plus they access so much faster.

Think of it this way. If your HDD crashed completely, what would you be pissed about losing? For me, games and movies I could care less about. My music, pictures and documents DO matter to me and I'd be pissed if they disappeared. So I keep all those on the SSD and backup the image every week.

It is really up to you, prioritize what goes on the SSD by what is important to you. You don't need multiple partitions or anything like that to organize.

SSD
System_DRV
Main Partition (Documents, music, pics, programs, OS)

HDD
System_DRV
Main Partition (Clone of SSD without documents, music, pics... but with movies and games)
Recovery (Optional)

 

What are the odds of a HDD crashing? I don't know, I never had one crash on me, but had a couple of motherboards die out. I would be more pissed about losing an operational HDD than what was on it. It would be a pain to recreate everything, download music, etc. Mydigitaldiscount's Douglas Hare told me that the less stuff on a SSD, the better and more efficient it'll run. He recommends keeping program/system files on the mSATA SSD and data files (documents, pics, music) on the HDD.

I plan on this:
SSD
System_DRV
Main Partition (Business & Personal Business documents, programs, OS)

HDD
System_DRV
Main Partition (Clone of SSD) [acts as the 1st backup of the SSD]
Data Partition (music, pics, movies, big memory eaters)
Recovery (maybe someone will be impressed with my X230T & offer me double the market value for it)

Of course, I'll backup the SSD and the Data partition on my external HDD on a biweekly or as-needed basis. Developing a backup strategy is challenging for me, since I never backed up anything before. I guess I'll have to play around with it and see what works. Once I do that, then I canl figure out if it's worth getting Win 8 for $15...

 

Howdy

I just got my x230 and did a fresh install onto a msata drive.
Here's what I did. This was my first thinkpad, so I had some some noobish gotchas.

1) plugged in the msata drive.
There are clear instuctions on lenovo's site on how to do this.
First you remove the keyboard, then the palm rest.

2) Removed the 500 gig hard drive.

3) Make a windows 7 USB drive install onto a 4 gig USB stick.
3a) I followed: How To: Install Windows 7 from a USB Key! | Maximum PC
to the letter
3b) I already have a win7 home premium dvd, which I copied onto the stick.
3c) Download the network drivers, wireless drivers (if you want) and the thinkvantage software from lenovo's site.
Copy them onto the USB drive.


5) plug in the USB drive (Not into the 'always on' slot though). Boot into bios, set the USB stick and SSD drives bootable.
If the USB drive is in the 'always on' USB slot, it boots to USB immediately and doesn't give you a chance to go into the bios!

6) Boot onto the USB drive and install.
6a) note the windows 7 key is on the inside of the battery bay, so write it down before you start.
6b) There is a dumb install glitch where windows won't detect the USB drive.
if that happens go back to the main menu of the install, and insert the USB drive into another USB port.
install should re-detect the drive and work.
6c) What I personally did was split the SSD into two partitions - one 100G and one 156G.
I like to keep a 'pure' OS drive that has a (relatively) small image.
I use the other partition for pagefile/temp files/etc/etc.
I keep the sizes different so it's obvious which is when when I have to image them.

7) After install, install the network drivers.
Run the thinkvantage software to download the rest of the drivers/software that you want.

8) I couldn't figure out where/how the fingerprint software was installed.
I manually ran the setup program from the c: to get that going. (forgot where it is offhand, just did a search for fingerprint)

Then I plugged my hard disk back in. I plan on leaving everything on the hard drive for now unless I run out of space or something.
Can't hurt to have a second boot drive.

Quite happy - it's very snappy.

- Frank

 

Boxxer--In your OP you wrote-- "2. Go to All programs > Lenovo ThinkVantage > Tools > Factory Recovery Disks (should take 3 to 4 DVD's)"

I just got a Lenovo X230 (not the t version though), and I cannot find that option. Might that be because mine has Win8 on it? (Is yours Win7?)

On mine I see no app from Lenovo to create its manufacturer recovery disks. However, Windows 8 has its own app to create recovery media, and it asks you if you wish to include the manufacturer recovery partition on it. However, I am wondering if there is also something like you describe, and I just have not found it? Anyone know? If yes, where is the executable file for that app?

 

I'm running Windows 7 (I'm still debating if I should get Windows 8). Anyway, Lenovo ThinkVantage is Lenovo's software so basically I made recovery disks using Lenovo's software. Here's another pathway to Lenovo ThinkVantage Tools where you can then get to the Factory Recovery Disks, the path is Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers > THINKPAD > Lenovo ThinkVantage Tools

I don't know if there's any difference between using Microsoft's or Lenovo's software to make recovery disks. I used Lenovo, because I figured my X230T came from the Lenovo factory and I wanted to make Factory Recovery Disks...