X301 SSD Replacement - what works? Please suggest.

Guys,
I found a couple of very old threads on that topic but I felt it is useless to post there, as the previous information is no longer applicable.

I have a nice X301 of a friend of mine that requires a larger hard drive (SSD). Unfortunately it is a 1.8" and again unfortunately - I read there are compatibility issues as well!!

Could someone recommend a drive thats works without a doubt?? I wouldn't be so afraid to buy, test and return if no good, but since it is not for me and will probably not be me doing it - I need to make a confident choice....

 

Intel x-18's and 1.8" 320's work fine.

 

There are really no compatibility issues that I'm aware of.

I've got Intel 320 series and Micron P400e. Both work fine.

Another path that you could possibly take is getting a mSATA to 1.8" adapter and installing an mSATA SSD, which would give you access to a bunch of SSDs that were never available in the 1.8" format.

 

But that it will be an external drive I imagine...?

Which direct replacement drive would you recommend for the upgrade of the OEM SSD of the X301?

The choice is actually not big - the 320 are no longer available here.
Would the Intel S3500 Series 1.8" SSD (240GB) do?

 

No. Both of these were available as 1.8" drives.

See above...you can still find NOS Micron drives on feebay, BTW

Sure but that's one heck of an expensive choice...

 

External drive? An mSATA drive is smaller than a 1.8" one, so with the adapter I think it'll fit just fine.

 

I believe they were selling modular hard drive caddies on eBay allowing one to replace the optical drive with a 7mm hard drive, which go up to 1TB in size. I have this drive in my Dell. It's not the fastest performer, but speed isn't as critical for storage.

 

Optical bay caddy will not solve the problem as the primary drive is still too small to allow OS, mail and so on without moving essential things to a secondary drive. I have a caddy on my Vaio as well but in addition to e reasonably sized SSD as a primary disk.
In this case, this solution is no good. I want to have the main drive replaced.


Sure but that's one heck of an expensive choice...[/QUOTE]

Seems to be the only 1.8" choice (well different capacities available) here. I need it asap so it needs to be purchased from the country and delivered soon.

OK, I just also found this one:
Kingston KC380 1.8 inch 240GB SATA 3

Are you guys sure there are no compatibility problems? When I googled I found several threads and complains....

 

Skip it, sheer junk.

You'll find such threads for just about every ThinkPad. Don't worry about it.

 

So are you guys positive I could use e.g. a combination of those two on the X301?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT4...UTF8&qid=1421247023&sr=8-7&keywords=mSATA+ssd

Mini PCIe mSATA to 1.8 MicroSATA adapter: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

You could, but that's a TON of money to dump into such an old system...seriously. As nice as X301 may be, it's based on an outdated platform nowadays.

That mSATA SSD + adapter come to more than a base X301 machine is worth in today's market...

My $0.02 only...

 

Well... the idea is to upgrade the drive to 200+ GB and continue using the laptop for office tasks (for which it is more than sufficient)...
I am open for suggestions for a different combination/drive (please use amazon.co.uk as source)

 

If you must buy from there I guess I can't really enlighten you in this respect...

Good luck.

 

There are literally millions of options and compatible SSD's available:

Crucial C300 1,8" (64GB, 128GB & 256GB)
Crucial C400 1,8" (64GB, 128GB, 256GB & 512GB)
Intel 320 1.8" (80GB, 160GB & 300GB)
Intel DC S3500 1,8" (80GB, 240GB, 400GB, 800GB)
Intel DC S3700 1,8" (200GB, 400GB)
Intel X18-M G1 & G2 (80GB & 160GB)
Kingston SSDNow KC380 (60GB, 120GB)
Kingston SSDNow V+ 180 (64GB, 128GB, 256GB)
OCZ Vertex 2 1,8" (40GB, 60GB, 90GB, 120GB, 180GB & 240GB)
OWC Aura Pro (240GB, 480GB)
OCZ Deneva 2 C 1,8" (80GB, 180GB, 360GB)
Micron C400v (64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB)
Micron P400e (50GB, 100GB, 200GB, 400GB)
Transcend SSD18S (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB)
IBM SG9XCS1F (50GB, 200GB)
Mushkin Chronos Go Deluxe (60GB, 90GB, 120GB, 180GB, 240GB, 480GB)
Toshiba THNS128GG4BAAA (128GB)
KingSpec SSD mSPK-SF12 (4GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB)
Mach Xtreme Technology MXSSD2MMSK (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB)
Super Talent Master Drive KX3 (32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB)

Choose one and look for it on eBay. You'll hardly find any good 1.8" SSD on Amazon.

Personally, I can recommend the Crucial C300 and Micron P400e. I have both, and they are both very fast and reliable.

 

Guys... where do you find all of those old, old models nowadays!?
I checked on ebay.co.uk for Crucial C300, Crucial C400, Micron P400 - only second hand drives on sale! And I definitely am not buying second hand.
I am not from the UK but that is one option since there is (supposed to be) a better choice.

I appreciate your help!!

 

I bought my C300 and P400e new. My C300 was from China, my P400e from Germany.

For example, I got something like this: Micron P400E Vanilla 64GB SSD SATA 1.8 Zoll | eBay

That's really cheap IMO. Only half of the SSD's I mentioned are old. The Intel DC S3500 is pretty recent, as is the Mushkin. I'd consider the Crucial 4 series quite recent as well.

Or if you need a bigger P400e: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-Micro-S...?pt=US_Solid_State_Drives&hash=item339bca418a

This 128GB C300 is new and very decently priced as well:

Crucial Micron Realssd C300 1 8"128GB SATA3 MTFDDAA128MAG Solid State Drive New | eBay

I don't know if you've been checking the same eBay as me, but I hardly find any used models, only new ones.

If you have too much money, you can of course also get even bigger capacities: Crucial Micron M4 C400 512GB SSD 1 8 inch MTFDDAA512MAM 1K2 6GB s SEALED New 649528752208 | eBay

Though I'd argue that's quite reasonable for 512GB. You just need to know how to search properly for these sort of things. You'd be surprised what you can find.

 

"Item location:
Redlands, California, United States"
"Item Location:
Austin, Texas, United States" - How useful!
Europe here guys.

I need to buy something asap and 60 GB is what the X301 has already and is too small! As I said - minimum 200GB is the aim, less is a no-go. Preferably 240 or 320. Money is not the leading factor - the machine needs to be brought back to live, not gonna wait for a hard drive from across the ocean as if we ran out of drives here in Europe

Will look again, but really having a hard time finding any of those models except the few newer ones.

 

A lot of feebay sellers - including the one from Austin, TX - will ship worldwide. There's no reason to get sarcastic with the people who are trying to help you.

Well, a week isn't really all that long if you're getting a significantly better deal and/or better choices. Yes, it *can* be there in a week, and no it doesn't cost a fortune.

Your X301, your money, your call.

Good luck.