Y500 Drivers

So I'm getting my Y500 tomorrow and will be installing a 256GB msata ssd into it immediately.

I have Windows 8 on a USB as well as a key, my question is if there are drivers on the original HDD I can pull?

 

This is a good question. I need this answer, too. Which mSATA SSD do you have? Just wondering..

 

go to Lenovo's support website for the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500. You'll find all the drivers you need there.

 

The Crucial 256GB M4 mSATA ssd

alright ~_~

 

Including the 1 click recovery button, always on usb, etc?

 

+ All the drivers are saved in a partition on the hard drive (those drivers are updated and the same as the ones on Lenovo website).

 

Oh wow. So if I install windows on an SSD can I just point it to that partition?

 

The drivers are on a partition called "LENOVO" so its easy to find. What I would do is take out the Hard Drive. Install the mSATA, keep the hard drive out. Install Windows. Put the hard drive back in. Open the LENOVO drive and open the "drivers" folder. Then just go in each folder and install the drivers. Some you might not care about like Lenovo Theater or whatever that is. Also after I installed those drivers I went and got newer Intel Rapid Storage and Synaptics drivers.

 

Is thre a benefit to removing the Hard Drive while installing windows? I was hoping to only have to open this thing once :S

 

From what I have read Windows 8 will create some small partitions. If the hard drive is installed with the mSATA during install I think others have said its possible that windows 8 can create a partition on the hard drive even though you are installing to the mSATA. While I replaced the hard drive with an SSD I still had the 16GB mSATA, so I took it out while I installed. I just loosely snaped the bottom back on, did the install, pulled the bottom off and put the 16 GB ssd back in. So you don't really need to snap it back on and screw it back when doing the install if you want to get back in.

 

It makes sense what Character Zero tells you to do. Unfortunately the new bioses do not include a option to enable or disable each drive from your system and your only option is to actually remove the drive from the system to avoid any complications. For your future use, you could also save those drivers on a USB stick and have it installed from it.

 

Ah, thanks for the tip.

So right now the process will be:
1) Receive Y500
2) Open up, remove 1TB HDD
3) Install mSATA
4) Loosely close the back lid, install win8
5) Reopen, put in 1TB HDD
6) Point to drivers and install

right?

 

There is no need of removing and reinserting 1tb hdd. Directly u can install win8 to msata ssd. Since it will be shown ssd as ur primary drive
There is no point of removing hdd. If u r going to install os on ssd
if ur ssd is small(16gis) and planning to install os on hdd and ssd for cache then u need to remove ssd for avoiding automatic partition creation(350mb) for system boot files on ssd

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

It's a 256GB msata SSD, but people stated windows 8 might create partitions on the 1TB HDD if I dont remove it?

 

Thats is what I have read. It is kind of just a precaution, just in case. I will warn you, the bottom is not fun to get off, I have the Y400 but I am sure the Y500 is the same as far as the tabs and stuff.

See this post for detailed information of using the mSATA as the boot drive:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ide...0-owners-questions-thread-14.html#post9175184

 

In general, yes. You are spot-on.

I made a post in a similar thread ( link) with a bit more detail on what I went through when I wanted to get a clean Windows 7/8install onto the Lenovo Y500. This particular write-up was for a 256GB 2.5" SATA SSD, but they are still relevant for an mSATA SSD as well. The only difference is which drive you disconnect prior to the Windows 7/8 installation process.

In general, it is always good-practice to remove disconnect all other drives (or disable in BIOS if available) when performing a Windows 7/8 installation.

Yes, you will find situations when this is an unnecessary extra step. But you're spending 10 minutes of extra time to disconnect / re-connect drives, to potentially avoid the trouble of going through a 35-minute install process, potentially run into a problem, and potentially have to go through the same 35-minute install process again.

If you reformat enough machines with enough different configurations, you just learn to automatically disconnect the unnecessary drives to save yourself potential headache.

 

By the way, how did you guys get the bottom off? I followed along the video tutorial on YT but after unscrew all the screws I had no luck on getting the bottom off. I was afraid to break it if I force it.

 

The bottom panel works like any plastic panel on an electronics device. It is held in place with plastic tabs, even after you remove the screws.

Just keep gently applying pressure to the panel, and gently pry it off. If it's not prying open, then you need to apply more force. You're not going to break anything.

In the absolute worst-case scenario, you accidentally snap a plastic tab off. Even then, it's not a big deal, since the laptop panel is secured using screws, and you are most likely never going to remove that bottom panel again after you do it once.

 

I did it!

Yeah I removed the 1TB while installing windows and put it back in after install. Got all the drivers from the partition too. Man, this laptop is really great, I really love this keyboard!