mSata SSD in X1? And question regarding Windows reinstallation w/o optical drive

I was curious if mSata SSD can be installed in the PCI slot in the X1.
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x1_ug_en.pdf
The manual gives the instructions, but I wanted to double check.

Also, if I want to perform a fresh installation of Windows, how do I go about doing so with the X1 that does not have an optical drive? Making a bootable USB drive may work, but how do I install the drivers(i.e., where do I load the driver files if the freshly-renewed Windows cannot recognize USB thumbdrives? or can they?)

Thanks!

 

Windows can't reasonably be installed by means other than through an optical drive. You'll spend hours and hours trying to find a clear way to run it some other way, while you could just go out and buy a $30 external DVD burner. And Windows will recognize USB 2.0 in a fresh install (and sometimes it recognizes other built-in devices).

 

Drivers are at Lenovo Support - ThinkPad X1 support

You can make a bootable USB stick with the Windows 7 setup program and bits, but unless you never use CD or DVD media, buying an external drive is a smart move.

Once you have the external DVD drive, the first thing you should do is create the factory recovery disk set. You can use that to reinstall to the mSATA drive.

 

I can't comment on the X1. But it's easy to install Windows7 via USB stick.

Instructions on how to install windows7 via USB thumbstick.
Requires:
(1) that you have a second computer to read the disk and transfer its contents to
(2) a USB stick at least 4GB
Installing Windows 7 using usb thumb drive - AVIRAJ AJGEKAR'S BLOG... - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Freshly installed windows7 will be able to recognize the USB no problem.
I'd recommend running win7 updates before installing the thinkpad drivers, as some drivers my require an update be installed. This is just my opinion though, I have no facts to back it up.

Do you have a Windows7 disk?

 

To answer your question... on page 83 of the owners manual for the X1 you'll see instructions for installing the mSATA drive. This is the only slot in which the drive can be installed because although it has a mPCIe connector, it is SATA electrically. The same constraints exist as on other Lenovo Sandy Bridge laptops: you either get WWAN or mSATA not both.

Regarding Windows 7 installs without an optical drive... it's very easy to do. Follow the guides above on how to create a bootable USB stick with a copy of the Windows install files. Also copy the SWTOOLS directory from your X1 and download all the new drivers from the Lenovo website. Finally, there is no official clean install guide on the Lenovo site for the X1 (that I could find) so save a copy of the W520 guide for good measure. Follow the steps as they should be similar. Good luck!