CF-52 and SSD

I want a SSD drive in my 52, has anybody experience with the Intel 330 and 520 series SSD ?

 

I use the Intel X25 and the 320 in all my Toughbooks (CF-19, 30, 52 and 53) . They work great...open and closes programs fast...boot time 32-36 seconds .

 

I see that the 330 - 520 are Sata III and the X25 is Sata II.
Will Sata III work in a CF-52 ?
I can get a 520 (120 Gb) for about 130 $.

 

Someone on here was talking about that and said that it would work.

 

Found it, thanks

 

I have a 256GB Samsung 830 SATA3 in my CF-52 MK2. It is really fast and required no setup. Actually, I cloned it in my CF-30 MK3 with the CF-30 Win7 restore disk and it required no adjustment to run perfectly in the CF-52. I was a little concerned by some stuff I read on Blair's favorite SSD review site but no worries, it works fine.
CAP

 

Thanks Cap.
I think i will buy the Intel 520 as it is a good price, and shipment will be fast (i am located in Belgium, and the seller is German, so no custom duty´s)

 

Good choice, I've got a 320 and a 830, both are good performers. I aso have 3 OZC's and one of them failed right out of the box, replacement has never been fine either.

 

Be aware of ONE THING! I learned the hard way!

I had a 256GB Crucial in my C1 (I went back to a normal 7200 RPM, 320GB spinning drive at this point)., and it failed because TRIM wasn't working correctly because I didn't have the latest Intel SATA drivers! I had 10.1, when 10.8 is out. Without TRIM, you are relying on Garbage collection alone and it simply isn't enough!

I was able to recover my data, but I had to reload the entire damn system! GAH!

I'm not sure if I'll go back to my 256GB SSD drive or not at this point. As it stands now, my C1 is blue-screening randomly with the brand new drive in there! Rather frustrating!

 

I just ordered a Intel 330 series 180GB from newegg.ca and for some strange reason it was cheaper in Canada Newegg.ca - Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT180A3K5 2.5" 180GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

The 330 180Gb cost about 160 euro here, that is about 200 $

 

Nice prices...

Questions regarding over-provisioning....are you guy's going with the manufacturers recommendations or additional or less?

If you are going with the recommended OP....what is it for YOUR particular model?

If you are going for additional OP....how much?

If you are going for less OP....how much?

And finally....are we calling "it" over-provisioning....overprovisioning or....OP?....

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, OP is provided for by the manufacturer?! A 128Gb SSD might easily hold 140Gb for that reason.
That being said, I have a 600Gb drive and use around 300Gb maximum.

 

Little typo ?

 

The prices on Intel & Samsung are looking a lot better than they have in the past, & I'm sure most people who are upgrading to SSD will want a reliability similar to the Toughbook 0.6% failure rate ....so I'm asking before I buy. :thumbsup:

EDIT:

Yes Alecgold....I've checked & it appears I have asked the wrong question.

Taking the Nand size in "GiB" & converting it into available "GB" gives an unavailable area of around 7% of total capacity.

On Samsung drives the Magician software is recommending an additional Manual OP that other manufacturers are not suggesting or using....so, my question should have been related to the use of, or recommendations for Manual OP.

Revised Question:

When installing a lovely new Intel 520 (or any other SSD) what are the benefits of "Manually Over-provisioning" additional space for maintenance & wear levelling?

 

Any idea how i can be sure the drive uses ahci instead of ide?
There is no way to change it in bios, and i don´t know where to check it.

 

No, not a typo. There is more space inside a disk than is advertised. this extra space is used to "replace" blocks that are malfunctioning during regular use. This way the disk can last much longer.

If the controller is any good, it wil try to level the wear to each block as much as possible. So each block is used equaly. So if you use about half the space of a drive, it will last much, much, much longer. Not just twice as long, because much of the data you have is just sitting there and seldome moved. E.g. so if you write daily 1Gb, having just 10Gb of free space, on a 250Gb, your drive will have had every free block rewritten every 10 days.
If you have a 500Gb drive you'll have 260Gb free and it will take 260 days to write them all once. That a factor 26 more life from a drive that is just twice as big. The price will be three or four times as high btw...

There are a lot more if's then's and's or's, and I know I simplified it, but that's the big picture.
When you do want to know everything about SSD's try Anandtech, they do a lot of their own testing and finding out stuff about HDD's and SSD's. Also ArsTechnica recently had a very good in depth article about SSD's, their strengths and their weakness.

IMHO opinion, there are a few points that are important when it comes to SSD's.
1 turn of superfetch and the likes.
2 turn on TRIM
3 try to buy a drive that is as big as your budget is allowing you
4 buy a reliable drive from a good manufacturer. Even that isn't a guarantee nothing will go wrong, but I've read so much horror stories about Sandforce controlers... Then again also Intel has had it share of (firmware) trouble.
5. if the budget isn't big enough or you need lots of space, think about two drives (one SSD for the OS and programs and one huge HDD) or think about a hybrid drive.

That all being said, most home-users will not wear a drive out within the 3-4 years most laptops last. And I've replace a lot of HDD's in laptops because they failed. Shocks are a real killer for HDD's.

 

Check it in the device manager.

 

Mine is like in the picture
I tried to upgrade, but it says i have already the best driver

 

(u can change that with the APTIO-BIOS Tools)

 

Can you give some more explanation please

 

I have a CF-19 mk5, but I think the 52 is about the same.
If you reboot your computer, press F2 to go into the bios.
the go to the advanced tab and the line that says HDD can say AHCI. That enables it.
Save on exit, let it reboot and you'll have the AHCI.

 

There is no hdd line in the advanced tap of the bios of my CF-52

 

hmmm.

ROB, WHERE ARE YOU? don't you have a 52 laying around? Or DB04p71, or Orange_George, or..

 

My CF-52D Mk. 1 has a 500Gb Hitachi 7200 rpm, info page of bios says SATA AHCI, no way to change HDD in advanced page. Running W7 x64 very well.
I've an Intel 320 SSD in a CF-19C Mk.1 which cloned easily using Intel-provided version of Acronis and works well with W7 x86. Intel's SSD optimiser software was installed by default and it says everything's fine whenever I check it.
I just trust that it knows best...

 

I know after I put my SSD in my 52 and then went into the BIOS it showed my HDD as... 160gb (AHCI)
You should check out the setup guide at the link in my sig...these guys know SSD's inside and out.

 

You need AHCI to be able to use Native Command Queing....not something those with a CF-29 need ever worry about because it Ain't Happening.

I don't have a CF-52 but it should be supported in the Bios....or you will need a Panasonic driver....that's the F6 load a Raid driver prompt when installing the OS.

Whats the model number & the Bios version & OS.


Edit 1: Your CF-52 post contained a link to the seller....the listing say's a MK2 with XP Pro, so you will need the ahci.exe from a Panny driver site for a MK2 running XP.

Edit 2: The CF-52 puts you in the "Power User" Toughbook segment....check Alecgolds post, you've got a good unit, you may want to look for a Bios update & Win 7.

 

My bios says 180 gb (compatible)
I used the setup guide, and did the most of the recommendations
It is that damn bios, and there is no upgrade that i can find

Model number is CF-52GDN30AG
Bios V2.50L18 M18
contr. V2.00L14 M11

OS Win7 32bit

 

never mind......

 

I am a member of Toughbook Talk,

 

I missed the bottom of page 2....so you've got Win 7 installed in IDE mode, you need to choose AHCI when installing.

Are you saying you have used Win 7 setup & the Bios is forcing IDE mode with no option for AHCI??.

 

I have installed W7 in about 8 Toughbooks and not once was I asked to choose AHCI...at least I don't remember it did.

Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

yep it does

 

My CF-52GFBRAM shows in BIOS: Hard Drive 256GB (SATA-ACHI), Bios: V2.52L13, there is no hard drive option in the advanced tab. In Device Manager: INTEL ICH9M/M-E Family 4 Port SATA ACHI Controller-2929. Unfortunately, this particular SSD was loaded with Win7 32bit in my CF-30 with an Acronis cloned copy of the CF-30 image which was loaded with the Panasonic Win7 restore disk. If I was asked about an ACHI option when I initially loaded the OS on the CF-30 I would have chosen it as I had been reading Blair's SSD review site. I don't remember, maybe the restore disk did it automatically. Maybe you should send me a PM and we can think of a solution.
CAP

 

That's because your Bios defaults to AHCI unlike the Bios that defaults to IDE mode, so the XP method is not looking like an option in Win 7.

A reason why you would want to force IDE mode is....IDE does not support NCQ, some of the Sata drives have a problem with NCQ in the same way the later HM160HC drives have a problem with CF-29's, no toggle between the two in the Bios is a PITA.

So, Registry String it is then....

Sounds like onirakiss & CAP know the score.

 

Shure it is the bios as you see mine says V2.50L18, and cap´s said V2.52L13
Looks like i have a cf-50 bios
Damn thing is you can´t find any bios update on the panny sites
Btw, i did not see any option for ahci when i installed a fresh copy of Win7 on my machine
also tried to load the ahci driver from the panny site, but it says it is not supported (something like your machine is to old)
Would it be safe to load a copy from a CF-52GFBRAM bios to a CF-52GDN30AG ?

Or i go the route onirakiss suggested.

 

Your Bios...."M18" & Embedded Controller "M11" are "Funky" in that they default to different values compared to a standard Bios.

I'm assuming that you are using Win7 Retail or OEM & NOT Panasonic OEM disks?

It's ironic that some people are having random freezes using a Sata HDD & are looking for the solution to force IDE mode, I'm thinking the same thing as CAP....if you know what I mean.

Try looking at the Micro$haft support site & we can compare notes later.

I'm not sure what the onirakiss route is....that's what a Secret Society is all about.

 

Problem solved, HDD is in AHCI mode now
Can´t discuss the method here.
Anyway, to all the members that helped me, a big thanks :thumbsup:

 

Glad you got it up and running

 

Hi Everybody,

Actually there is solution, but still I can't get the option to set the BIOS in AHCI. I'll be very happy if some one who knows how to do that share the information.

 

Welcome to the Panasonic Toughbook Forum

I have lost track since this thread was started 2 years ago how many 52's I have loaded W7 with SSD's and this problem never came up. I am not sure what the others did but if it's hacking the BIOS then that is something we really have to stay away from on this forum...sorry.
Did you have a problem installing W7 or a SSD in your 52 ??

 

I think you have to do a minor bios flash to change that....You need to find the flash file though..Panasonic did issue it at one time..
Contact them, You may get lucky and they will send it to you....

Panasonic UK did for someone a while back..

 

Thanks for your responses.

Actually there is no issue with installation of Win7 or any other OS. The problem is that I cannot switch from IDE. I try several things also finally install linux as advised that linux did not care what is specified in BIOS but without success. The controller still work in IDE mode which is very bad for live of SSD. I read carefully documentation about this controller and saw that support AHCI which is very strange not to have option to switch it.

@ Shawn
I got your suggestion and I wrote message to Panasonic UK, also I wrote message to Panasonic BG but i am sure that from Bulgaria I cannot receive any assistance because !? it is difficult to describe. Let see if UK will get me seriously and assist me to solve my issue.

Thank you one more time and if somebody remember, because I understand that this discussion is too old, how can be solved this case I'll be very happy.

 

What is the full model number of your CF 52?..

After 5 posts you can send and receive PM's......

 

It is CF-52GDN30AG may be the first release of CF-52 MK2

 

It looks that denrosten has solved the issue two years ago but there is no info haw he can do that.

Still no answer from any of requested Panasonic offices.

 

As I wrote before, use the Aptio-BIOS-Tools to adjust the hidden features in the BIOS. Can't talk more about this, cause Panasonic dont want it. But u will find enough info in the net. It is similar to other boards. But be careful, what u do, or make ur own pretty brick.

 

Hi just to tell that I didn't succeed. I read a lot of information but all of them is not refer to my issue.
Finally I tried to capture the bios using "onirakkiss" advice, also try to modify some values on it referring with SATA Configuration but nothing. All the time when trying to install, boot or whatever Windows or Linux the controller reports that is in pii or Standard IDE mode.
It looks that it is not so simple for me or this version of HW this functionality to be enabled.
So please I need really help. Please if someone knows how this can be done I'll be very happy.
Thank you in advance.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you install an OS in AHCI mode you can't flip flop between the 2. This is coming from my memory bank so I might be wrong. It was possible to do this with the RC but not with the retail version. What OS disc are you using?

 

Toyo,
You are correct....I found this on the net..
It seems that you have to do the regitry hack first, then flash the BIOS to AHCI, then reboot.

A little guide:

I am receiving a lot of emails from users who bought a SSD drive, installed Windows 7 in IDE mode and then realize they need AHCI mode for faster SSD performance. Once you enable that in the BIOS during Windows 7 boot up, the OS will crash.

The common question is, is there a solve for this ?

To answer that question (and I do this safely with all Intel ICHR9/10 chipsets) there is a way to safely enable AHCI mode. Here we go:

1. Startup "Regedit
2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlset / Services
3. Open msahci
4. In the right field left click on "start" and go to Modify
5. In the value Data field enter "0" and click "ok"
6. exit "Regedit"
7. Reboot Rig and enter BIOS (hold "Delete" key while Booting

In your BIOS select "Integrated Peripherals" and OnChip PATA/SATA Devices. Now change SATA Mode to AHCI from IDE.

You now boot into windows 7, the OS will recognize AHCI and install the devices. Now the system needs one more reboot and voilla .. enjoy the improved SSD performance.

We have not tested this on Vista though.

Update -- we tested and this tweak works in Vista 100% the same.