ThinkPad X220 hard drive upgrade SSD and HDD spacers and rails

[#1]

Question

I have a question about hard drive replacement on the Lenovo X220. I am thinking of buying one this summer, but I'd like to know beforehand what is required to upgrade the hard drive, as I may potentially want to equip it with a SSD in at some point. The Lenovo support site explains that "rubber rails on the hard disk drive or spacers on the solid state drive must be attached to the replacement drive. Otherwise the drive cannot be installed properly."

So if I were to buy a Thinkpad with a standard hard disk drive and then decide to replace it with a solid state drive, would spacers be already supplied with the laptop or would I have to purchase some?

Answer

With some exceptions, you can generally transfer over the mounting sled and two rubber shock mounts from the factory HDD to a replacement or upgrade drive of the same physical dimension that you purchase.

The sheet metal tray is attached to the existing drive with 4 small screws.  Simply remove these and transfer the metal sled to your new drive, then slip on the rubber mounts.  Be sure to orient the drive on the metal sled correctly .  

Drives installed without the rubber boots may not be properly and firmly located in the drive bay with the result of intermittant connections, data errors, and possible damage to the drive itself (especially with rotating media drives).   The rubber rails will not fit properly on the drive without first installing the metal sled.

[#2]

I have an X220, model is 4291-2xu

I want to replace the hard drive BUT every drive i try is too "fat".

I tried to use a Seagate Momentus Hybrid drive, it is 9.5mm thick, but it is just a smidgeon too thick to slide into the bay.

What drives are able to slide in to this bay? Lenovo tech support says it is 9.5mm, but it seems thinner, maybe 7mm ?

DOes anyone have knowledge of a specific 9.5mm drive that actually fits?

[#3]

You're right Jeff, it's 7mm. I think only Intel does 7mm SSD, but there are some drives that you can modify. Google X220 7mm ssd and you'll get plenty of results.