X220 and Samsung 830 SSD

[motomandk]

Hi all

i have plans to get the Samsung 830 SSD (128GB) for my X220 - it seems like the best alternative for a 7mm drive, since neither OCZ MI or HyperX is availiable in 7mm height - and i will not risk my 3 years on-site warranty rebuilding any part of my laptop.

Does any of you have any experience with the Samsung 830 in a Lenovo laptop?

[pagroundhog]

Hello,

It appears that some SSDs may require a firmware update from Lenovo to function properly. See list here:  SSD Firmware Updates. Note that some Samsung drives are listed there. However, even if your drive is not listed, there is no guarantee that it will work on first install because I have seen Lenovo come out with firmware updates that contain additional drives (as they discover them I guess). I would strongly recommend that you ask the community for specific SSD drives they have installed successfully and take from there to avoid potential frustration after the fact.

Good luck!

[Platonio · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I have installed the Samsung 830 (128GB) SSD successfull in my X220.

It´s working very fast now

[orion9727]

i love it.

i done testing on ssd for a certin unamed company before sandforce hit the ground and i can say it the best built thing i ever seen.

it super thin but there talk of shims needed for a notebook model and they dont sell a nb in 64.

the desltop model worked fine.

holes for the disc worked fine dispite what i read in the review site that claimed you can do that and some silly clips are used.

the drive is a hard case of fine grade alum and it looks bulletproof.

the drive has some of the best speed out there most of all when you factor in the way sandforce dose things.

it comes with norton ghost and a sort of toolbox that has tweeks,garabage colection if you dont have trim(temp file clean)and over postion selection that called another name.plus you can ghost from inside the tool box and back up.

best software i seen.

i knew of this software before norton bought the company and a few drives used it.

i put mine in a brazos based B575 so it not running sata 3 500mb speed however it seems far better then the sandforce i had in there.

it also power light the main reason i bought it.

you will like this drive i promise.

sandforce i had no problems with like some but i found it twitchy in this latop,the samsung did not.

24 boot times 275/140 read write mind you this is a E-350 so it will stomp on a sandy bridge most as all as lenovo claims the sandys allow for full 6.0Gbs use.

it a steal at 130 when you factor in a the 75 doller norton ghost disc and another disc with the tool box plus a fine alum tray that will find a home in a desktop i am sure.

great drive you will jump for joy.

[orion9727]

that is vendor firmware for a FACTORY ssd.
samsung makes drives for sony,lenovo so on and none of them are resold anywhere.
install l that and you brick a aftermarket drive.
samsung has made special raid drives and most of there sales are vendor based and the enterprize market why there normally super expensive and not seen much.
they make great drives and i glad they released this 830 model as the 420 was kinda beaten out by the M4 class drives that uses the marvel chip that intel went with for it 5 series as well.
there is no firmware update to a 830 as of now and i dont expect one for a long time as most of the firmware has to do with slow writes on certin size files and hiber problems.
i would expect a drive this late would have none of these issues and most of the bricking in the sandforce ocz drives comes from firmware flashing.

[erik Community SuperMod]

orion9727 is correct.   the SSD firmware that pagroundhog mentions above is ONLY for SSDs sold by lenovo or included with lenovo systems already flashed with lenovo-specific firmware.   these updaters won't run on retail SSDs and are designed to reject drives with non-lenovo firmware.

there are no restrictions in using aftermarket SSDs in lenovo systems so long as the drives are electrically and physically compatible.   the samsung 830 should have no problem running in thinkpads.

in short, lenovo might tweak SSD and HDD firmware for their specific systems but lenovo firmwares are not required for compatibility.

[pagroundhog]

---

erik wrote:

orion9727 is correct.   the SSD firmware that pagroundhog mentions above is ONLY for SSDs sold by lenovo or included with lenovo systems already flashed with lenovo-specific firmware.   these updaters won't run on retail SSDs and are designed to reject drives with non-lenovo firmware.

there are no restrictions in using aftermarket SSDs in lenovo systems so long as the drives are electrically and physically compatible.   the samsung 830 should have no problem running in thinkpads.

in short, lenovo might tweak SSD and HDD firmware for their specific systems but lenovo firmwares are not required for compatibility.

---

Thanks for the information; however, I would take a peek at this thread to see how this guy fixed his problem by applying a Lenovo firmware update to his "new" HDD: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T61-and-prior-T-series-ThinkPad/T60-HDD-problem-ERROR-CODE-2100/m-p/5768...

[erik Community SuperMod]

flashing that firmware might have fixed something else.   there's nothing in the T60/T60p BIOS restricting HDDs.   there are hundreds of thousands out there with aftermarket HDDs/SSDs.

besides, one case does not make a pattern.   i stand behind my statement above.

[pagroundhog]

Thank you again for responding!

[orion9727]

word to the wise......dont flash if it works fine.
exception to the rule is a m4 going to the 1009 that makes a huge difference.
flashing can brick a drive.
same as it brick a bios.
you might wanna let that sink in for a sec.
brick a drive well you have a paper weight.
brick a bios you have a doorstop.
most of the ocz forum is filled with bluesceen this drive s that.
most i belive to be the non stop firms and guys looking for something for nothing.
doing firms and then benches just burn out the drives.
i flashed a sandforce ms g2 (adata) and i lost my temp reading.
by the way i am just loving this samsung alot.
i seenalot of ssd trust me i have 120 in my ps3 that said to be the fastest barefoot ever made (not sold in the usa) i got for some work i did on them.
i seen alot of issues too but only one i ever had was no surport on ati chipset.
i think most of all the main problems with ssd come from inproper setup and run to grab the latest firm thinking you getting a freebie.
most of the 2 year old ssd that cost huge money then got smoked on over firms and benches and reintalls over and over till they just went pop.
years ago it was chipset drivers.
everyone though chipset drivers was a solve all to everything.
tey make a big mess in the os with non stop updating.
then was bios happy day and on a notebook it game over.
a desktop you can atleast reuse most of everything.
i hope people really think why i wrote this and that to warn you buyer beware on all that.
if it works fine make sure you update it till it dont...lol joke.
guys post some states on the 830 and boot times.
i am on brazos on a B575 so mine wont be priime i boot 24-27 280 reads.it dont seem slow at all.