Experiences with T420, mSata and 8GB SODIMM module [ Edited ]

[ktt]

There are quite much of questions in different forums, how mSata (or SSD in general) can be connected to T420. There are also questions about whether it is possible to use 8GB memory modules. I decided to write about my own experiences here so it might help others.

Here is a short wrap-up: Yes, it is possible to connect mSata into T420. Yes, it is possible to install SW into mSata SSD using recovery disks - the installation just takes very long time. Yes, it is possible to install 8GB module into T420 and it works. Yes, it is possible to remove the recovery partition and take almost all SSD space for daily usage - use Linux Live CD and parted for this.

I have T420 with i5 processor. I bought it on May or June 2011 and on that time, SSDs were awfully expensive, so I bought a model with 4GB RAM and 500 GB hard drive. The computer has also built-in Ericsson's 3G modem.

First about memory: technical documentation says that T420 supports 2x4GB modules. According to random bits of information in forums, 8GB would actually be supported so I bought one 8GB module. I installed it into free memory slot and it was right away recogniced by Windows. So conclusion - there is no problem having memory configuration of 1x4GB + 1x8GB modules in system.

Then to SSD. My reasons for SSD were to get system start-up time to be more reasonable (nowadays it is about 2 minutes 30 seconds), to get programs starting faster and possibly to get battery usage time longer.

There were three main options:

1) replacing the hard drive with plain SSD drive. This would have offered the best performance in both speed and battery usage, but it would have been very expensive to get similar capasity as I currently have (500 GB).

2) replacing the hard drive with hybdrid drive having small SSD cache and traditional drive. Seagate Momentus XT 750GB model was my main candidate here, it has 8GB of SSD as cache. Pros would be added capasity and reduced system startup time, also the price is rather reasonable. Cons would be that the mechanical hard drive would anyway spin all the time. Also the availability was not so good on this particular moment.

3) keeping the existing 500GB hard drive and replacing 3G modem with mSata SSD drive. Here my main candidate was Crucial m4 128GB drive. There would be a separate SSD "system partition" where Windows, applications and everyday user's documents are stored. The existing 500GB drive would be left as media storage.

Pros would be almost as good speed and battery performance as in plain SSD drive, plus keeping the existing large HDD as media storage. Also the price is rather reasonable. Cons are that the performance is anyway not as good as with plain SSD drive, and I would need to loose the existing internal 3G modem.

After pondering with options, I went for option 3 i.e. replacing the 3G modem with mSata SSD drive. Reasons for this were:

- Price and availability. The Crucial m4 128GB drive was available in local computer shop with price of 97 euros.

- Media space. I do have quite a large music collection and it would have eaten rather large part of the SSD capasity. Now as I have the 500GB HDD as "media drive", I can copy only the ones I currently listen to my iTunes directory and keep the rest in media drive.

- I have had quite much trouble with the internal 3G modem. It has very good performance when it works (the radio performance is better than my in handheld phone), but every now and then, the modem just stopped working and I had to reboot the computer. Sometimes even rebooting the computer did not help. So often I ended up using my handheld phone as WLAN hotspot.

Then to the installation. It was painless to replace the internal 3G modem with the mSata drive. Only thing which needed some consideration was how to properly store ends of antenna cables. I took a small piece of antistatic bag and put those ends inside the bag, now they don't cause any trouble.

I had read from forums, that when SSD is installed, one needs to first take away existing HDD and then make the install with recovery disks. This was the way I went forward.

In short: the installation of software to SSD using recovery disks is possible, but it takes a long time. One must not loose nerves.

My first installation attempt did not succeed as I lost my nerves during the recovery disk 4. The installation seemed to have hanged on almost of end of disk 4. There was text on display: "processing cdrivebackup.swm" and the display was like this for very long time, more than 45 minutes. There were many similar cases on various forums and people claimed they had just ordered new recovery disks. In fact, I also started to order new recovery disks.

While I was ordering those disks (using different computer), I had taken the recovery disk 4 away from DVD drive. I had called local Lenovo support and asked how new recovery disks are ordered. My surprise was big when during writing of recovery disk order form, the seemed-to-be-frozen installation continued! As I had taken the disk 4 away before I had been given permission, I decided to start the installation again from scratch.

My second installation attempt succeeded as I let the disk 4 to take its time. On this attempt, time usage was as follows:

Moment 0 - boot of computer with goot disk

2 minutes - recovery disk 1

14 minutes - recovery disk 2

23 minutes - recovery disk 3

33 minutes - recovery disk 4

1 hour 26 minutes - installation finished

After this installation, my T420 had fully working system. The 128GB drive was partitioned as follows: small ~2GB partition for boot, ~100 GB partition for payload and ~16 GB partition for recovery. Now I decided that I don't need the recovery partition as if necessary, I can do recovery activities myself with Linux live CD.

Using Linux live CD and parted, I erased both boot and recovery partitions and extended the payload partition to contain the whole disk. The system did not start any more. No problem, I just made the installation once again.

This time, time usage per disk was slightly different:

Moment 0 - boot of computer with goot disk

3 minutes - recovery disk 1

14 minutes - recovery disk 2

23 minutes - recovery disk 3

33 minutes - recovery disk 4

59 minutes - installation finished

Notice that on this installation attempt, recovery disk 4 took only 26 minutes as in the previous attempt it took 56 minutes. I don't know the reason for this, but anyway, it works.

So, after the third installation, the system was again working. This time I removed just the recovery partition and extended payload partition to its space. After rebooting system back to Windows, it started well and it noticed that there was something wrong with the C drive as it wanted to make checkdisk. It went through with no errors. So after this, I had the mSata drive configured to contain only the small boot partition, and rest of drive for payload.

The system startup time (from pressing the power key, to the moment when Windows desktop is visible and cursor is permanently arrow) is now appx 30 seconds.

<end of text>

[tripplec]

Good summation of the process. I would not have expected the process to take that long either. Good to know. I have full drive and partition backups to an external eSATA enclosure via Trueimage. USB 2.0 is too slow but ok if the boot drive does not contain a lot in data. My disk set is 3 DVD's and I guess yours maybe a different lauguage to make it different.

[gmac]

As a fellow T420 user contemplating the same space vs speed issue and available options, I am curious why you did not consider the option of putting the hdd in your optical drive and putting an ssd in its place.  Or put an ssd in the optical drive and then the hdd remains where it is.  

Just curious as I am trying to decide what I am going to do to increase disk space adn speed up my machine.

[ktt]

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gmac wrote:

As a fellow T420 user contemplating the same space vs speed issue and available options, I am curious why you did not consider the option of putting the hdd in your optical drive and putting an ssd in its place.  Or put an ssd in the optical drive and then the hdd remains where it is.  

---

When I selected a laptop for me, optical drive was one of requirements. If it would not have been on list, I would have bought some other, lighter and thinner, Thinkpad model. I still need optical drive in my laptop thus for me, it is out of question to replace it with SDD.

Maybe someone other, who doesn't need optical drive, would benefit more in replacing optical drive with SDD.

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hi ktt,

Thanks for the detailed writeup.  I did basically the same thing with my T420, but took a little different approach.

I did a Win 7 Pro 64 clean install to a 256GB Crucial m4 mSATA SSD, then installed ThinkVantage System Update and let it add the appropriate Lenovo stuff.  Activated Windows with the existing CoA.

The HDD is a data drive now - more or less.  A small FAT32 partition containls a Ubuntu live CD image, a bootable Acronis, and some other utilities.  All bootable with grub.  The rest of the 500GB is for data.

I keep a backup of the SSD stored on the HDD, and can boot the HDD directly if I need to do a restore or manipulate partitions.  Also it's a backup OS that handles the T420 hardware quite well.

Just another way to skin this cat...

Regards,

Z.

[VictorB]

Hello ,

This is a very interesting recap indeed.

I plan to upgrade my T420 for exactly the same reasons as you. When I bought it I didn’t took the 3G module option. My first question is: Would I be still able to fit a crucial M4 SSD in the place where the 3G module supposed to be?

I’m looking to upgrade with at the following parts:

256GB Crucial m4 2.5”(7mm) SSD w/Data Transfer Kit /Part Number: CT2556121

8GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 memory module  /Part Number: CT8G3ERVLD8160B

Which 8GB memory RAM did you choose?

If I could do the above upgrades and still be able to keep the DVD, that will be in deed super-great!

Thank you for your time.

Victor

[ktt]

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VictorLenovo wrote:

> Would I be still able to fit a crucial M4 SSD in the place

> where the 3G module supposed to be?

Yes. If you don't have 3G module, then your T420 just has that slot empty and your life is a bit easier

> Which 8GB memory RAM did you choose?

I bought Kingston memory, with following codes on top of package:

VR1333D3S9/8G

8GB PC3-10600 CL9 204-Pin SODIMM

[ktt]

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VictorLenovo wrote:

> 256GB Crucial m4 2.5”(7mm) SSD w/Data Transfer Kit /Part Number: CT2556121

Don't waste your money on Data Transfer Kit. You don't need it as you are not replacing completely your existing HDD.

In the process of installing OS to the new mSATA drive, you should temporarily disconnect the old HDD, but after Windows is installed to the new drive, you can reconnect the old drive and you can again access all your old data.

[VictorB]

Hello KT,

Thank you very much for your fast reply!  Your help is very much appreciated.

I’m fairly new to this, so some of my questions might seem obvious to you, but I just want to make sure I understood correctly.

Your crucial SSD works as a primary drive and your 500 HDD as your secondary one, is that correct?

If this is the case how do you set your SSD as your primary Drive (containing OS, Programs, etc)?

How do you get to the slot supposedly used for the 3G module? Can I find some schematics or picture on the net?

People who swap disks, and put the 500 HDD in the DVD bay use rubber rails for fixing the new SSD in the place where the 500HDD was located previously. Do I still need those?

Thank you very much for your time.

Victor B.

[ktt]

> Your crucial SSD works as a primary drive and your

> 500 HDD as your secondary one, is that correct?

Correct. This was done by configuring (from BIOS) my computer to boot from SSD. After this, Windows automatically takes the mSATA SSD drive as primary drive.

> If this is the case how do you set your SSD as your

> primary Drive (containing OS, Programs, etc)?

From BIOS. I don't remember exactly and I don't want to reboot my computer now, but most likely it was by pressing the blue ThinkVantage key when powering on the computer - the key should be pressed as soon after power key and be pressed until you will get into BIOS setup menu. If that was not the case, please look from Google about "how to access BIOS setup in T420".

> How do you get to the slot supposedly used for the 3G

> module? Can I find some schematics or picture on the net?

Please see "Thinkpad T420 and T420i Hardware Maintenance Manual", which is available at:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60007_04.pdf

There, page 75, chapter "1070 PCI Express Mini Card for wireless WAN" explains where to find the "PCI Express Mini Card" slot for mSATA drive.

> People who swap disks, and put the 500 HDD in the DVD bay

> use rubber rails for fixing the new SSD in the place where the

> 500HDD was located previously. Do I still need those?

No, you don't need them as mSATA drive is attached directly to above mentioned "PCI Express Mini Card" slot.

At least my sales package contained all necessary screws to secure the mSATA card in place.

   - Kalle