X220 and Mini Dock Series 3 with USB 3.0

[jerouy]

Hi,

I am recently got a Mini Dock Series 3 with USB 3.0 for my ThinkPad X220 company laptop running Windows 7 64-bit.

However, after installing the USB 3.0 Driver downloaded from Lenovo website, I still do not see USB 3.0 device in my device manager.

I also did some test using a USB3.0 external HDD but it seems the USB 3.0 port is having exactly the same speed as any other ports.

How do I enable USB3.0 on this Docking Station?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

The usb 3.0 port on that dock would only work with machines that support usb 3.0 natively on the machine. X220 and X220t are not one of these machines that support usb 3.0. X230 and X230t does have native usb 3.0 support, so it would be compatible with the usb 3.0 port on the dock.

[jerouy]

Thanks. That's good to know. Sad face.

Then what's the point of this "USB3.0 driver for x220", given it does not support USB3.0 at all?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor · Accepted solution]

ThinkPad X220 with i7 (i3 and i5 only has usb 2.0 ports only) has a single USB 3.0 port, but the way it is connected through the motherboard, it can't support additional usb 3.0 port from the dock.

[jerouy]

Thanks Jin.

[aka_mgr]

My Linux kernel makes me think that USB 3.0 is well working on Mini Dock single USB 3 port with X220 i7 :

Both onboard USB 3.0 port and mini dock's are displayed under same bus #4.

When connecting a USB drive on one of theses two ports, it shows as "SuperSpeed" (and gives same perfs) while it appears only as "high-speed" on other ports (USB 2.0, giving slower perfs). 

That seems good for me.

$ lsusb | sort
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 147e:2016 Upek Biometric Touchchip/Touchstrip Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:217f Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth Controller
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04f2:b217 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Lenovo Integrated Camera (0.3MP)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 17ef:100a Lenovo ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 003 Device 005: ID 0fde:0210  
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 13fe:5100 Kingston Technology Company Inc.

[vicroberts]

Does your X220 have the i7 processor?

[vicroberts]

I have the X220 with the i7 processor.  Did you ever test the speed of the USB 3.0 port on your dock under Linux?  If so, how does ot compare to the USB 2.0 ports?

[aka_mgr]

Yes. My fastest device shows 64 MB/s on both USB3.0 ports and about 25 MB/s on USB 2.0.

$ hdparm -t /dev/sdd
/dev/sdd:
 Timing buffered disk reads: 194 MB in  3.01 seconds =  64.37 MB/sec

Boths USB3.0 ports appears on same Bus 04 :

$ lsusb -tv
/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 5000M
    |__ Port 2: Dev 6, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 5000M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 2: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
        |__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
        |__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
        |__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 2, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/8p, 480M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
...

[vicroberts]

Thank you.  I purchased a used MIni Dock on eBay and it should arrive on Friday.   I get about 100 MB/S when I backup to my WD RAID drive when its connected to the USB 3.0 port on the X220 itself.  I'll test with the Mini Dock when it arrives and report back.