X220 mSATA, SSD & ExpressCard Questions

[sabbas]

Hi All,

I'm enjoying my first ever thinkpad X220 for the last couple of months and love it. It's beautiful and powerful machine.

The machine is top of the line in x220 series. The only thing missing is an SSD.

1. System has Ericsson GSM/GPS card. So, does this mean I cannot install mSATA?

2. I would like to replace my HDD with SSD. What other SSDs other than lenovos any of you have successfully tested and using? lenovo SSDs are **bleep** expensive.

3. What 54mm expresscardis are useful for me? I would like to increase storage. What brand/models do you recommend?

I too have noticed the screen light bleeding. It's not bugging me much. But I've seen many complaining about this. Is there a resolution to this problem?

Thanking you in advance.

regards,

Shereef

[goretsky Community Moderator · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The X220 has two MiniPCIe slots, one accepts a "full-height" card that is ~51mm long.  The other accepts a "half-height" card that is ~28mm long.  In the X220, the half-height slot contains the Wi-Fi (802.11n wireless) adapter, while the full-height slot contains the WWAN (3G modem) adapter.

The full-height slot on the X220 is designed to acccomodate either a MiniPCIe or a mSATA card.  I do not know whether the half-height slot will recognize a mSATA card.  If you wish to use a mSATA SSD in your X220, you will need to remove the Ericsson GSM/GPS card.  You could then use something like a 3G hotspot for connectivity.

The X220 has a 2.5" hard disk drive bay, but this bay only accepts a 7mm high drive, not the more common 9.5mm high drives.  There are, however, numerous hard disk (up to 500GB, 7200 RPM) and solid state drives (up to 600GB) that fit into the drive bay.  I have not used a 7mm high SSD before, but did see a few for sale on U.S. retailer NewEgg's web site.

I have used a Wintec 48GB ExpressCard SSD in my W510 for storage and it worked fine, although it did get warm after being in the system for a while.  64 ,96 and 128GB models are now available as well.  I would imagine these work identically in the X220, though I do not think they are bootable.  These are 34mm cards, so you might want to get a little plastic spacer bracket that fills the remaining 20mm if having that open is an issue.  You could also install an ExpressCard/54 with USB 3.0 or eSATA ports for connecting to external storage.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[sabbas]

Hi Aryeh,

This is how all answers should be All my questions answered clearly and completely. Kudos!

regards,

Shereef

[x220forme Community Moderator]

Hi, sabbas,

previous post is very informative.
Some additions:
1. I installed msata SSD and 3g and wifi card at the same time into the x220 (hdd was there too). It's not a typo
2. You can use SDXC, UHS-I flash card with very good performance.
3. Intel 520 series SSD (unfortunately, it's based on not Intel or Marvel controllers) and Samsung 830 SSD are the good choices. Intel 320 series SSD is not new but very reliable drive.

[sabbas]

x220forMe

1. I installed msata SSD and 3g and wifi card at the same time into the x220 (hdd was there too). It's not a typo

HHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as the documentation goes, you will have to choose either 3G or mSATA but not together!

regards,

Shereef

[x220forme Community Moderator]

sabbas,

yes, documentation says "it's impossible". But...
Look at this photo: http://fotkidepo.ru/?id=photo:743828

The only relative lack of is access to the sim card - you need remove the keyboard. But 5 minuts and you're lucky.

[sabbas]

OK!!!

No more suspense. How? Is there any case mod? precautioins? tips? how? how? how?

My sim slot is behind the battery. I've got ericsson F5521gw 3G

regards,

Shereef

[x220forme Community Moderator]

sabbas,

look at PM

[skfurr]

Did you relocate the SIM card holder somehow?  What interface does the Option card have for the SIM card?

Thanks!

[goretsky Community Moderator]

Hello,

I believe it is this card from a third party along with some kind of SIM holder attached to it.  I am not sure if it works in an X220 without having to modify the BIOS, so keep in mind that using such a card could void the warranty on the X220, at least until the proper Lenovo-provided BIOS was reflashed.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky