[edited to include more data. Also, I'm not sure about the 'only certain system boards support msata' theory because I have a system board, 04W2128, which is compatible according to the lenovo information below. And, dbrowdy has a system board, 04W2107, which is compatible with mSATA according to lenovo. ]
After a long conversation with a lenovo tech from Atlanta, he suspected that only certain motherboards are compatible with mSATA cards and others are not. Here are the model FRUs and the System (main) board FRUs that are compatible with mSATA drives according to the lenovo manuals. To determine what model/system FRUs are mSATA compatible I looked at the system diagram and clicked on the mSATA drive which lists some model FRUs that are compatible. The I looked at the system boards associated with those FRUs. Here are the results:
Resource (x220 tablet):
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-77198.html#27
Model FRU known to work with mSATA | system board FRU known to work with mSATA | system board description
4294-22x | 04W1538 | System board assembly with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, AMT, TPM, AES
4296-2Ex (same)
4298-3Lx, 33x, 2Sx (same)
4299-2Cx (same)
4298-3Jx | 04W1534 | System board assembly with Intel® Core i5-2520M processor, AMT, TPM, AES
Resource (x220 tablet)
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60175_01.pdf
Model FRU known to work with mSATA | system board FRU known to work with mSATA | system board description
4294-22x 04W2128 System board assembly with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, AMT, TPM, AES
4296-2Ex (same)
4298-3Lx, 33x, 2Sx (same)
4299-2Cx (same)
4298-3Jx 04W2127 System board assembly with Intel® Core i5-2520M processor, AMT, TPM, AES
Resource (x220)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-77191
Model FRU known to work with mSATA | system board FRU known to work with mSATA | system board description
4286-28x 04W1427 System board with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
4287-2Ax 04W1433 System board with Intel Core i5-2410M processor, NV, TPM, non-AES
4290-2Kx, 04W1423 System board with Intel® Core™ i5-2520M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
4290-2Qx 04W1425 System board with Intel Core i5-2540M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
4290-2Rx, 2Sx, 2Tx 04W1427 System board with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
Resource (x220)
http://thinkstore.de/index.php/downloads.html?file=tl_files/ipweb/hmm/hmm_thinkpad_x220.pdf
Model FRU known to work with mSATA | system board FRU known to work with mSATA | system board description
4286-28x 04W2109 System board with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
4287-2Ax 04W2124 System board with Intel Core i5-2410M processor, NV, TPM, non-AES
4290-2Kx, 04W2107 System board with Intel Core i5-2520M processor, NV, AMT, TPM,AES
4290-2Qx 04W2108 System board with Intel Core i5-2540M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
4290-2Rx, 2Sx, 2Tx 04W2109 System board with Intel Core i7-2620M processor, NV, AMT, TPM, AES
I’m confused because, even though my model is not listed (4294-CTO), I have the same main board as most of these models (04W2128 i7 with AMT TPM and AES) and my mydigital SDD does not work. The other main board that is associated with these models are:
4298-3Jx --> 04W2127 (i5 with AMT TPM and AES)
What main boards do other people have and are they working with any mSATA drive? (the main board FRU is under one of the memory sticks in the memory compartment).
Is this ‘main board compatibility theory’ known to be untrue?