Reliable SSD drives for the X220

[Core Share]

Hello,

I recently bought a second hand X220 (4290-CE3), since I needed another dose of ThinkPad classic, lest it's likes are never to be seen again.

When I bought my first X220 at the beginning of 2013, I flirted with an SSD (OCZ Vector), which went swimmingly for three weeks, until the SSD transmogrified into a SSB (Solid State Brick), whence I returned to the factory 7200 rpm spindle, which has been the epitome of reliability ever since.

For the second X220 I am thinking of wading into the waters again.

I am tentatively considering the Intel 520 and 530 series.

However, could anyone make recommendations for reliable SSD drives for the X220?

Performance is secondary to reliability in my ambitions.

Any assistance most gratefully apprised.

I apologise if this has been covered in other topics, I did attempt due diligence.

Thank you.

[ajkula66]

Crucial M4 aka Micron C400 would be my first pick reliability-wise. These were also available also available as mSATA, so that's something to consider as well. While they have been discontinued, NOS examples still exist on the market.

I'm not at all keen on Intel's 520/525/530/535 series. Yes, it's by far the best implementation of the SandForce controller, but it's still a SandForce...if you must have an Intel drive, 730 is the way to go.

Apart from that, newer SanDisk drives (Extreme II, Extreme Pro) definitely deserve a closer look.

My $0.02 only...

Good luck.

[excal32]

i have several machines outfitted with mSATA drives, i would absolutely say either go samsung, mushkin, or crucial. avoid ocz at all costs. newer crucial drives are good, not sure if i'd go for older SSD tech given the new stuff has proven to be pretty nice. i have a 840 Evo mSATA in my t420 now.

[ajkula66]

i have several machines outfitted with mSATA drives, i would absolutely say either go samsung, mushkin, or crucial. avoid ocz at all costs. newer crucial drives are good, not sure if i'd go for older SSD tech given the new stuff has proven to be pretty nice. i have a 840 Evo mSATA in my t420 now.

No Mushkin, pretty please...yes for RAM but a huge NO for SSDs...RMA'd one too many of them.

SandForce garbage of the worst kind. Seriously.

[ZaZ]

I have OCZ SSDs in all of my desktops and haven't had a problem with any of them.

[ajkula66]

I have OCZ SSDs in all of my desktops and haven't had a problem with any of them.

I actually had excellent experiences with non-SandForce OCZ drives...

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

I have a Crucial m4 mSata in a W520, but since they are no longer for sale, I would get a M500 or M550, depending on price and performance differences at a certain size.

[Core Share]

Thank you very much, to all who responded, for your reflections!

I am inclining towards the Intel 730.

I do have to laugh at myself, for spelunking down the SSD rabbit-hole chasing the chimera of reliable and fast, between the Scylla and Chaybdis of that rock and a hard place, to mix a few metaphors.

"Yous makes your choices and yous takes your chances." - Mommy will not be able to help me.

If all else fails, it will be back to the reliable and steadfast traditional spindle drive.

[ajkula66]

Thank you very much, to all who responded, for your reflections!

I am inclining towards the Intel 730.

Great drive - speaking from personal experience - not the fastest one around but stable and consistent

If all else fails, it will be back to the reliable and steadfast traditional spindle drive.

Now you sound like my wife who wouldn't touch an SSD with a 30-foot pole after witnessing a Mushkin drive freeze her ThinkPad and disappear for good along with 12 hours of her work right in front of her eyes...

[excal32]

If you think OCZ SSD's are okay you must have not seen their RMA rates!

Has your wife never had a hard drive start going "click-click-click" in the middle of something important? :p

[ajkula66]

If you think OCZ SSD's are okay you must have not seen their RMA rates!

Those rates are mostly due to SandForce-based-garbage...I've deployed dozens of their Indilinx drives without a single RMA...

Has your wife never had a hard drive start going "click-click-click" in the middle of something important? :p

Nope. And she's been a ThinkPad user since 1995, longer than myself.

I've never had a hard drive fail - at home or workplace - beyond the point of data recovery. With an SSD...pooooof...

[rjwilmsi]

Across my ThinkPad range I have Crucial M4, Crucial M4 and Intel 330 SATA drives as the boot disks. No problems with any of them. Only the Intel was brand new. I've two other Intel SSDs and a third Crucial M4 as non-boot drives. I selected these brands based on generally good reviews, good warranty info and support sites, particularly that there are well-documented firmware updates available as boot images (as only one machine runs Windows).

Other considerations: if you want the highest reliability you might also look at the latest Samsung drives with 3D NAND (850 Pro?), they have a 10-year warranty. Or even, look at the enterprise-standard drives such as the Intel 3700DC/3500DC and similar, they feature proper power loss handling. Though personally I would not pay 3x the price for the enterprise drives as I think good consumer SSDs have very high reliability anyway (and I do backups of any disk regardless). Have you seen the SSD return rate figures published by behardware?

[Brad]

Some data recovery partners I know state that they can successfully recover data from an SSD. One thing they cannot do is retrieve data from a hardware encrypted SSD so they say.

Brad

[ansible212]

I've been using a Samsung 830 in my X220 since I had it without complaint. I will be replacing it with the 850 Pro in due course, cascading the 830 down to my X200s.

[ajkula66]

I've been using a Samsung 830 in my X220 since I had it without complaint.

My favourite Samsung SSD, bar none.

I will be replacing it with the 850 Pro in due course, cascading the 830 down to my X200s.

And you'll fall in love with that X200s all over again.

I had a Micron C400 (OEM version of Crucial M4) in my since-sold X200s, and along with 8GB RAM and W7 Pro 64 that baby flew...

As for 850 Pro, I'll personally wait a bit before I shell out the $$$ for it...it does look promising, though.

[Core Share]

Now you sound like my wife who wouldn't touch an SSD with a 30-foot pole after witnessing a Mushkin drive freeze her ThinkPad and disappear for good along with 12 hours of her work right in front of her eyes...

Yes, SSD epic-fails, are so brutal, there are no "creaking floor-boards", "taps on the window", ravens quothing "Nevermore" (real soon now), or other noises of the night, to portend and intimate, just a stealth, ninja, "good night Irene"...

Come the revolution and the ABDF (Ain't Broke Don't Fix) classical design disciplines are restored, and we see the return of "16x12" screens , there will be plenty of room under the hood for some extra full-height mini-PCI slots, so that you could have a data-redundant RAID configuration of mSATA SSDs, which would be my ideal deployment.

It is looking increasingly likely that I will get the Intel 730, I shall report back, in due course, of my adventures.

[re404]

HI ALL!

Ok let's revive this topic and list the current best options and you pro thoughts.

Wat is currently the best, most reliable, bus especially to my interest, the largest possible SSD upgrade?

I did a quick search and am I right that I need to filter for 2,5" AND mSATA. A large and pretty cheap option I found is this Toshiba THNSNH256GMCT4PAGA ( http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00C9VX9V0/ref= ... B00C9VX9V0 ) Any good?

And what about these series? http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... mSATA.html

Thanks so much!

//Remko

[re404]

p.s. oh I see now that it's got both a regular 2.5" SATA slot AND a mSATA slot. I completely forgot about that. So that allows cheaper regular 2.5 ssd's? So what are the best options then?

[ajkula66]

p.s. oh I see now that it's got both a regular 2.5" SATA slot AND a mSATA slot. I completely forgot about that. So that allows cheaper regular 2.5 ssd's? So what are the best options then?

The real question is: how much space you want on the boot drive?

Personally, I wouldn't touch EVO with a 30-foot-pole until Samsung resolves the issues that have been plaguing these drives. No experience with the Toshiba that you've linked.

My choice for a mSATA SSD would be the latest Plextor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820249040

These come in 128, 256 and 512GB varieties.

[re404]

Hi George,

Thanks for the quick reply! That's very helpful.

Next question. Does one of the two drives automatically become the boot drive or can I choose? Is there a general advise which one to use; the SATA or the mSATA?

Thanks for the warning about the Samsung. In general I hear people being happy with their Samsung SSD's, but I guess that's mainly because they're cheap.

I contiunue the hunt for information and the best gear!

Thanks so far.

Remko

[RealBlackStuff]

You can set the bootdrive in your BIOS.
I have a T420 with mSATA bootdrive and SATA storage drive.
As to Samsung: the 830 series, the 840 Pro, and the 850 series are OK.
It's just the 840 EVO that's a PITA.

[Cigarguy]

Just picked up a X220 recently. Got a 240 GB Crucial M500 mSATA SSD loaded with Win 7 and programs and a 500 GB WD Blue HDD. Only played with this machine for a couple of weeks but I'm really really liking it. Fast, light and good battery life.

[jdrou]

Regarding Samsung EVO, note there is supposed to be a firmware fix for performance issues released next week:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8570/firm ... tober-15th

(I have a 240 GB EVO in light use [not boot] that I haven't noticed the problem on yet and a couple more on the shelf waiting for me to install.)

[KristianJ]

Are there any EVO users who've applied the firmware update and found it's solved this issue?

I'll be buying a SSD over the weekend and had looked at the EVO, but am a little wary after reading this thread.

[dr_st]

Are there any EVO users who've applied the firmware update and found it's solved this issue?

I've seen several positive reports in an Israeli HW forum that I frequent. The EVO series is quite popular there.

Of course, due to the nature of the problem (read speed degradation of old files), it will take several months to see if the issue has been fixed permanently or not.

[ajkula66]

I would stay away from EVO, period.

[hki]

Are there any EVO users who've applied the firmware update and found it's solved this issue?

I'll be buying a SSD over the weekend and had looked at the EVO, but am a little wary after reading this thread.

For me it solved the issue (that I had not even noticed before it was reported on the tech sites).

[CPC464]

I've got a Samsung 830 installed on my X220 for almost two years. It works OK but, since I've installed the SSD, when I turn on the computer, sometimes it boots and sometimes it keeps rebooting itself forever until I turn it off and try again. Maybe I should try a firmware update to solve this problem.

[LemarAntwanJackson]

I've used the EVO in my x201 for a year without any problems, running the latest firmware. Just added another to my T61. I don't see any slowdown issues. Am tempted to do the rejuvenation thing with the software but it seems risky i.e., losing data?

What I noticed about the rejuvenation software is the manual states they are at version 1.1 and that if one used version 1.0 then 1.1 won't help. Don't know the implication but seems it might be prudent to wait for another iteration as I'm sure they had to really push the software out and there might be some forthcoming improvements based on user feedback and their own testing?

[jdrou]

I've used the EVO in my x201 for a year without any problems, running the latest firmware. Just added another to my T61. I don't see any slowdown issues. Am tempted to do the rejuvenation thing with the software but it seems risky i.e., losing data?

What I noticed about the rejuvenation software is the manual states they are at version 1.1 and that if one used version 1.0 then 1.1 won't help. Don't know the implication but seems it might be prudent to wait for another iteration as I'm sure they had to really push the software out and there might be some forthcoming improvements based on user feedback and their own testing?

If you haven't used the "rejuv" software then you probably aren't using the latest firmware; the "rejuv" includes a firmware update that doesn't seem to be available by itself. Any firmware update has some risk but I haven't seen any reports of problems. Since you should have a backup of any important data anyway you shouldn't be too concerned about data loss.
IIRC the 1.1 update just fixed some cases where the rejuv wouldn't run; people who had successfully run 1.0 wouldn't need to run 1.1.