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Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Hello guys,
I have a W520 with default hdd (7200rpm 500GB). I just bought 2 SSD Samsung 830 of 256GB each. I wonder what would be the best configuration and how to install them.
First can I have both disks on the same chassis/notebook ? After, can I do some Raid1 or whatever ? Finally how can I transport my current os to one of the disks ? I dont want to do nlite thing (to recreate my own ISO then reinstall the whole thing). Ghost ? What tool to use ?
Thank you, have a nice day !
I have a W520 with default hdd (7200rpm 500GB). I just bought 2 SSD Samsung 830 of 256GB each. I wonder what would be the best configuration and how to install them.
First can I have both disks on the same chassis/notebook ? After, can I do some Raid1 or whatever ? Finally how can I transport my current os to one of the disks ? I dont want to do nlite thing (to recreate my own ISO then reinstall the whole thing). Ghost ? What tool to use ?
Thank you, have a nice day !
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Give me some tips please !!!!
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Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
IMO, a raid setup using SSD is not necessary. SSD is that fast.
I'm a believer in fresh installs. It really isn't as time consuming or as scary as people make it out to be. I find cloning, swapping, and then trying to figure out how to optimize everything a lot more time consuming and aggravating. Win 7 does a great job with SSD in that it does the alignment, set up trim and garbage alignment. Obviously make sure you're running in ACHI mode.
You can get an Ultrabay adapter that will allow you to swap out the CD drive for a HDD. I've done this on a couple of machine with the SSD as my primary boot and program load files and larger 1 TB HDD in the Ultrabay slot. On my T61s the Ultrabay slot is pretty slow, so a SSD would be 1) expensive and 2) a total waste.
I'm a believer in fresh installs. It really isn't as time consuming or as scary as people make it out to be. I find cloning, swapping, and then trying to figure out how to optimize everything a lot more time consuming and aggravating. Win 7 does a great job with SSD in that it does the alignment, set up trim and garbage alignment. Obviously make sure you're running in ACHI mode.
You can get an Ultrabay adapter that will allow you to swap out the CD drive for a HDD. I've done this on a couple of machine with the SSD as my primary boot and program load files and larger 1 TB HDD in the Ultrabay slot. On my T61s the Ultrabay slot is pretty slow, so a SSD would be 1) expensive and 2) a total waste.
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
You can't do hardware RAID unless you bought the laptop with two drives and RAID setup; if you bought with only one then the motherboard does not have RAID enabled.kpoman wrote: , can I do some Raid1 or whatever ?
You should be able to do some software RAID but as Cigarguy said it isn't really needed for performance reasons (RAID 0) and personally I'd rather keep good backups than waste a disk doing RAID 1 (especially since you should have backups even with RAID 1). Only reason to use RAID would be to make them appear as a single drive ("JBOD"= Just a Bunch Of Disks).
Current Thinkpads:
X31, X40, X61T, X61, X201, X220 (i7 IPS), W520 (FHD), T440p (FHD),
T480 (QHD)
Dells: Latitude C840, Precision M70, Precision M4400, M6400 (WUXGA), M6600, M6700, 7730, XPS 13
Daily driver: MS Surface Pro 7 (i7)
X31, X40, X61T, X61, X201, X220 (i7 IPS), W520 (FHD), T440p (FHD),
T480 (QHD)
Dells: Latitude C840, Precision M70, Precision M4400, M6400 (WUXGA), M6600, M6700, 7730, XPS 13
Daily driver: MS Surface Pro 7 (i7)
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Ok then next steps: how do I take out the most of the second SSD ? eSata ? Usb3 bay ?
And how do I make a fresh install keeping my win7pro license ? recovery ? n7lite ?
And how do I make a fresh install keeping my win7pro license ? recovery ? n7lite ?
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
cigarguy, there are tools to replace the dvd bay by a hdd container ? the interface would still be sata3 ? where do I find those ?
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Ok I just received the disks.
I bought an OEM Samsung 830, and a Notebook Packaged Samsung 830. The "notebook packaged" one comes with a free norton ghost 15 license, and a usb to sata cable. But I am using the disk via the cable and the speed is really slow (about 35MB/s sustained copy). I tried the SSD Magician software (suite by samsung) and it doesnt detect the SSD. This s apparently normal when you use it via USB. It only detects and optimizes disks detected on SATA. So my purpose is then, to have one disk internally installed, and the other one connected via a eSata cable (via the provided eSata of the notebook). Now the question: what cable do I buy ? I saw some but sometimes they say it is not powered, or whatever. Is the eSata of the W520 powered ? I guess it is but can someone confirm ? Will I have good performance via eSata ? Normally the same as internally ?
I bought an OEM Samsung 830, and a Notebook Packaged Samsung 830. The "notebook packaged" one comes with a free norton ghost 15 license, and a usb to sata cable. But I am using the disk via the cable and the speed is really slow (about 35MB/s sustained copy). I tried the SSD Magician software (suite by samsung) and it doesnt detect the SSD. This s apparently normal when you use it via USB. It only detects and optimizes disks detected on SATA. So my purpose is then, to have one disk internally installed, and the other one connected via a eSata cable (via the provided eSata of the notebook). Now the question: what cable do I buy ? I saw some but sometimes they say it is not powered, or whatever. Is the eSata of the W520 powered ? I guess it is but can someone confirm ? Will I have good performance via eSata ? Normally the same as internally ?
Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
ok I ghosted yesterday my hdd to the sdd (had to previously shrink the partition with gparted on linux livecd).
the ghost worked flawlessly copying the whole OS and thing to the SSD disk.
Then I switched disks and booted on the SSD.
Ok it booted fine, went to the windows Logon screen. However, there, the keyboard and the trackpoint/trackpad were completely unresponsive. I booted on the linux livecd but there it was still working. Rebooted again on the windows and still no life from them. I plugged in a Usb mouse, and usb keyboard. The usb mouse worked fine, however no sign of life from the keyboard too. Even the biometric logon was not operational.
Can someone tell me how I can fix this ???
the ghost worked flawlessly copying the whole OS and thing to the SSD disk.
Then I switched disks and booted on the SSD.
Ok it booted fine, went to the windows Logon screen. However, there, the keyboard and the trackpoint/trackpad were completely unresponsive. I booted on the linux livecd but there it was still working. Rebooted again on the windows and still no life from them. I plugged in a Usb mouse, and usb keyboard. The usb mouse worked fine, however no sign of life from the keyboard too. Even the biometric logon was not operational.
Can someone tell me how I can fix this ???
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Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Do you have any devices banged out in Device Manager?
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Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Regarding the plugged-in stuff: did you plug it in the two USB 2.0 ports? I find that the USB 3.0 ports aren't as functional as the 2.0 ones. Which is logical since they aren't straight from the chipset.
W520
T61
T61
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Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
The eSATA on the notebook (and the one on the dock if you have it) is SATA 2 speed. The chipset offers only two SATA 3 connections; these are hooked up to the primary 2.5" bay and to the ultrabay.kpoman wrote:Is the eSata of the W520 powered ? I guess it is but can someone confirm ? Will I have good performance via eSata ? Normally the same as internally ?
Additionally, I do not believe there is any way to get enough power out of that connector even for a SSD; you will need to also run a USB cable for power only.
If you start to have second thoughts about this awkward and probably slower approach, I think I'd lean toward putting the second SSD in an ultrabay caddy. I rarely have use for an optical drive anymore anyhow.
W520 (2820QM, Q2000M, FHD, mSATA SSD, dock)
Previous: T61p (died 1m past warranty ), Dell 8600, iBook ("Dual USB"), Gateway Millennium, Macintosh G4 , PowerPC Mac clone, Mac Duo 210, iBook (clamshell), Quadra 630, Mac IIsi, C-128, C-64, Vic-20
Previous: T61p (died 1m past warranty ), Dell 8600, iBook ("Dual USB"), Gateway Millennium, Macintosh G4 , PowerPC Mac clone, Mac Duo 210, iBook (clamshell), Quadra 630, Mac IIsi, C-128, C-64, Vic-20
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Re: Bought 2 SSD, want to install on w520, how ?
Off-topic, but I thought I'd mention that I'm very sure I was unable to boot from the USB 3 ports on my W520 back in April '11, but now, no problem. They must have improved the USB 3 support in the BIOS at some point.jcvjcvjcvjcv wrote:...I find that the USB 3.0 ports aren't as functional as the 2.0 ones. Which is logical since they aren't straight from the chipset.
W520 (2820QM, Q2000M, FHD, mSATA SSD, dock)
Previous: T61p (died 1m past warranty ), Dell 8600, iBook ("Dual USB"), Gateway Millennium, Macintosh G4 , PowerPC Mac clone, Mac Duo 210, iBook (clamshell), Quadra 630, Mac IIsi, C-128, C-64, Vic-20
Previous: T61p (died 1m past warranty ), Dell 8600, iBook ("Dual USB"), Gateway Millennium, Macintosh G4 , PowerPC Mac clone, Mac Duo 210, iBook (clamshell), Quadra 630, Mac IIsi, C-128, C-64, Vic-20
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