Performance of 32GB and 64GB versions hould be about the same.

Thanks for the info! I was thinking the same but I was unsure since I thought I read some comments about the 64GB Kingspecs being faster than the 32GB Kingspecs, but was too lazy to check all the pages of this thread again

I got a 64gb Kingspec SSD that I'm trying to clonezilla my old 40 gb image onto.

I saved the 40gb ISO image with no problem to a USB drive. The first time I tried to write the ISO image to the SSD it seeed to write with no problems but then at the end of the process I got lots and lots of scrolling errors similar to below (the numbers are not exact but the messages next to them are verbatim).

[ 385.379709] ata1.00 status{DRDY ERR}
[ 385.379810] error { UNC}
[ 385.379876] exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
[ 385.379923] BDMA stat 0x24
[ 385.379975] failed command: WRITE DMA

Whenever I try again to write the 40gb iso onto the SSD I keep getting scrolling messages of doom.

Can you provide any help?

Thanks.

Additional info:

Clonezilla sees that the SSD has a 105 mb partition and a 39.9 gb partition which suggests to me that the initial writing of the iso image was partially successful.

I'm currently using KILLDISK to reformat the SSD so maybe I can totally start over and it is telling me that there are errors writing to every single sector.

Also, during the first writing of the ISO image I let the scrolling errors messages go for 3+ hours. They seemed to have no end, so I pushed and held the power button to force the system off.

Did I corrupt the SSD?
Wouldn't KILLDISK put the SSD back the way it was when I got it?

Thanks.

I can't directly help, but I would recommend you to post your problem incl. error log to the CloneZilla mailing list.
Developers there are very responsive there.
HTH

I've tried everything with this drive and have concluded that the controller is trash (I'm a Mech Engineer by trade so if I say something wrong you must forgive).

The laundry list of things I've tried:
- Killdisk (Write Command Error)
- XFdisk (I/O Error)
- Writing image with clonezilla (scrolling errors related to writing to the drive)
- Installing Ubuntu 10.10 (will attempt install after repeated commands to retry installation but stalled at ~35% for 1.5 hours assumedly because of write errors)

I think the controller worked for a little bit then totally borked itself. This thing is garbage and I'm returning it today to the ebay seller that told me that writing an ISO image to the kingspec SSD is "Not Recommended" (I call total BS on that!).

There are a few people on ebay selling OEM lenovo SSD's for comparable prices and in one case $150 for 60gb.
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Lenovo-60GB-SSD ... _500wt_939

I just bought that and I won't have to flash my bios to get rid of the 2010 error. Also if I understand correctly the OEM lenovo drives are debranded Samsungs which gives me confidence in their quality.

I've had a Kingspec SSD in my X40 for about a year now, and thought I'd share my experiences. I don't use the X40 much, it's mainly for when I travel. A few months ago I started the X40, but there wasn't enough power in the battery, so it died half way through booting. The result was that I lost the contents of the SSD, and my only option was to reinstall Windows 7. Once I got it running again, I noticed that it started taking a long time to shut down. The next thing I noticed was that saving files takes a very long time. I've had to turn off autorecover in Excel, because the X40 would just hang for about 10 seconds each time it saved. Although read speeds are still good, it seems that without TRIM or garbage collection, writing to these drives slows down considerably. It is becoming almost unusable. Has anyone else encountered this problem, and is there a solution?

I posted a manual method to do garbage collection Oct 17th '09 in this thread. Look for that post.

Thanks for your reply. I downloaded Eraser, but unfortunately the user interface has totally changed, and it doesn't seem like I can enter any of the options you have suggested.

I tried running AS-Clean after consolidating free space, but this has had no effect. I believe that this should work similar to Eraser.

The essence of my method is to write data pattern "1111" to all free locations. You can probably do that with other software too. Try finding an older version of Eraser.

BTW I returned my KingSpec SSD and got a Lenovo 60gb SSD for cheaper on ebay.

for those who are interested:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Lenovo-60GB-SSD-X41-X40-41W0736-FREE-US-SHIPPING-/280614763700?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4155f17cb4#ht_500wt_1129
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lenovo-60GB-SSD-X41-X40-41W0736-41W0737-/370474784924?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item564204989c#shId

No flashing the bios to avoid 2010 error FTW!

I'm currently interested in getting a 16gb SSD for my X40, the 20gb hdd seems to be working fine, I'm mainly just thinking it might speed it up a bit.

I have been looking at a KingSpec 16GB MLC for about 60 dollars shipped, I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with these drives? Price is sure right, I am going to look for a local reseller though just in case I have a problem with the drive and I can return it easily.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/KingSpec-1-8-inch-ID ... 1c1861b74f

There are these Sandisk SSDs for around $60 here in Ebay, it's without shipment but on the other side it's a 32GB Model. I have one of those in my X41T and so far it's working fine.

That's pretty cool, I just don't know about the zif adapter. I'd rather use the native plug though.

The Lenovo 1.8in PATA SSDs use these ZIF adapters.

Hi,

I tried to plug a 4GB CFCard and the laptop never see the 'drive', sometimes the ide led starts blinking in crazy patterns , do you know what it means ? ide chipset failing or connector desoldered.

I don't have any other ide hdd to test, the cfcard works ok (tested on the cfcard reader of an x32)

And btw, there's no asymetrical filled pin to find which orientation to plug the card in .. i tried both , maybe I shouldn't.

I went through many of these pages and searched, but I have a fairly simple question.

Is the 60gb Lenovo SSD upgrade a simple process, and pretty much un-buggy? I'll likely be installing Win7 for a Car PC project running data acquisition for SCCA SOLO and PRO-SOLO racing (USB touchscreen in the Dash run by the X41).

Just like to know before I drop the dough. I value simplicity and reliability over saving a few bucks. If the Lenovo SSD is the simplest and most seamless, then that is what I'd like to go with.

rkawakami,
Two great finds. Of course, I was up all night doing research and grabbed a few hours of sleep and slept right through the end of both auctions. They were complete units with all the fixings. I don't see any as good as those on ebay now.

I have AC power adapters for my X31 and T41. I thought an AC/DC adapter would be a good back up for an everyday AC adapter with the added benefit of being able to use it in the car.

I don't have any power adapter for my X60s. I see some 20V AC/DC adapters on ebay now but many are missing the cigarette lighter cord.

I just ordered a 90W 20V scratch and dent from Lenovo.

Yes. I just replaced the old drive with the Lenovo SSD and booted with an XP cd. Zero problems.

I recently bought a 16GB Runcore Pro IV SSD from MemoryC (paid around 80 euros)and I'm incredibly happy with it. I didn't want to bother with clonezilla so I just aligned partitions and reinstalled arch linux. The speed gains are amazing (my X40 now feels faster than my T400), and having a silent laptop is bliss.

These 1.8in SSDs may not have as massive R/W times as the new breeds of 2.5in drives but their seek times are equally low, which is what results in the perceived speed increase. The kingspec horror stories are what pushed me to go for runcore over kingspec, and for now I've had no problems which leads me to believe I made the right decision.

Hi!
I'm about to buy a SSD to my X40 because Win XP takes a couple of minutes to start up.
It seems that there's two sub-100€ brands, Kingspec and Runcore. 16GB is enough for me, so is the Runcore one worth 1.7x more price (Kingspec ~40€, Runcore ~67€, both shipped)
My top priority is reliability, anything faster than stock HDD is all better

edit: Judging from the second last post the Kingspec is inferior in terms of reliability, so I'll go with Runcore.

Hi,

Sorry to revive the topic, yet again.

Could someone clarify, how exactly compactflash via pc card adapter works? As far as I know, its a simple mechanical adapter, rewiring of the pins.
Yet there are numerous reports that simple PC Card adapter cripple the cards to a crawl.

I want to use a 16 GB, kingston 266x ultimate flashcard with some generic adapter like this one.

My lappy has a 32bit cardbus slot based on Ricoh R5C843 chip. The card is, based on reviews (and a CF-to-SATA adapter) working at up to 40 MBps. Will my setup achieve those speeds? Or do I need a CardBus (with the grounding strip?) adapter? Even a PCMCIA Card, working in 16 bit mode technically should achieve theoretical 64 megs of throughput (16bit * 33Mhz / 8 / 1024 / 1024). Can a PC Card (not cardbus) adapter work in 32 bit mode? Are there any CardBus CF adapters (for type I CF cards)? Maybe you can hack those adapters to force the into 32bit cardbus mode (is it a pin issue?)?

I apologize for those questions but there are tons of specs, different standards, possible solutions yet not enough solid information.

Oh, and the idea is to add some decent boot drive serving linux to my old lappy that works great as ultra portable but is limited by a 1.8 inch, 4200rpm drive that struggles to get 18MBps of read, and 20ms of seek times.

Hi everybody!
I just installed XP on noname CF 4 gb card with nonmae ide to cf adapter. Boots up in 30 seconds with tuning of course (EWF,WSP, minlogon ) etc.

well I have a MTRON 8gb card and followed the ZIF adapter mods, plugged it up and the X41 doesn't see it. Got a regular 40gig drive coming but this is bugging me. Do I need to format the card in order for windows setup to see it?

A later version of Windows is very desirable - especially v7 - for compatibility with websites (can run MSIE9), better compatibility mode(s), and better security.

Whether or not an x41 has the horsepower to run v7 is a question, an x40 being even less so of course.

I successfully installed the SATA SSD OCZ 32GB - OCZSSD1-1ONX32G in the native SATA mode.

been following this for some time, wishing to do this mod.

this pic looked to have more detail, so i d/l it, then it crashed the SD I had saved it to, while requiring a reboot of the system.

I am glad this x41 has no HD, yet so the CD re-boot to Linux Mint was an easy save.

Perhaps an opr can check it for an imbedded virus.

thanks for all the input, folks.

I've just got an SSD going in my X41 as well. Using a 128gb Lenovo/Samsung SSD they have for the T410 et al.

Partno: MMCRE28G8MXP-0VB

Ebay for about $110
Was able to reflash the firmware on the drive to support TRIM and did a fresh install of Win 7. Everything seems to be working, though the graphics driver was tricky. There is no Win7 driver, but by futzing with it I somehow managed to get the Win2k driver to work.

Not quite as clean as some others I've seen, but it works:


Edit: CrystalDiskMark results


--Dan

houlster,

Could you please share details on where did you get a TRIM-enabled firmware for this drive and how did you remove SATA-PATA bridge chip?
Do you have a X41 or X41t?

Thanks,
-albertr

For enabling TRIM, this thread here, specifically, the post by Blue_Frog on 02-08-2011 04:20 PM
TRIM firmware for the 128 GB Samsung SSD??



Some notes:
- The X41 doesn't have an 'AHCI' option in the BIOS. You can skip that part.
- I didn't physically remove / attach the drive where that's required. I just pulled one of the power wires for the drive out so it wasn't powered, and plugged it back in when needed.
- Other than that, it worked just has he describes in the post.

The firmware:
I am not sure what firmware the SSD had on it. What I put on that supported trim is 'VBM19C1Q'. From that same thread, the post by 'JayBeeCZech' on 02-09-2012 10:18 PM has a link to a zip file with the firmware and the USB boot utility.


You create a bootable USB stick using the util, then add the firmware files & 'maindiag.exe' to the USB afterwards. Again, it went pretty smoothly.

That got the drive to support TRIM. From there, I just googled and followed one of the many links to turning TRIM on in win7.


Removing the PATA bridge was a mess. I do not have the proper tools at all. My X41 was almost disposable, so I gave it a go. Soldering iron doesn't work. Heating the chip directly did not work for me either. I tried cutting the pins, but after a few swipes, things get mashed together and it's tough to see if it's even working.

After I thoroughly fu'd my mobo up, I ripped the chip off forcibly after cutting through all the pins as best I could. Started prying with a screw driver and it came off in pieces. Figured I had nothing to loose. Surprisingly, after getting the chip out of the way, i could pretty easily remove legs and center piece of the chip pretty easily with an iron and thing's cleaned up fairly well. I would *not* recommend this method, but somehow it worked for me.

Mine is an x41. non-tablet. the case is noticibly narrower on the side where the wires have to connect to the drive. I took an mSATA cable and cut it down entirely to just the small piece of connector that goes into the drive and the pins. I bent the pins into a 'U' shape to reverse them and there was just enough room to clear the side of the case. Can kinda see it here:



I also had to trim 1 corner of the SSD case to clear a screw boss in the case. Not a big deal. It did not go into the board inside the SSD, just the case.