Thinkpads Forum

I am working on revitalising my ThinkPad and I'd like to get an SSD for the main system, putting the regular drive in an Ultrabay for storage.
I only need like 20gb of space for linux, so there is no point in getting much more. I do not care for space. I care for performance and price.

My options are (I have not found anything else in similar price range):

1. Sandisk SDU5B-032G 32GB for 30 USD
+cheap
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-R342C-Lati ... 1c302407e0

2. Sansisk 32GB SDSSDRC-032G-G26 for 50 USD
+fast?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... llFullInfo

3. ADATA Premier Pro SP600 ASP600S3-32GM-C 2.5" 32GB (is better/worse than no.2?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820211717

4. SAMSUNG MMCRE64G8MXP-0VB 1.8" 64GB for ~54USD
+bigger
- need to buy adapter
- short/none warranty
- SATAII only
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147132

What do you reckon would be best, having price and performance in mind?

Lockheed wrote:I only need like 20gb of space for linux, so there is no point in getting much more.

As SSDs fill, the performance starts to degrade. You might want to bump to a 64GB.

I don't think there's much of a difference in the performance of the drives. I'd probably rule out one and four just cause they're odd sizes and will require extra doing. I'd probably opt for the Sandisk, mainly because it's a more known quantity than Adata, but that's me.

^X2

You can easily live with more capacity but hard to live with less. And there's not that much of a price difference to go with anything of lower capacity.

That 32GB SanDisk ReadyCache SDSSDRC-032G-G26 turns out to be quite terrible as system drive. Here are the statistics:

Sequential Read : 458.895 MB/s
Sequential Write : 117.186 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 238.234 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 43.509 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 19.176 MB/s [ 4681.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 9.299 MB/s [ 2270.3 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 30.670 MB/s [ 7487.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 5.371 MB/s [ 1311.2 IOPS]

In the end, it looks like I will get that 1.8" 64GB Samsung. It is cheap and apparently faster than OCZ Vertex 3 (whatever that means).

Lockheed wrote:
In the end, it looks like I will get that 1.8" 64GB Samsung. It is cheap and apparently faster than OCZ Vertex 3 (whatever that means).

Don't. It's a piece of junk.

If you want a SSD that won't leave you stranded, your choices are actually quite limited:

Samsung 830 or 840 Pro (not the regular 840)

Crucial M4 or C300 if you can find NOS version of the latter

Intel - as long as it uses an Intel controller and not a SF one.

Yes, all of these cost more.

Loss of data in a SSD scenario - poof - is far more expensive in my book.

Your money, your call.

Happy shopping.

ajkula66 wrote:Don't. It's a piece of junk.

Can you explain it in more detail? From the reviews it looks like quite a decent drive.

It is OLD.

No TRIM support and no proper garbage collection of its own.

While none of that may matter in Linux theoretically, it won't take long to get sloooow.

Lenovo used a proprietary version of it and it was...(missing a vomiting smiley here)

See post # 145 here:

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showt ... p=12320481

As I said: your money, your call.

Keep an eye out for an Intel X25-M. The 80GB models could be had for $40 before Christmas. Tigerdirect has a 160GB for $90 (after manufacturer's rebate). Another alternative is a 60GB 330 for $80 (no rebate).

I cant find that intel anywhere for a decent price, and I have to buy an SSD within next 24 hours. I guess it's down to that SanDisk ReadyCache and Samsung (new firmware from Lenovo has TRIM and possiblly fixes other problems).

Presuming that you can force Lenovo firmware on that drive without bricking it, that is...

Good luck.

Why wouldn't it work if it has the same serial number as listed in Lenovo readme?

Anyway, I still have about 12 hours to make a decisions, so any suggestions welcome. As long as the proposed SSDs are available and not over 75-80USD

Lockheed wrote:Why wouldn't it work if it has the same serial number as listed in Lenovo readme?

Because Lenovo uses proprietary firmware which doesn't work on "vanilla" drives.

On HDDs, it's not a big deal - it either takes the update, or it doesn't. Some of us have been dealing with this nonsense since the T43 days (spring of 2005... )

However, pushing "wrong" firmware on SSD may brick it. I've known folks who have done it...

Anyway, I still have about 12 hours to make a decisions, so any suggestions welcome. As long as the proposed SSDs are available and not over 75-80USD

I don't know where you're buying it from, but...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147133

That would be my choice, bar none. And I know they sell them on eBay as well...NewEgg, that is...

I've flashed the Samsung firmware on a Lenovo-branded 128gb drive but was never able to make it work on the 64gb version you're looking at.
It's scary, you have to hot-swap the drive - notebook review has instructions.

Get the Samsung drive George linked to, you'll never regret it.

Hmm, ok you got me convinced.

So I take it that SAMSUNG 830 would be a better choice than Crucial M4 at the same price?

Lockheed wrote:
So I take it that SAMSUNG 830 would be a better choice than Crucial M4 at the same price?

Most folks around here would say that it is, although I love M4 dearly myself.

If I were buying one now, I'd probably get an 830 (but not 840) over M4 if the price were the same.

Take a coin, flip, choose, buy and enjoy. Back up your data, back up the back up, then use it and abuse it. Have fun with it. It won't last forever. Until the day it dies or gets full, you'll NEVER know the difference between brand x vs brand y 6 months down the down.

I've got a Samsung 840 120Gb which has been pretty good so far in a T61. The Samsung software is reporting minimal disk wear so far (at least it tells you this). The performance jump was quite amazing compared to the 5400rpm Toshiba disk that was in it.

I had to patch the BIOS with middleton firmware though to get SATAII speeds before it really started to fly.

I've had spinny disks last less time than this SSD before so as someone else said, make sure you back up regularly (I do it daily with rsync), regardless of disk type.

Thanks, guys. In the end, I got MZ-7PC128D. 6 moths old. Hope it will serve me well.

On a related note - this is going to be my first SSD and I read somewhere that you are supposed to use some space of SSD partitioned.
Is this still the case for newer SSDs like this Samsung, and why?

If you aren't already, you should be using the Middleton BIOS to get full SATA II speeds from the Samsung.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443

Lockheed wrote:I read somewhere that you are supposed to use some space of SSD partitioned

Not sure what you mean by this. Clarify?