X61s - SSD upgrade? Which one?

[GarageBoy]

I'm looking for a budget SSD for my X61s
It's currently rocking a 60GB harddrive
Do I NEED to upgrade my BIOS?
Also, what flavor of SATA is it running?
Thanks
-Leo

EDIT: I can buy a SATA III drive and put it in, no problems, right?
Thanks

[Tasurinchi]

You actually don't NEED since an SSD should work ootb. But if I were you I would install Middleton BIOS. This will enable SATA-II speeds in your X61s (working on SATA-I speeds ex-factory).

A clean install of an operating system would be wise as well, and I would go for Win7 on that machine. You also need to go to the BIOS and under Config/Serial ATA (SATA)/ set the SATA Controller Mode Option to AHCI

[ZaZ]

SATA III is backwards compatible meaning you can use a SATA III drive in a SATA II or I machine. You just won't get the better throughput if you use it on a slower connector, but that shouldn't matter much as it's the latency that makes the drive fast. I'd suggest buying a SSD from a reputable brand like Intel, Crucial, Plextor, etc., and you should be fine.

A 120GB or higher drive is a good idea if you running Windows and Lenovo updates. You can probably get by with a smaller drive if you're doing Linux.

[pgoelz]

Joining in this thread..... can anyone give me some idea how much of a real life improvement I might see from the SATAII speeds, after upgrading to Middleton BIOS. I'm real happy with the performance after installing a Samsung EVO 840 SSD, but I'm curious whether it is worth it to install Middleton BIOS. Is it really worth it in the real world?

Paul

[ajkula66]

Is it really worth it in the real world?

Yes. No questions asked. You'll shave years off of that X61 in a matter of one minute.

[pgoelz]

OK, threw caution to the wind and installed Middleton. Windows Experience HD rating went from 7.2 to 7.5. Not sure I can detect any increase in responsiveness...... it was pretty snappy before the BIOS upgrade. But at least if I want to I can install a cooler running WiFi card

Paul

[ajkula66]

Have you tweaked that EVO at all, or you're using it as you would a hard drive?

[pgoelz]

I'm not sure what can be tweeked on the EVO itself. I do have RAPID mode enabled and I have it overprovisioned (for now). In the OS I have no page file (4GB RAM) and indexing and prefetch / superfetch are disabled. I did not do the "performance optimization" because I wasn't sure if Win7 supports TRIM natively.

Did I miss one?

Paul

[ajkula66]

Win 7 does support TRIM natively. Good tweaks. What I'd normally add:

1) Disable hibernation

2) Disable System Restore

3) Turn off defragmentation

You did install the OS with the SATA controller in the AHCI mode, correct?

[pgoelz]

Win 7 does support TRIM natively. Good tweaks. What I'd normally add:

1) Disable hibernation

2) Disable System Restore

3) Turn off defragmentation

You did install the OS with the SATA controller in the AHCI mode, correct?

I don't use hibernation unless I'm on battery.... which is very infrequently. So I do have a hibernation file but it does not get written to very often.

Hadn't thought about disabling system restore. I assume this prevents writes upon program installation? I do somewhat infrequent system backups via Acronis so while they do not have the ranularity of system restore, I can get back to a functional system if I need to.

Yes, defrag is disabled.

And yes, the system is installed in AHCI mode. Learned that lesson once.......

So I guess I am done

Paul

[precip9]

I ran W8.1 on an X61s with a 256GB solid state drive. The result is a double dose of speed. I used hibernation. W8 writes much less than W7 to the hibernation file. The experience is very close to "instant on."

I understand the rationale of disabling hibernation, particularly With Windows 7, the write is much larger. Nevertheless, I like to resume where I left off, and am prepared to pay the price of reduced lifetime. The brevity of the W8.1 hibernation write suggests that the write is really quite small.

The reason I "ran", as opposed to "run", is a motherboard fault completely unrelated to SSDs or W8.1. It's just bad.

[Cigarguy]

Of the 8 SSD I've installed in my Thinkpads, all have hibernation turned on. I much prefer resuming where I left off. The trade off is more r/w to the SSD but so far I've gotten at least 2 years out of each of my SSDs.

As for SSD, besides Transcend which I avoid like the plague, I'd pick up a good name brand that is on sale at the capacity that I need. There's not much difference with regards to reliability, real life speed and usage in my experience.