Thinkpads Forum

An interested endurance experiment:

http://techreport.com/review/27062/the- ... fter-1-5pb

Any experience with Samsung 850 EVO (SATA) 500 GB ?

Since you have a X220 which is SATA III. I would suggest the Crucial BX100 or MX200 SSD drives. There are some who have said they have had slow down issues with the Samsung SSD's. Another if you can find one is the Toshiba Q Series Pro.

This is a good list of SSD benchmarks by the user community.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com

Puppy wrote:Any experience with Samsung 850 EVO (SATA) 500 GB ?

I'd pass on *anything* TLC.

My top pick would be SanDisk Extreme Pro closely followed by OCZ Vector 150. If these are expensive and/or unavailable in your neck of the woods, Crucial MX100 or Intel 730 are both safe and sane choices.

FWIW, I have been running a 250GB EVO in my T410 for going on 2 years now. I've never had an issue with it. Ever.

I do keep my data backed up. But not because i'm worried about the drive. But because as with SSD's, data recovery is a PITA if it is even possible.

I would buy another EVO.

Temetka wrote:FWIW, I have been running a 250GB EVO in my T410 for going on 2 years now. I've never had an issue with it. Ever.

That's not saying much. You're not supposed to have any issues with drives. Ever. If you had an issue with a drive once - it already means it's a failure.

The question about the Evo - has its read speed degraded for older files. I expect that it had. It may not be easily noticeable, as for the most part it will still be plenty fast.

The read speed degradation with the Evo is real, and has generated much talk. However, as any time there is much talk, people often exaggerate and extrapolate and make stuff up. Anyone saying that the Evo is in any way less reliable than any other SSD on the market is, quite simply, has no idea what he's talking about and/or pulling stuff out of you know where.

Oh, I am aware of the "issue" with regards to "old" (define old) files and slower read times.

I've already applied the patch and updated my firmware. Maybe if I were on a SATA3 system it might show up?

I check weekly in the Magician software to see if it's reporting any issues or starting to use some of the space I setup for over provisioning. If it were to show an error or warning, it would be replaced post haste. I know all about how SSD's like to die silently in the night - or right in front of their users.

I think the whole read issue is blown out of proportion. As with anything on the web, we more than likely have more people "complaining" about being affected then there are people who have noticed any issue and/or said something about it.

And yes, I used quotes a lot because I think this is a while chicken little thing. But whatevs man.

Any experience with Intel SSD 535, 480 GB ? Currently on sale for almost half price. I am aware it uses the Sandforce controller but it is supposed to be a new generation than used in older series.

Puppy wrote:Any experience with Intel SSD 535, 480 GB ? Currently on sale for almost half price. I am aware it uses the Sandforce controller but it is supposed to be a new generation than used in older series.

I have a 535 120gb (bulk from alza.cz) in a T420s running debian and it's very very quick.
But, the drive has run for <100 hours.

jaspen-meyer wrote:But, the drive has run for <100 hours.

I am wondering what reliability is because there were issues with firmware (mostly Samsung drives) and power management / BIOS causing data corruption because of improper power handling.

Puppy wrote:

jaspen-meyer wrote:But, the drive has run for <100 hours.

I am wondering what reliability is because there were issues with firmware (mostly Samsung drives) and power management / BIOS causing data corruption because of improper power handling.

I can't speak for the Intel drives, but I have used Samsung 850 Pro and 850 Evo drives for quite a while now without any reliability or performance degradation issues at all. I'm routinely doing large compiles that run for hours, which thrashes the disk. None of my drives have ever had Trim enabled either.

My X220 came with an Intel 125 GB SSD and i7 cpu some years ago. I upgraded it to a Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB and all is well. Except that with Windows 10, which is not officially supported on the X220, I had a problem after upgrade until I reformatted and did a clean install from ISO file.

AT Micro Center recently, I asked about their return rates on different SSDs and was told that Intel and Samsung are good. Crucial had high returns. I don't think they sell ocz anymore.

This is my pick for value drive right now. ADATA Premier SP550 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ASP550SS3-120GM-C

I have this one in my T420s and it flies. It's a TLC drive but reads of 550MB and writes at least 400MB. This one is the 120GB version but they go up to 960GB. On the 240GB version and up the read speeds are 500MB. A very fast drive. Reliability has been good on this drive for me.

Intel 535, 480 GB, 2.5" seems to work fine, including BIOS disk password. Just make sure you have latest firmware RG21 (October 2015):

This firmware release provides the following changes:
• Fix for Windows’ disk error occurring after devsleep on systems with ATA user password
• Fix for I/O abort due to Sanitize Freeze Lock after COMRESET
• Fix for Drive Self-Test reporting incorrect status after test abort

Acronis True Image 11 (bootable CD) did a good job, as usually.

Temetka wrote:I check weekly --snip-- to see if it's starting to use some of the space I setup for over provisioning.

How do you check that usage? Are you looking at the SSD software interface to see how much of the SSD is allocated for over provisioning? (I'm unsure whether that shows any actual usage)

On my x220 I'm running:

[*]Enterprise Samsung 960GB SSD
[*]Crucial MX200 Msata 250GB SSD

The only SSD drive that wouldn't work with my laptop a year or so ago was a Samsung 840 or 850 EVO drive.

Unit wouldn't boot. I had to return it and get a PRO model and the laptop worked fine afterwards.

I've been running the original 128GB SSD that my X220 came with back in early 2011 until a few weeks ago. FYI, it's a relabled Samsung 470. Since it was getting a tad too small and I still had a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO that I had no use for I've replaced it about a month ago. Boy, what a difference that made!



In terms of long term reliablity: we have around 200 of these SSDs in use in various laptops and even non-critical production servers and storages and have never had a single SSD fail for the past almost three years that we've been hammering them day and night.

As a general rule of thumb I stay away from everything that has Sandforce written all over it as well as everything made by OCZ and Crucial. Samsung is very reliable and affordable, and if I had to spend money on an SSD right now it would certainly be either a Samsung or an Intel. Depends on the budget, really.

mj0 wrote: Since it was getting a tad too small and I still had a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO that I had no use for I've replaced it about a month ago. Boy, what a difference that made!

Hopefully you have the updated firmware AND you're amongst the lucky ones who got it to work...

In terms of long term reliablity: we have around 200 of these SSDs in use in various laptops and even non-critical production servers and storages and have never had a single SSD fail for the past almost three years that we've been hammering them day and night.

840 and 840EVOs don't fail - they just slow down to a crawl at some point in the game - which is why Samsung got trashed all over the web and had to release the firmware fix for the EVOs, although they never bothered updating it for the standard 840...

As a general rule of thumb I stay away from everything that has Sandforce written all over it as well as everything made by OCZ and Crucial. Samsung is very reliable and affordable, and if I had to spend money on an SSD right now it would certainly be either a Samsung or an Intel. Depends on the budget, really.

Agreed on the SandForce part.

OCZ was actually quite reliable before their jump into SF mud. Indilinx controllers were quite good in their day. Crucial is fine as long as one goes with their MLC offerings and not the TLC ones.

Intel going TLC is what would give me a *huge* pause if I were shopping for an SSD today. Having said that 730 was an awesome drive and likely the last Intel I'd ever consider buying.

SanDisk Extreme Pro still rules in my book. I've had an 850 Pro fail (as in *completely disappear*) on reboot and that experience left me with a sour taste in my mouth - especially given the price - although that issue has seemingly been fixed by subsequent firmware releases.

When the firmware fix was first released we updated every one of our 200+ drives, thus mine is currently running EXT0DB6Q. Not sure why I would not get it to work since every single drive we'd had to update (a major PITA btw, especially for the ones used in storages, but that's a different story) worked without an hitch. And yes, they're all 840 EVO.

I'm not yet convinced about SanDisk, they've release some really crappy drives in the early days of SSDs, and nothing is harder to fix than a bad first impression. Not sure why you're so dead set against TLC, though. Yes, it obviously can't be written to as often as MLC or even SLC but given today's load balancing algorithms and overprovisioning we should never run into an SSD refusing to accept our write request. We're more likely to run out of either space or patience.

mj0 wrote:
I'm not yet convinced about SanDisk, they've release some really crappy drives in the early days of SSDs, and nothing is harder to fix than a bad first impression.

I understand the sentiment.

Having said that, I've deployed a reasonably large number of Extreme Pros without a single issue of any kind and am intent on staying with them for as long as they're available. Their consistency and reliability has been without par in my not-so-limited experience.

Not sure why you're so dead set against TLC, though. Yes, it obviously can't be written to as often as MLC or even SLC but given today's load balancing algorithms and overprovisioning we should never run into an SSD refusing to accept our write request. We're more likely to run out of either space or patience.

I've entered the SSD game when X-25E was all that and then some and yes, I still have a few of those running in my "trophy" systems. TLC drives are simply not inexpensive enough to justify the use of inferior NAND in my book.

Hi, Most of my SSDs seem to work well enough in 'most' of my TPs only just got a couple of x220s so not tried long enough to be sure.
I currently have a Crucial M4, Samsung Pro 830, Hynix something or other? lol & a cheapish sandisk.
Only one i have had problem with was the sandisk. It was doa & i didnt notice for 5 months as stuck it in a drawer & left it there!
Sandisk were very good at replacing, free return & repalcement to later updated model. However this did not seem work too well in my T400 & it would bluescreen from time to time. However seems to work fine in my T420s as no issues at all (Touch wood) & that is closer to the x220.

I was going to try my Crucial M4 in my x220 but it is a 9.5MM drive Not a 7mm so i cannot . Im thinking i may sell this one on now as all my other SSDs are 7mm & can be used in all thinkpads i own.
I have also just ordered a couple of Msata ssds to experiment with. One Crucial M4 & another not well known cheapo brand lol
I am a bit nervous about opening up & fitting at the moment so i have also got adapters so i can test & use as standard 2.5 satas 1st.

blink wrote: I was going to try my Crucial M4 in my x220 but it is a 9.5MM drive Not a 7mm so i cannot .

You should be able to just remove the plastic spacer and either shorten the screws it comes with or get some shorter ones.
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSD ... d-p/108732

Many Thanks Jdrou much appreciated i never knew that & will take a look.

Did you order a used M4? I mean; who keeps new stock of Crucial M4's by now? That would have been a 70% write-off since 2012, comparing to current MX200 prices.

Makes me wonder; is the mSata slot in the X220 SATA-600? Or does the 2nd SATA-600 lane to go the Ultrabase?

jcvjcvjcvjcv wrote: Makes me wonder; is the mSata slot in the X220 SATA-600?

It's SATA II or SATA-300 if you prefer that nomenclature.

Hehe, my experience is that if I use SATA-III, too many will misinterpret.

Anyway; What a shame. Did Lenovo really think people would rather have the faster lane in the Ultrabase as opposed to the mSata slot? Or perhaps just a commonality with the larger T520 / W520

It probably has more to do with the fact that SATA-III over mSATA only came with SATA 3.1. Which was fully specified and released in July 2011, at which point the X220 had already been on the market for more than three months.

Let's face it: we're talking about an almost six year old device here. At least it *does* have an mSATA slot to run a second SSD in. Be thankful for what you have

Any experience with latest Western Digital SSD ? They have very aggressive pricing now, especially these 1 TB ones.

It's the same controller and NAND as the SanDisk X400, and both are similar to the Crucial MX300: Apparently reasonable for the price, but with some performance problems on sustained I/O (with the X400 and probably the WD not quite as bad as the Crucial). But so far no firmware issues reported.

Core Share wrote: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.

I bought my X220 new with an Intel SSD - 128 GByte. I replace that one with a Samsung 512 GByte and it is fine.