Thinkpads Forum

I am torn because I want the speed of the SSD but need the size that an HDD offers - Is it possible to have both? Possibly boot from an SSD express card and have an internal HDD? Any other ideas?

butwhyowhy wrote:I am torn because I want the speed of the SSD but need the size that an HDD offers - Is it possible to have both? Possibly boot from an SSD express card and have an internal HDD? Any other ideas?

A 60 to 80 gig solid state drive is plenty big enough for the operating system and Documents. Multimedia files can be kept on a separate drive in the Ultra Bay, or even on an external USB drive.

It's a good mix of excellent speed, and affordable cost. Even on an external drive, files are called up really fast when the operating system is on a SSD.

That's what I am doing, and things are 30% to 60% faster using a solid state drive vs. the spinning platter type for the operating system.

mgo wrote:A 60 to 80 gig solid state drive is plenty big enough for the operating system and Documents. Multimedia files can be kept on a separate drive in the Ultra Bay, or even on an external USB drive.

Thanks but I am trying to avoid having to travel with the Ultra Bay - a definite alternative if there are no other solutions.

I have a 160GB X-25M as a primary boot device and a 48GB expresscard SSD (one of the few that were made at the time that used the PCIE interface in the expresscard). I use the 48GB ssd for volatile things - downloads, etc. - while I use the X-25M as a system drive. Works great, no moving parts, and screaming fast.

I had a T61 that i fitted the Hitachi Traverstar 7K200 100GB (the 2nd generation, fastest in its classs) and then I upgraded with a MTRON 32GB SLC SSD. In my experience, BOTH boot up just as fast, same battery power etc. The only slight difference is substained write speed in one of my business software, because SSD seem faster than the HDD.

Now that I am using a X301 with 128GB SDD MLC Samsung, my 'experience' is also quite similar.

So my opinion is that there is not much difference between SSD and HDD.

I end up getting a 80GB 1st Gen Intel X18M for my x301. Was trying to get a 160GB Gen2 version, but they are out of stock everywhere. The 80GB is well priced, so I got it and installed win7 on it, it absolutely flys now, 4k write performance is way better than my old samsung SLC 64GB.

expansys have them for $198 USD.
http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=174734