HDD replacement in the new T520 - possible ?

[djlukasek]

I am thinking of buying the new T520 i7, full HD, that is here offered with 500 GB HDD only. My thought seemed to be simple: to replace the HDD with Intel SSD drive 240 GB (for extremely speedy performance) and to put the 500 GB HDD drive instead of DVD drive (that I don t need ) for data storage purpose. I was however told by the local Lenovo dealer that it is not possible to replace the basic drive, since it contains OEM system and drivers and it cannot be installed or copied on another drive. This sounds a bit strange to me ... Is it possible that it is true and you cannot simply replace the hard drive and to install the system and drivers ? (as on any other laptop, including my present MacBook Pro) ? To place an SSD drive as a second drive instead of the optical drive without OS included there, does not seem to have much sense for general speed and performance boost

If so, what one would do if his original hard drive fails ... or if within the course of time the HDD capacity would increase substantially and 2TB HDD would cost as today 200 GB ... I was also told that no W7 installation DVD is included with the laptop ...

[wolfman]

You can make a set of recovery disks (first is a CD and subsequent 3 I believe will be DVD's) from the system when you receive it. I'd then recommend taking out the internal drive and replacing it with the SSD. You can then use the DVD drive to restore the system from the factory onto the SSD using the recovery disks. You can then place the factory mechanical drive into an ultrabay adapter (which you will need to buy separately, it doesn't come with the system) and swap the DVD drive for the factory mechanical drive. That way if you need your DVD drive, your boot drive (the SSD) is still in the system.

The recovery disks are *supposed* to be SSD aware, so you should get proper alignment on the SSD with this approach.

One note on the ultrabay adapter. I have an adapter from my T410 that was supposed to work in my T420 (your T520 uses similiar). It technically does, but it's ultrabay slim (e.g., 9.5mm in height). The T420 (and T520) have ultrabay (e.g., 12.7mm in height). So the 9.5mm adapter leaves a "gap", which I didn't want. The folks that advertise at the top of the page, newmodeus, make an adapter that works fine, matches the Thinkpad, and doesn't have a gap as it's 12.7mm in height. I have no affiliation with them other than having one of their products. You can also buy cheaper alternatives on eBay if you want to try one of those. Finally, there was a post here a couple months back that Lenovo may actually have a 12.7mm part that you can order, just be sure that it's 12.7mm and not one of the 9.5mm parts...
Good luck.

Oh, I have the 120gb version of the Intel 520 you are looking to buy. I think you'll be pleased with the performance of that 240gb drive.

[Neil]

I suppose if it's true that ignorance is bliss...you must have been talking to one very happy "local Lenovo dealer". However, I also suppose that you are even more happy to now have accurate knowledge.

Also, welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy your stay here...there are plenty of knowledgable folks here that are very willing to help.

[ZaZ]

You might want to consider the mSATA SSD if you don't need WWAN. mSATA drives are small SSDs that plug into a miniPCI slot on motherboard. The benefit of this setup is that you get a SSD for the boot drive, but can keep the platter drive in the main bay for storage where speed isn't as important. If you want to replace the ODD with a HDD you could have three drives in the W520.

If you want a Windows disc, you can download one here.

[djlukasek]

Thank you very much for your replies. Boss of the original guy contacted me and everything seems Ok . They will install Intel 520 240 GB SSD (that is sold for a favourable price here at the moment) at the place of the original 500 HDD drive (with all the system, recovery etc.) and will move the HDD drive to DVD place into ultrabay adapter. The only question they were not able to answer is:

Since I will be using SSD most of the time and that 500 GB HDD will be a storage of data that are not in constant use, would it be somehow possible to put the HDD in the optical drive into a working model, that it would be instantly sleeping and idle (not moving) when not used ? (like for example my external drives etc.). This would be quite an essential thing for me that would fully utilise the advantage of SSD silent run and energy savings. Do you think such a setting is possible ? (through BIOS or some utility ? I would not mind if it takes few seconds for the disc to awake when reached if needed. This setting is available in the basic windows energy settings ("put HDD into sleep in ... min.) but it is meant for all the drives. I wonder whether it can be targeted only to a specific drive.

I have been using MacBook Pro for about four years, but I reached the point now when I need something working better, faster and more reliable. Especially when used for a mobile studio recordings etc. I hope this laptop will be very satisfactory in general. Including the SSD disc amazing speed (that I have not experienced myself yet, but heard others to sing praise about it ...)

I suppose that Thinkpad SATA type will fully utilise SSD speed up to its 550 MB/s ?

[rabbitz]

Hi, I have the same set up (ssd in original hard drive area and hdd in optical bay) and it works exactly as you wish without any specific configuration on my part. The hard drive is 'off' until I open it from my computer or if I read a file off it, then it will take a second or two to spin up and turn 'on'. I'm not sure how to control how quickly it switches back off though...

[djlukasek]

Well, if it switches off automatically and there is a permanent silence then, there is no need to control it ..

How about fans and other noise of T520 ? I heard it is rather quiet laptop and I hope for that (almost my main criteria - I hate fan noise)

[rabbitz]

Fans are OK but there have been complaints of a a high pitched whining sound that some people have been getting due to some power regulator thing in the laptop that apparently lenovo has stressed is 'normal'. I'm not 100% sure if my laptop has it (I do hear some high pitched sounds once in a while, but it might be one of my external hard drives.... I can't really tell) and it doesn't bother me too much personally... but if you want the entire laptop to be completely quiet and then all of a sudden you have this sound it can get annoying. Turning off power management in the BIOS should fix the problem, according to some posts I've read, but then you don't get the maximum power savings while on battery I guess.