Thinkpads Forum

Hi, Can I use Intel 310 ssd which connects to mPCIe port in my T510?

I understand that normally this port serves as wwan upgrade. However I read on some forums that you can use this port as a storage expansion in some Dell laptops I wonder if the same is true for Thinkpads. Lenovo just announced that they will be using them in ther T420/520 series but I wonder if older (T510/T410) series will accept such an upgrade.


Here's the link to this particular ssd at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Thanks!

With a bit of hacking i'd say it would be possible.

There were/are several threads about miniPCIe SSDs in the WWAN slot. It almost always resulted as "not possible" due to physical limitations - if I remember correctly, the WWAN slot is somewhat smaller than a classic miniPCIe slot, making such "upgrade" impossible.

If you really _need_ a SSD + larger HDD for storage, use the ultrabay HDD extension.

I additionally found out that not even this drive is a real SATA PCIe controller with attached drive, it's just something called mSATA. Quoting http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Intel-31 ... ew/?page=2 :

This is basically a mini PCI Express (PCIe) mini-connector, except that it supports SATA signals. Before you think about ripping your notebook's Wi-Fi card out and jamming this into the mini PCIe slot, save yourself the trouble, because it probably won't work unless the manufacturer did a bit of tweaking so that it will process SATA signals.

According to

Lenovo's Tom Butler, Director of ThinkPad Product Marketing, notes that the 310 Series can be used as the ThinkPad's sole storage device or in conjunction with a mechanical hard drive.

it might be supported on newer (maybe even T420 / similar) Thinkpads.

Also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OLCLIdvBP0

Well, that's too bad. However won't be changing my laptop just to get this ssd working. I don't think there is any physical limitation but it's just that it's not supported by bios or the motherboard in general. Maybe some bios update will change it later? Who knows....

I think supertalent annonced a SSD, which should work with Pcie mini. Might be wrong about the compatibility though.