Thinkpads Forum

I installed a new Crucial M4 256GB SSD (CT256M4SSD2) today on my 3 month old W520 (4270CTO). I'm using original BIOs (1.27) shipped with my W520. No problems at all and it works very well. The SSD shipped with the latest firmware (0009 and required no update.

Here's what I did:

1. I intialized and partitioned the SSD on an external USB 3.0 docking station. Did this just like a normal HDD.

2. I used Apricorn's EZ Gig, version 4.0, cloning software with their SATA Wire 3.0 USB 3.0 connector.
A. Connected the SSD to the Apricorn's SATA Wire cable, then connected to USB 3.0 port.
B. Inserted EZ Gig CD into external CD drive and it automatically loaded and started software.
C. Followed simple onscreen instructions. Used default settings with one exception. In advanced settings, clicked 4K alignment as an option.
D. My original W520 hard drive was cloned to the SSD in less than 20 minutes with no errors.
E. I shutdown computer and disconnected the SSD drive and cable.

3. Installed the SSD into the hard drive compartment on my W520 per Lenovo HDD swap out instructions. The SSD fit into the HDD enclosure bay perfectly using all orignal screws and brackets from the existing HDD.

4. Booted up perfectly. The SSD booted up just as my original drive but about twice as fast. I did get a message that the new SSD was detected and software drivers installed during the boot process. It asked me to restart my system but I delayed this and it still finished booting right into Windows with no problems.

5. My system recognized it had an SSD and disabled Defrag for the SSD but left my other drives on their existing defrag schedules. I checked that TRIM was activated and it was. I also disabled indexing and a couple other functions I'd read about in various tips forums.

6. Applications on the SSD start up quickly, much faster than from my original HDD.

7. I've shutdown and started up a couple times to test the system and it boots perfectly in about 40 seconds, down from over a minute and a half before. I've also started from Sleep mode with no problem.

8. Windows Performance Index for my hard drive system went from 5.9 to 7.9 with SSD installed. That's another clear indication the SSD is performing up to its cabability.

Summary: On first use, I'm very happy with my performance boost and satisfied that this Crucial M4 256GB SSD is compatible with my W520. That's saying alot considering problems others are having.

I have been running one for a few months, and had my first hiccup yesterday. On restore from sleep, the imm32.dll file was corrupted or erased. This file is used for quite a bit, so there were error messages springing up all over. After cutting a sales trip short and coming back to the office, I was able to get things going again by copying the file over from my desktop, although I am certainly not sure this is the only file that was deleted. This SSD was running Firmware 0009 as well. I had some other problems too with files, but left the unit running on the BIOS screen for an hour (suggestion from another forum to prevent disk access and let the control try to sort things out) which solved the problem.

On the larger subject of SSD reliability, I have ordered an Intel 510 to replace the M4 in my w520 and another to replace the one in my wife's w510. I have had 3 SSD failures in the last 6 months (2 crucial and one OCZ), and the Intel route is my last try before giving up on them. While my backups (are now) quite extensive, I can't have failures cut short trips that were planned weeks in advance. May go back to spinning disks if this doesn't help.

cheetahdriver wrote:I have been running one for a few months, and had my first hiccup yesterday. On restore from sleep, the imm32.dll file was corrupted or erased. This file is used for quite a bit, so there were error messages springing up all over. After cutting a sales trip short and coming back to the office, I was able to get things going again by copying the file over from my desktop, although I am certainly not sure this is the only file that was deleted. This SSD was running Firmware 0009 as well. I had some other problems too with files, but left the unit running on the BIOS screen for an hour (suggestion from another forum to prevent disk access and let the control try to sort things out) which solved the problem.

On the larger subject of SSD reliability, I have ordered an Intel 510 to replace the M4 in my w520 and another to replace the one in my wife's w510. I have had 3 SSD failures in the last 6 months (2 crucial and one OCZ), and the Intel route is my last try before giving up on them. While my backups (are now) quite extensive, I can't have failures cut short trips that were planned weeks in advance. May go back to spinning disks if this doesn't help.

Thanks very much for your info. This may not bode well for Crucial SSDs in Lenovo "W" series laptops. Like you, I can't afford failures which result in significant downtime. I've been rigorous about backing up my system but I'll be just a bit more so now. I normally keep a monthly cloned HDD for a quick swapout in addition to normal weekly backups of everything on my main system SSD. I may shorten that schedule for awhile.

Interesting that you're sticking with SSDs after the problems you've had. This certainly isn't an area for the faint-of-heart and risk-averse folks. Will be very interested to see how Intel products work out for you.

djones18 wrote:Interesting that you're sticking with SSDs after the problems you've had. This certainly isn't an area for the faint-of-heart and risk-averse folks. Will be very interested to see how Intel products work out for you.

Well, I have also had problems with platter drives that didn't take trips very well either. The speed and shock resistance of the SSD has been the main selling point for me. However, I really took a hit when my wife lost a couple of weeks worth of her PhD work. So now, backups on two different external drives in two different locations daily.

The thing is, I put an x25-M into my desktop a couple of years ago to speed it up, and it is still running fine. That example, along with a couple of articles on SSD reliability that put Intel at nearly an order of magnitude better, are enough to get me to try.

Never had a platter drive fail on me, though I tend to upgrade every couple years to larger, faster drives. Yours is a cautionary tale for SSD owners. Backup, backup, backup. I am seeing rapid evolution and updates of SSD controller circuitry. I'm no expert in this area but it would appear SSD makers are still experimenting and we are the beta-testers to help them get it right.

I am very happy to have been able to upgrade my Thinkpads to ssd. All in all a very good experience for this non-technical senior citizen

Well, the Intel 510 showed up this afternoon, and after deciding I would wait until the weekend to load everything, the M4 just went down hard. The W520 is giving me a 2100 error which means it can see something. Letting it set in BIOS mode for an hour and then try it again. I wasn't doing anything else tonight anyway...

Touch wood, haven't had any issues yet with my m4 256GB. However, I did a fresh install of Windows onto the Intel mSATA drive and only use the Crucial has a data/apps disk. I also run incremental backups every few minute, and automatically back up important files to my old desktop. I amalso somewhat leery of SSDs as I had a Vertex Turbo 64 fail on me a few years ago for no reason during a particularly busy spell at work. However, the same drive has performed relatively flawlessly in my other desktop at home (as a boot drive too!) ever since.