Thinkpads Forum

Just bought a W520, with the 160GB SSD drive. Getting close to capacity after just a couple days of transferring data over from my older T61. It has an optical drive, so if I want to add another SSD, I need to do it in the mSATA slot.

What's the largest SSD drive that will fit? I see a 128 MyDigital (around $200) and an X18-M 160GB (anywhere from $250 to $400). Will either fit? Anything with more capacity that's currently available (or within a reasonable time frame--say 30 days or less)?

Thanks! First post

Stuart
Houston
long-time ThinkPad user

I believe the largest mSATA drives right now are 128GB like the MyDigitial you've found. The X18-M is not a mSATA drive and won't fit the miniPCI slot.

The MyDigital mSATA SSD is backordered right now for most of the time you're looking at (3-4 week lead). Newegg has a OCZ 120GB drive for $229+$2.99 shipping in stock now. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227748) a little smaller; a little more expensive. Possibly to pay for the better-known Sandforce controller vs. Phison used in the MyDigital products.

MyDigital shows benchmarks comparable to SandForce drives on their site, but drives with Phison controllers had some really bad reviews initially; I'm not sure to what degree that was their fault or if the integrators (Patriot) were to blame. It does seem that this uses a different generation of controller anyway.

One thing I've never been able to get information about is how much SSD capacity is kept in reserve for replacement of bad blocks. One might imagine that a 120GB drive has the same amount of flash as a 128GB drive, but that as blocks fail, the 128GB won't have any spare capacity and so free space would drop right away.

I bought the MyDigital a few days after my post (3-4 weeks ago). It works superbly!

I was stunned when I opened the package, and saw how small it was. It's like a credit card, cut in half!

d'oh... take a couple weeks away from the board and forget to look at the dates when I stop in Glad it's working. So, I think there are three vendors now? Intel, ReNice, and MyDigital?