Thinkpads Forum

I'm soon looking to upgrade my Gen 7 X1 Carbon from 256gb preferably to a 1TB to 2TB NVMe storage, but I had some questions which I couldn't find clear answers to on my own.

First off, is there any lock out to the main storage/M.2 slot? I've run into whitelists with previous laptops and wondering if that's an issue here.

Second, what are the specification limitations of the main storage slot? Does it only accept NVMe interface? Will only single sided sticks work?

And lastly, is it possible to install secondary storage in the additional WLAN slot? If so, does it run into the white list issue, and if that is the case, is there a list of drives that will work, and fit the form factor?


Thank you in advance for any input.

Hey SeatBeeSate, welcome to the ThinkPads forum!

1. Related discussion here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=132185

2. May we summarize details that are pertinent to you:

a) All X1 Carbon models Gen 4 to Gen 9 does officially support 1 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe "2280" SSD, which are single-sided SSD (ie: not double-sided SSD).

b) Only X1 Carbon Gen 9 officially support 2 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe "2280" SSD, single-sided.

c) That said, I myself have successfully perform a test Product Recovery on a X1 Carbon Gen 4 using a 2 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe "2280" SSD, single-sided.
Ours was: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB SSD.
Therefore I strongly suspect that all X1 Carbon models Gen 4 to Gen 8 also support 2 TB SSD, although this was not listed as "supported".

d) From experience (X1C4, X1E1, X1E3), X1 Carbon models (and ThinkPad in general) does not "whitelist" SSD or HDD.
ie: There are no "lockouts" keeping you from purchasing your own SSD and using it.
Just keep your original SSD/HDD that came with your ThinkPad for "Warranty purposes"--ThinkPad repairman does not need to know that you're using some other SSD/HDD.

ymmv