T530 adding a 2nd hard drive question.

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johnny9fingers · #1 Post by **johnny9fingers** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:03 pm

Hello, I recently purchased a T530 and am very happy with this machine. I would like to add a SSD as a 2nd HD but don't really know how to select the best or appropriate one for my T530. My machine is a T530 2359-CTO, Intel i5-3210M 2.50 GHz.
I would be installing it in the DVD RW bay and figure I need something like this NewmodeUS SSD Caddy for Lenovo ThinkPad T530. The hard part for me is selecting the SSD. Here are a few I was looking at, but don't know what the differences are between them.

Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT180A3K5 2.5" 180GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW180A3K5 2.5" 180GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW180A310 2.5" 180GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD1 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD3 mSATA 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

Any guidance would be appreciated, Thank you and Happy New Year!!!

John

#2 Post by **ZaZ** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:17 pm

There's very little difference in performance between SSDs. They're all fast. Personally, I'd buy the least expensive of the size you want. If you're not using WWAN, you might want to look at the mSATA SSD. It plugs into the empty miniPCI slot on the motherboard. The benefit of this is that you can keep the optical drive or add a third drive if you're inclined.

johnny9fingers · #3 Post by **johnny9fingers** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:59 pm

Thanks for the info ZaZ. Haven't had any experience opening up a machine to the extent of removing the keyboard, so I'm kinda nervous about that. Yet, the instructions in the owners manual look pretty straight forward so maybe...... One thing that did suprise me was the Crucial 256GB mSATA SSD and the Intel 20GB cost almost the same (at Newegg) and thats quite a difference in GB per dollar.
Thanks again,
John

wkw · #4 Post by **wkw** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:48 am

With a T530, you should have an empty msata slot under the keyboard you can put a SSD in.
It is only sata2 speed, so it won't be as fast as a sata3 ssd, but it is very good as a system cache

rollinstone157 · #5 Post by **rollinstone157** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:56 pm

johnny9fingers wrote:Hello, I recently purchased a T530 and am very happy with this machine. I would like to add a SSD as a 2nd HD but don't really know how to select the best or appropriate one for my T530. My machine is a T530 2359-CTO, Intel i5-3210M 2.50 GHz.
I would be installing it in the DVD RW bay and figure I need something like this NewmodeUS SSD Caddy for Lenovo ThinkPad T530. The hard part for me is selecting the SSD. Here are a few I was looking at, but don't know what the differences are between them.
...
Any guidance would be appreciated, Thank you and Happy New Year!!!

John

Hello!

Intel SSD's are great, yes. But Samsung also makes GREAT SSD's that offer excellent performance and reliability at their price-point (tends to be better than Intel). The new 840 Pro SSD (here's the 256 GB on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147193) is at the top of it's class--just google the drive name and putter around some of the more technical reviews (like this one http://techreport.com/review/23990/sams ... d-reviewed).

If you don't want an mSATA (and the slower SATA II speed would limit the performance of that), then I think the 840 Pro SSD would make a killer boot drive. But if you have it as a boot drive, perhaps it makes more sense to put it inside the computer, and put the old spinning disk in the caddy. That way, if you want to watch a DVD, you can do that simply by removing the caddy.

johnny9fingers · #6 Post by **johnny9fingers** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:49 am

Hello rollinstone157,
Thanks for the info. So you're saying replace the existing HD with the SSD, then put in HD in the ultrabay replacing the DVD R/W? Then I would have to move the boot data from the HD to the SSD? I wil have to study up to learn how to do that. Thanks again for your reply.
John

#7 Post by **ZaZ** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:31 am

johnny9fingers wrote:Haven't had any experience opening up a machine to the extent of removing the keyboard, so I'm kinda nervous about that.

It's really not that bad. If you get stuck, post here and someone will help.

johnny9fingers · #8 Post by **johnny9fingers** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:03 pm

If I decide to install either a SSD or move the existing HD to the ultra bay currently used by the DVD R/W, I would need something like the NewmodeUS SSD Caddy?

deltoid84 · #9 Post by **deltoid84** » Thu Jan 31, 2013 4:24 am

Hi,
I have upgraded from stock HDD in the primary hdd bay to SSD in my T430. I used metal caddy and rubber rails from original/stock drive to mount SSD. Because I needed 7mm SSD to fit in the primary bay I went for Samsung 830 series SSD which performs very well and it is reasonable priced. Then I went and bought genuine Lenovo 0A65623 (12.7mm) Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adaptor III (as far as I know both T430 and T530 have 12,7mm bays)
and additional hdd caddy&rails http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Lenovo-Thin ... 0411169630 to use my stock 500GB hdd in bay adapter.

All nicely fit and works as it should

Hope this helps.

BTW: before buying genuine second hdd bay adaptor, I had bought a non-genuine one from eBay that turned to be complete waste of money - it did not fit nicely and was very hard to eject/remove once it was in the bay.

johnny9fingers · #10 Post by **johnny9fingers** » Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:53 pm

Thanks for the tips and advice folks, here's what I plan to do. I currently have a 320GB HD so I'm going to replace it with the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB. First I'll put the Samsung SSD in the ultrabay and clone the existing HD onto it using either Ghost or Acronis True Image. Do you folks have a preference on which is better, or are they both pretty much the same? After cloning, I'll pull the HD and replace it with the recently cloned SSD. Next I'll put a second Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD in the ultrabay to store photos, video and audio files. One of the primary reasons to go with SSD's is so I can use my computer in the field as an audio recorder. The SSD's won't be damged by moving my machine with it's running like an spinning HD would.
If anyone see's a flaw in what I intend to do please let me know.....
Thanks,
John

Kaso · #11 Post by **Kaso** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:32 am

wkw wrote:With a T530, you should have an empty msata slot under the keyboard you can put a SSD in.
It is only sata2 speed, so it won't be as fast as a sata3 ssd, but it is very good as a system cache

LOL. Most use cases these days do not saturate SATA 3.0Gbit/s (variously called sata2, SATA2, SATA II). So the mSATA SSD transferring at 3.0Gbit/s is not a real concern.

Most of my ThinkPads boot from mSATA SSD, load OS from mSATA SSD and launch apps from mSATA SSD. Fast.

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