Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
I want to replace my SSD disk in thinkpad x230...there are ssd disks that state they are 7mm high...
I do not know how high my disk is...can anybody pls advise? thank you

The simplest solution would be to remove the drive (with the system off) and measure it. 2.5" laptop drives come standard in 9.5mm and 7mm heights. I believe that your X230 will only fit the 7mm drives.

thanks, no way I can measure anything..I do not want to touch it until the replacement is ready.

.I managed to look it up, and yes it is a 7mm but thanks for the reply.

I cannot navigate my way around all the documentation...I look up the Hardware maintenance Manual, one would assume this info is there, but I could not find it...just a list of screws and how to replace the thing. Nothing about dimensions, unless I looked at the wrong place.

I am thinking that the x230 is very similar to the x220tablet in respect to the type of hard drive/SSDs it is compatible with. My x220tablet actually has two internal ports that I can boot an OS from. They are: (1) 2.5" 7mm SSD or HDD and (1) mSATA SSD. My setup is that I have left my 2.5 7mm bay empty and am using an mSATA for my W7 Pro boot. I actually do not need to carry an exorbitant amount of data around with me at all times so I have no need to fill that other bay. I keep my music on an 64gb SXDC and data on removable USB thumb drives.

EDIT: Looks like you found the info you needed! Great!

Correct. The drive is 7mm in those machines.

There is a hack that allows 9.5mm drives to be installed, but is hardly necessary nowadays when just about all SSDs come in a 7mm format.

You could also install a mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot and keep the "main" hard drive bay for a storage drive. That's the setup that I had on almost all of my past *20 series machines, and *30 series fares even better in that respect since it allows SATA III transfer speeds from the mSATA slot unlike the previous models which were locked to SATA II speeds.

Happy upgrading.

PRAGUEGUY wrote:...I look up the Hardware maintenance Manual, one would assume this info is there, but I could not find it...

Dimensions of the hard drive is not something that is listed in the HMM. In fact, I don't think any of the physical dimensions of the laptop or any of the pieces that fit inside are documented there. Where you can find this information, is within what's called the Product Specifications Reference (PSREF) and the "tabook" document for current systems and "ltwbook" for withdrawn systems (no longer sold by the factory). For the X230, you can find that document here:

http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/ltwbook.pdf

Note that from time-to-time, Lenovo will condense older models into other documents not named "ltwbook.pdf". You can go to the main Withdrawn index page and search for what you need:

http://psref.lenovo.com/WithdrawnBook