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X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

X230-X280, X390 Series
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mogcai
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X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#1 Post by mogcai » Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:04 am

Hi guys,

I got a few questions regarding upgrade of my X240. I learnt that X240 has 2 slots for M.2 SSD. One is occupied by a 16GB SSD cache drive (this is what I find in my device manager) and the other is for WIFI card. I wanna replace the 16G SSD with a new SSD as windows drive, keep the HDD and upgrade to 8GB ram as 16GB is not supported.

My questions are:
1. Is it any 2242 m.2 SSD with be OK? Which model is crecommended? 128GB or 256GB?
2. Some said the slot is for cache drive only. Is it really OK use it for windows drive?

axur-delmeria
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#2 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:11 am

mogcai wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:04 am
Hi guys,

I got a few questions regarding upgrade of my X240. I learnt that X240 has 2 slots for M.2 SSD. One is occupied by a 16GB SSD cache drive (this is what I find in my device manager) and the other is for WIFI card. I wanna replace the 16G SSD with a new SSD as windows drive, keep the HDD and upgrade to 8GB ram as 16GB is not supported.

My questions are:
1. Is it any 2242 m.2 SSD with be OK? Which model is crecommended? 128GB or 256GB?
2. Some said the slot is for cache drive only. Is it really OK use it for windows drive?
The second M.2 SSD slot is not the wifi slot. It's a special part called the 3rd NGFF SSD adapter (FRU 04X3827) which is installed in the same place as the smart card reader. You only need this if you want to have WWAN/LTE card and M.2 SSD at the same time.

Regarding the SSD brand: unfortunately your options are limited. The big brands like Samsung and Crucial don't have M.2 2242 SATA SSDs. I helped upgrade a friend's T440 (which uses the same M.2 2242 SSDs as your X240), and settled on the Transcend MTS400 because I didn't recognize the other brands listed (KingDian, KingSpec, MyDigitalSSD). With regards to capacity, take note that a 240-256GB SSD is generally faster than a 120-128GB one.

It's OK to use as a windows drive-- that's how we set up my friend's T440. The warnings are probably referring to the 16GB SSD itself, which is too small for Windows.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

mogcai
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Location: Macau & Macau

Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#3 Post by mogcai » Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:20 am

axur-delmeria wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:11 am
mogcai wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:04 am
Hi guys,

I got a few questions regarding upgrade of my X240. I learnt that X240 has 2 slots for M.2 SSD. One is occupied by a 16GB SSD cache drive (this is what I find in my device manager) and the other is for WIFI card. I wanna replace the 16G SSD with a new SSD as windows drive, keep the HDD and upgrade to 8GB ram as 16GB is not supported.

My questions are:
1. Is it any 2242 m.2 SSD with be OK? Which model is crecommended? 128GB or 256GB?
2. Some said the slot is for cache drive only. Is it really OK use it for windows drive?
The second M.2 SSD slot is not the wifi slot. It's a special part called the 3rd NGFF SSD adapter (FRU 04X3827) which is installed in the same place as the smart card reader. You only need this if you want to have WWAN/LTE card and M.2 SSD at the same time.

Regarding the SSD brand: unfortunately your options are limited. The big brands like Samsung and Crucial don't have M.2 2242 SATA SSDs. I helped upgrade a friend's T440 (which uses the same M.2 2242 SSDs as your X240), and settled on the Transcend MTS400 because I didn't recognize the other brands listed (KingDian, KingSpec, MyDigitalSSD). With regards to capacity, take note that a 240-256GB SSD is generally faster than a 120-128GB one.

It's OK to use as a windows drive-- that's how we set up my friend's T440. The warnings are probably referring to the 16GB SSD itself, which is too small for Windows.
Thank you for your reply. Do you mean the 3rd gen NGFF SSD adaptor slot is obsolete and can be used for m.2 SSD? I found people simply install a new m.2 SSD without removing the cache drive in some online tutorial.

axur-delmeria
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#4 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:00 am

mogcai wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:20 am
I found people simply install a new m.2 SSD without removing the cache drive in some online tutorial.
Can you provide a link to that tutorial?
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

mogcai
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Location: Macau & Macau

Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#5 Post by mogcai » Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:28 pm

axur-delmeria wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:00 am
mogcai wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:20 am
I found people simply install a new m.2 SSD without removing the cache drive in some online tutorial.
Can you provide a link to that tutorial?
I don’t know if I get it correctly.
https://youtu.be/g0U4aVKkD4I

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#6 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:27 pm

Jeez, what a bloody amateur...
And all he did was inserting an SSD in the WWAN-slot.
axur-delmeria was talking about the extra SSD that goes either instead of the card-reader, or replaces the cache or fills that empty space under internal battery and speaker next to it.
See this: https://imgur.com/a/ynN0m
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
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mogcai
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Location: Macau & Macau

Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#7 Post by mogcai » Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:40 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:27 pm
Jeez, what a bloody amateur...
And all he did was inserting an SSD in the WWAN-slot.
axur-delmeria was talking about the extra SSD that goes either instead of the card-reader, or replaces the cache or fills that empty space under internat battery and speaker next to it.
See this: https://imgur.com/a/ynN0m
I am really an amateur and that’s why I am seeking for help here. Sorry for making you mad😞.
Can I just insert a SSD like the video and move my windows to it?

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#8 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Jul 07, 2018 3:33 pm

Yes, you can.
But before you install your OS on that M.2 SSD, remove your main-drive temporarily.
You should also set that boot-up drive as the first one in BIOS Startup.

PS: and you did not make me mad, it was just the snail-tempo of that guy...

axur-delmeria
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#9 Post by axur-delmeria » Sun Jul 08, 2018 3:59 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 3:33 pm
But before you install your OS on that M.2 SSD, remove your main-drive temporarily.
You should also set that boot-up drive as the first one in BIOS Startup.
Good advice. That's exactly what we did when we installed the M.2 2242 SSD in the T440.

@mogcai

After watching that video tutorial you linked to, here are my thoughts:

At 3:38 it's the hard drive being removed, just as RealBlackStuff advised.
At 4:43, when the M.2 2242 SATA SSD is installed, you can see that the M.2 slot is empty. That means there is no cache drive installed.
The slot beside it contains the wifi card. Look closely, there are two wires (one black and the other gray) connected to it, those are the cables for the wifi antennas.

You should grab a copy of the X240 Hardware Maintenance Manual. Google is your friend.
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
Impulse Buy: Thinkpad not named for safety reasons :lol:
RIP: X220 4291-C91 X61 7676-A24 760XD-U9E :cry:

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#10 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:49 am

Here are some pictures of what it could look like: https://imgur.com/a/7Bk7CQu

mogcai
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Location: Macau & Macau

Re: X240 upgrade (Ram and M.2 SSD)

#11 Post by mogcai » Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:32 am

Thank you! You guys are very helpful :D

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