W520 HD replacement. SSD?

[bluetomgold]

It's now amazingly almost 4 years since I bought my W520 following advice on here (viewtopic.php?f=18&t=117189). Time flies! It has been a very good machine, plenty powerful enough for recording and mixing music projects and in the absence of much real "work" recently relegated to doubling up as the family's home entertainment machine. Not as well-built as my T61 was (plastic bits have broken on the W520) but it still cruises at most tasks I have thrown at it.

Unfortunately it has recently started reporting hard disk failure so I've been avoiding using it as I am yet to back everything up. I had this happen on another machine before - in the end I kept using it and had no issues but perhaps it's time to treat it to an upgrade.

Could you guys point me in the direction of a reasonably priced, suitable, compatible drive?

[RealBlackStuff]

Samsung EVO 860 (probably cheaper) or Sandisk Extreme Pro (probably more expensive) come to mind.

[Collector73]

The Samsung is certainly a good choice. It is fast, and the W520 uses all that speed because it has SATA6. (I measured it, with fast SSDs transfer speeds (sequential) are in excess of 500 MB/s).

[bluetomgold]

Excellent, thanks guys. I think 500GB looks a good buy at the moment... e.g. :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-500- ... 2974091459

Will get one ordered. May have to post again when I attempt installation...

[bluetomgold]

In the end I bought a 120GB Samsung 850 EVO because it was very cheap...it arrived today...any reason not to attack the Thinkpad with the screwdrivers and just shove it in? Any hints and tips gratefully received.

[Thinkpad4by3]

In the end I bought a 120GB Samsung 850 EVO because it was very cheap...it arrived today...any reason not to attack the Thinkpad with the screwdrivers and just shove it in? Any hints and tips gratefully received.

Don't do that.

Make sure to carefully unscrew the Thinkpad and only gently put the drive in.

Go ahead...there is really almost nothing that can go wrong if you work carefully.

[MikalE]

I've had an 850 EVO in my T520 for nearly three years now without issue.

[bluetomgold]

In the end I bought a 120GB Samsung 850 EVO because it was very cheap...it arrived today...any reason not to attack the Thinkpad with the screwdrivers and just shove it in? Any hints and tips gratefully received.

Don't do that.

Make sure to carefully unscrew the Thinkpad and only gently put the drive in.

Go ahead...there is really almost nothing that can go wrong if you work carefully.

LOL...thanks.

[bluetomgold]

Ha! Well...

Physically installing it and a fresh install of Windows 7 was a piece of cake. Seems fast!

Unfortunately no USB or networking out of the box so I'm currently burning drivers on to a DVD... Oh well, these things are never quite as easy as you hope...

[Thinkpad4by3]

I get networking first, install chrome or browser or choice, then dot net frame work, then ThinkVantage System Update....and it's all good.

[MikalE]

I have networking drivers on my backup drive for all of my systems in case of a drive failure and a corrupt system image backup.

It has saved me a lot of time in the past. After the network driver is loaded everything else is a walk in the park.

[bluetomgold]

Thanks guys! Nearly there now... everything seems to be working, just need to install software. Seems fast. Incredible upgrade for £20... I hope 120gb is enough!

Decided to try BitDefender antivirus as Avira was getting intrusive with constant pop-up advertising messages. Actually it's probably worse than a virus.... Not sure how much difference the SSD is making but BitDefender seems to be operating very transparently.

I have networking drivers on my backup drive for all of my systems in case of a drive failure and a corrupt system image backup.

It has saved me a lot of time in the past. After the network driver is loaded everything else is a walk in the park.

Yes! I usually do this and looked on my network drive before downloading. I had drivers for all the old systems I no longer own but not the W520 ...

... still in this case without USB support or networking they wouldn't have been much use anyway - only way I can think of to install is via the optical drive. Now I have them on a DVD I'll be ready next time.

[Armansy]

Ha! Well...

Physically installing it and a fresh install of Windows 7 was a piece of cake. Seems fast!

Unfortunately no USB or networking out of the box so I'm currently burning drivers on to a DVD... Oh well, these things are never quite as easy as you hope...

Thank you!