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W530 SSD too small

W530/W540/W541/W550 Series
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Mater
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Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 9:59 pm
Location: Davidson, North Carolina

W530 SSD too small

#1 Post by Mater » Fri May 10, 2019 9:01 pm

Hello

I have a W530 - i7-3840QM 2.8GHz 16GB ram 64 bit and it has a 160GB SSD.

I have no more storage capacity (due primarily to high volume of pictures) and looking for the best solution. I would like to stay with an SSD and also do not want to give up the DVD.

Should I just get a larger primary SSD? This would be my first choice but I have no idea what I would need, best brand, etc. other than I would want min 400GB. I know very little about this sort of thing.

Is there space to add a second SSD without giving up the DVD? I have no idea of the + or - of this route or if its even a posibility.

Or use an external SSD - an option that I would put as the very last choice.

Thanks for any advice. Much appreciated.

axur-delmeria
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#2 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat May 11, 2019 12:39 am

You have two options:

1. Get a larger SSD to replace your 160GB one. They're getting cheap nowadays. Even 500GB is affordable.

2. Get an mSATA SSD. This way you don't need to change your current SSD nor remove the optical drive.

Check the prices though, since they're not as common the prices are higher per gigabyte compared to regular 2.5" SATA SSDs.
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:

ZaZ
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#3 Post by ZaZ » Sat May 11, 2019 1:55 am

A 1TB M.2 SSD from a reputable brand is probably $100-125. If you add the M.2 SSD to increase storage and keep your current SSD, you won't have to re-install the OS.
ThinkPad L14 - 2.1GHz Ryzen 4650U | 16GB | 256GB | 14" FHD | Win11P
ProBook 470 G5 - 1.6GHz Core i5 | 16GB | 2.2TB | 17" FHD | Mint

axur-delmeria
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#4 Post by axur-delmeria » Sat May 11, 2019 2:13 am

ZaZ wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 1:55 am
A 1TB M.2 SSD from a reputable brand is probably $100-125. If you add the M.2 SSD to increase storage and keep your current SSD, you won't have to re-install the OS.
W530 has mSATA slot, not M.2.
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:

w0qj
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#5 Post by w0qj » Sat May 11, 2019 12:07 pm

+1 for upgrading/replacing with a 2.5" SSD, which is the most cost effective SSD format right now.

Even the USB 3.0 external SATA SSD enclosures are cheap.
Daily Driver: (X1E3) X1 Extreme 3rd Gen | mobile broadband (WWAN)
Current Thinkpads: X1E3 | X1E1 | X1C10 | X1C9 | X1C4 | X1C3 | X230
Retired Thinkpads: X250 | T410 | T42 | 560 (circa 1996)

Dragunov
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#6 Post by Dragunov » Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:36 pm

Mater wrote:
Fri May 10, 2019 9:01 pm
Hello

I have a W530 - i7-3840QM 2.8GHz 16GB ram 64 bit and it has a 160GB SSD.

I have no more storage capacity (due primarily to high volume of pictures) and looking for the best solution. I would like to stay with an SSD and also do not want to give up the DVD.

Should I just get a larger primary SSD? This would be my first choice but I have no idea what I would need, best brand, etc. other than I would want min 400GB. I know very little about this sort of thing.

Is there space to add a second SSD without giving up the DVD? I have no idea of the + or - of this route or if its even a posibility.

Or use an external SSD - an option that I would put as the very last choice.

Thanks for any advice. Much appreciated.
This, https://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydig ... -sb2-0256/

Or, This. https://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydig ... -sb2-0512/

I have an mSATA 240gb of this brand running as a boot drive in a T430s. It's fast and reliable.
I have a 240gb, and a 480gb M.2 NGFF in each of my W540 ThinkPads. Not the boot drive, but my Downloads folder, TEMP files, and my stored Macrium Reflect image. So far, they've been excellent.

TinkerMan
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Location: Paris, France

Re: W530 SSD too small

#7 Post by TinkerMan » Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:18 am

THIS is the quite literally the best mSata you can get in your machine

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=samsung+msat ... _sb_noss_1
W530, 3840QM, 32GB, K2000M
P1, XEON 2176, 32GB ECC, P2000, IPS
X230, 3320M, 16GB, HD4000, IPS
T601F X9000, 8GB, X3100, UXGA FlexView 1600x1200
T61 14" 4:3, T9500, 8GB, NVS140M
T60 14" 4:3, T7600, 3GB, GMA950
P71, 7700HQ, 16GB, P600, IPS
T470 6300U
R61i, T430s
RIP: T43p, X201

mydreamlaptop
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Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:18 pm
Location: Kailua, Oahu, HI

Re: W530 SSD too small

#8 Post by mydreamlaptop » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:59 pm

Old thread but if anyone else is considering this, the mSATA slot on the **30 series maxes out at about 250MB/s. So if you use it you're basically giving up half the speed.
So use the 2.5" slot first if possible.

TinkerMan
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#9 Post by TinkerMan » Sat Aug 10, 2019 2:31 am

mydreamlaptop wrote:
Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:59 pm
Old thread but if anyone else is considering this, the mSATA slot on the **30 series maxes out at about 250MB/s. So if you use it you're basically giving up half the speed.
So use the 2.5" slot first if possible.
So we have sata 2 speeds for the mSATA, we have sata 3 speeds for the 2.5" drive, but what speed is available for the ultra bay drive? Sata 2 or sata3?
W530, 3840QM, 32GB, K2000M
P1, XEON 2176, 32GB ECC, P2000, IPS
X230, 3320M, 16GB, HD4000, IPS
T601F X9000, 8GB, X3100, UXGA FlexView 1600x1200
T61 14" 4:3, T9500, 8GB, NVS140M
T60 14" 4:3, T7600, 3GB, GMA950
P71, 7700HQ, 16GB, P600, IPS
T470 6300U
R61i, T430s
RIP: T43p, X201

dr_st
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Re: W530 SSD too small

#10 Post by dr_st » Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:17 am

Ultrabay is SATA3.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

TinkerMan
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Posts: 230
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:02 am
Location: Paris, France

Re: W530 SSD too small

#11 Post by TinkerMan » Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:02 am

dr_st wrote:
Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:17 am
Ultrabay is SATA3.
how disappointing, to have just sata 2 on the msata connector but sata 3 on the ultrabay
but I guess it cannot be helped
I will open a new thread , so not to hijack this post
W530, 3840QM, 32GB, K2000M
P1, XEON 2176, 32GB ECC, P2000, IPS
X230, 3320M, 16GB, HD4000, IPS
T601F X9000, 8GB, X3100, UXGA FlexView 1600x1200
T61 14" 4:3, T9500, 8GB, NVS140M
T60 14" 4:3, T7600, 3GB, GMA950
P71, 7700HQ, 16GB, P600, IPS
T470 6300U
R61i, T430s
RIP: T43p, X201

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