x201t ssd question

[l.butler]

I have an x201t that I bought on ebay in 2016. It came with a samsung-manufactured 128gb ssd (fru 45N7953 / pn 45N7952) with a pre-installed version of windows 7 pro on it.
The disk was too small for my purposes, so I replaced it with a 500gb hybrid drive.

I recently found a need for the extra storage capacity. I now want to put this in the ultrabay. My problem is that the drive only seems to power on properly, and be recognized by the bios, if it is plugged in as the primary hard-drive. I have tried plugging it in to a usb enclosure and the ultrabay. In neither case does the x201t see the device. I tried playing with bios settings, but no joy. The bios version is 1.15.

Is this a known issue with these drives and/or is there some kind of work-around?

TIA,
Leo

[dr_st]

I am not aware of such issues. The Ultrabay is a direct SATA port to the chipset. It is no different from the main bay. Not working in a USB enclosure is also strange. One could assume that there is something wrong with the Ultrabay or the USB enclosure, but both at the same time?

What is the exact model of the drive? Is it seen by the operating system after boot at least, or still no?

[l.butler]

The drive info:
Manufacturer: Samsung
p/n: MMCRE28G8MXP - 0VBL1
F/W: VBM1EL1Q
25MAY2010
1.8" 128GB MLC SSD
SATA 3.0Gbps
Rated: DC+3.3V 0.72A

You are right about the ultrabay adapter and usb enclosure. I don't know if the adapter is working, but the enclosure is recognized by my T14, so I am pretty sure it works. I wonder if the ssd is very sensitive to the correct voltage.

The device is not registered at the OS level, either. And, like I wrote, this is true when I attach the enclosure to another machine, too.

Leo

[dr_st]

1.8" 128GB MLC SSD
SATA 3.0Gbps
Rated: DC+3.3V 0.72A

This may be the culprit. The standard for SATA is +5V. Apparently, not all SATA power cables/plugs implement the 3.3V wire.

[l.butler]

I swapped the 512gb seagate sshd (put it into the ultrabay) and the samsung ssd (put it into the main hdd slot). The bios recognizes both and can boot from both. Since the machine has no battery any longer, I think I may just leave it with this configuration.

One last question: is it possible to use the pci-e slot for an ssd?

TIA,
Leo