X300 SSD upgrade

[Outislander]

I've read a number of posts on this topic and I'm still unsure of the best way to go.

Lenovo customer help in the UK says that there is no Lenovo SSD suitable for the X300 except the standard 64GB but I've read here that a Lenovo 45N7952 (128 GB) will fit.

I've also read that a Kingston SSDNow V+180 (who choses these names?) is suitable.

I'd welcome some advice and, please, suggestions for a European supplier.

Outislander

[ZaZ]

As far as I know, the X300 uses a 1.8" SSD/Hard Drive. Any drive than conforms to that specification should work. I don't know about France, but here in the US the 1.8" SSDs tend to be on the expensive side since they don't make many of them any more. Most smaller notebooks use mSATA SSDs these days. Probably the biggest benefit to getting a newer SSD is support for trim, but they're so expensive, I'm not sure it's worth the cost. If you want more space, they do make a third party modular caddy that replaces the optical with a 7mm hard drive, which go up to 1TB in size. Good luck and welcome to TPF.

[Tasurinchi]

Welcome to the Forum!

Another option would be to buy a msata SSD, which are getting cheaper than the 1.8 counterparts, and then buy a msata-1.8" sata adapter like this one: click me.

That's my near future plan for my own X301 at least...

[Outislander]

Thanks for these suggestions.

I want to keep the optical drive so I'm discarding Zaz's suggestion.

Tasurinchi's suggestion is interesting: does this little adapter slide into the space occupied by the (7mm or 8mm ?) 1.8 inch SSD? Would I have to make any software changes or is it a direct replacement?

Thanks.

Outislander

[ajkula66]

The problem with Lenovo's SSDs that are applicable to X30* series is that none of them supports TRIM.

My pick would be a 1.8" version of Crucial C300, with some luck you'll bump into a NOS drive sooner or later.

Good luck.

[Tasurinchi]

does this little adapter slide into the space occupied by the (7mm or 8mm ?) 1.8 inch SSD?

Yes, the combination of mSata and adapter gives you about the same size as the standard 1.8" SSD. As mentioned before, these new mSata drives are getting cheaper and most of them support TRIM.

See how it may look like here (pic #3):here

[schen]

I've read a number of posts on this topic and I'm still unsure of the best way to go.

Lenovo customer help in the UK says that there is no Lenovo SSD suitable for the X300 except the standard 64GB but I've read here that a Lenovo 45N7952 (128 GB) will fit.

I've also read that a Kingston SSDNow V+180 (who choses these names?) is suitable.

I'd welcome some advice and, please, suggestions for a European supplier.

Outislander

I would suspect that the reason Lenovo takes this stance is the same one that causes them to give a too low RAM limit: that at the time of introduction, the larger capacity item wasn't available so full testing was never done for it.

When I had my X300, after a few months, I upgraded to the Lenovo 128Gb P/N 45N7952 when I found a couple on eBay that were fairly inexpensive (for that time). It was fine in that X300 for close to two years. Then I upgraded to the X301 which came with a 64Gb drive which I in turn upgraded with the second of those drives.

The upshot is that it worked fine in my X300 for an extended period and has been fine in my X301 for the last two months. So at least for that model, which I believe is a Samsung contracted product (FRU 45N7953), I can endorse it as a direct replacement.

Good luck on your machine.

[Outislander]

Thanks Schen. On the basis of this I have ordered a reconditioned 45N7952.

Outislander

[jimmm33]

I got an X301 on eBay sans hard drive. I installed a Crucial M4 msata drive using a Aleratec mSATA SSD to 1.8" SATA Drive Converter. It works great and fits into the drive slot just right. I recommend updating the x301 bios to the newest version first.

[SaberX]

Been away from Thinkpads for awhile....But yesterday i picked up a mint X301 for a steal.
It has the 250 gig 5400rpm 1.8" drive.Its not bad but love to get a nice SSD for this system.
I'm just looking through the forums now to get info on it.
But it seems to me the best way to go is get a new mSATA to 1.8" uSATA adapter and buy a new mSATA SSD with TRIM.

[91011]

What might be a lower cost option that doesn’t require an adapter is a 1.8” Samsung 128gb SSD with a Lenovo FRU.
It can be flashed with the Samsung firmware and will support TRIM and NCQ. I’ve seen them in the $75USD range on ebay.

I’ve now flashed seven without a failure; once you get past the learning curve it takes less than 10 min.
The Lenovo forum has a long thread about it or I can send you the instructions I made for myself.
Or, I have an extra drive, already flashed and could include a set of Factory Recovery discs.

Enjoy your x301, it's a great machine.