SSD Question for a W530

[Rockrz]

Just got a decent deal on:
LENOVO 2447GQ3 THINKPAD W530 15.6” I7 3740QM 2.7GHZ 8GB RAM 180GB SSD W7P64

It's for the little lady who like to play games, as well as occasional office work so I need something a little larger than a 180gig drive.

I'd like to install a larger SSD drive... anybody know where to find a good SSD drive in maybe 250 gig that will fit this rig as far as physical dimensions are concerned?

[ZaZ]

You could also look at a mSATA SSD and keep the platter drive in the main bay for storage, where speed is not as critical.

[indicium]

Samsung makes a 1 TB SSD or you could add an mSata and a 1 TB HD. I put in a Samsung mSata and installed Express Cache and put 2 HGST 1 TB HDD's and got the benefit of lots of storage with faster speed. Wen I first got my W530 in March the boot time was 50 seconds with only the HD, when I added the mSata the boot time is now 24 seconds and my applications load very fast.

[Rockrz]

Yeah, I could go with the mSata and then a standard drive for storage.

She's mainly going to be using this for her personal computer which she likes to play alot of games

I'm also thinking of maybe just keeping the 180 gig SSD that comes with it and just do a fresh install to rid the laptop of bloatware.

Do you format an SSD just like a regular drive?

And, if I did go with an mSata... do you remove the other drive when doing a clean install and hope Windows will recognize the unallocated partition and will format it? Or, do you format if first before the clean install?

[ZaZ]

If you're doing a clean install, Windows should see the mSATA or other as a regular drive, and format and align the partition properly as long as you're using Windows Vista or later.

I don't think you need to take out the second drive. Just make sure you pick the right one when installing.

[Rockrz]

OK, I've heard from other threads that it's best to do a fresh install when putting in a new SSD instead of using imaging programs such as Acronis.

Is this still the general consensus?

[brchan]

OK, I've heard from other threads that it's best to do a fresh install when putting in a new SSD instead of using imaging programs such as Acronis.

Is this still the general consensus?

Yes, because Windows 7/8 will automatically optimize for SSDs when you clean install, and you get a fresh start with no bloatware. Imaging over can cause performance/stability issues in some cases, but some people have reported things to be fine.

[Rockrz]

Well, since it's the wife's gaming laptop... I'd better make it as good as possible lest I get put in time out!

[ZaZ]

For the version of True Image I have, 2010 I believe, it was recommended at the time that you do a clean install because cloning the partition from a platter drive didn't work well, but that once you've got an image of the fresh install, you can put that back without any trouble, which I've done without issue on all my machines. I don't know if newer versions of True Image are any better.

[Rockrz]

Yeah, I've heard that.

I'm about to custom build a new office PC (full size tower) and I think I'm going to go with SSD... along with the i7 6 core with DDR4 Ram capabilities and about 32 gigs of DDR 4 Ram.

I should be happy for a few years and it's not going to actually cost that much to do either.

[richk]

It should be noted somewhere that you cannot have both an mSATA drive and a WWAN card. (They use the same slot)

[Rockrz]

OK, remind me again what a "WWAN card" does, exactly?

[hellosailor]

No habla "little" but I found that Crucial direct was the cheapest source for a 1G Crucial SSD and it fits without any problem.

I probably got the configuration screwed up as my "hidden" partition is now a visible partition, but that's the way it goes. The hardware fit perfectly, runs perfectly. Knock wood. And they do have smaller SSDs in the exact same form factor.

Crucial will also confirm in advance that a part fits, and if it doesn't, they'll take it back and replace it without arguing. Nice folks to work with.

Bear in mind that most consumer-grade SSDs are good for something like 50-100,000 write cycles, so the more "empty" space you have on a drive, the more "spares" it has available to use, when and if you exhaust the write cycles on the space you have been using.

[Rockrz]

SSDs are good for something like 50-100,000 write cycles

and how does this compare to the tried and true traditional hard drive?

[hellosailor]

You couldn't google that?

AFAIK hard drives have no limits on write cycles. Just "average hours before failure" from mechanical reasons.

[Rockrz]

You couldn't google that?

No

[Rockrz]

Yes, because Windows 7/8 will automatically optimize for SSDs when you clean install, and you get a fresh start with no bloatware. Imaging over can cause performance/stability issues in some cases, but some people have reported things to be fine.

OK, so I found me a new W530 and I'm going to install Win 7 Pro 64bit fresh on a 500 gig mSATA

My question is... someone told me that when a computer comes with Windows installed on a regular hard drive, there is some special adjustment that will need to be made so a SSD drive will run properly and at it's best performance.

Do I need to worry about that when doing a clean install? Will Windows know it's being loaded on to an SSD and adjust it's own self accordingly?

OR, do I need to make some adjustment(s) once I get Windows loaded?

[hellosailor]

No problem with Win7, for sure. It detects the SSD and makes whatever adjustments are needed all by itself. I think Vista was the last version where manual adjustment was needed.

[Cigarguy]

For SSDs, it's important to have proper partition alignment. Win XP was released before the age of SSD so partition alignment should be check and special steps taken to align partition if necessary. There are also other settings too which have been debated much on Internet forums on their effectiveness. Win 7 was release in the age of SSDs and takes care of everything for you. So yes, with Win 7, simply load OS. updates and programs and you are good to go.

[Rockrz]

kewL, thanks for the feedback... I kept hearing you guys say things like "SSD is 3 times faster than mechanical drives" and that seems to stick in my head so, I guess I'm turning in to a geek cause I just gotta try it!

Laptop just came in today and the 500 gig mSATA has been ordered... I may have gotten the last W530 that was brand new and it was an open box deal. I un-packed it and it looks new and when I fired it up Windows did it's first time start thing where I had to name the computer and all that, so it appears to be new as advertised.

The guy I got it from said it was brand new and was an open box return, but it appears to be as he said.

Once I get the 500 gig mSATA and about 16gigs of RAM in it, it should be a nice performer...

[hellosailor]

With an SSD as the primary drive, the system comes up from sleep mode in maybe 4 or 5 seconds, incredibly fast. They're still pricey but the performance difference is pretty obvious, even if you are not just clocking battery run time or some other semi-imperceptible.

Of course, it still is going to kill your day loading all the Win7 upgrades, the Lenono upgrades, the....usual stuff.

[Rockrz]

I've done numerous clean installs on Lenovo laptops and I only load a few things from Lenovo in order to limit the bloatware, then of course ya gotta let Bill have his updates as usual.

I always capture the state of the system with Acronis so once I get it all tweaked, I should be good for a few years. I like the other W530 that I worked on for my wife, I thought I'd get one for me... now I have a T430 - i7 4 Quad and a W530 - i7 4 Quad

Ya can't have too many laptops laying around ya know...

[xder345]

Sorry to bring this old(ish) thread back up but you can even go a step further, as I have done: 3 storage drives:

1) 128GB mSATA as primary boot drive
2) 240GB SSD in a caddy replacing the DVD drive as fast scratch space
3) 1TB factory hard drive as mass storage and home directory

You really get the best of all worlds. Fast boot/sleep/reboot, large amounts of storage space, and very fast scratch on a cheap sacrificial SSD

[Rockrz]

OK, I'll bite... what is "fast scratch"

Is that something Ted Nugent came up with?

[Non-Thinker]

Resurrecting the same old question, I just bought a very nice used W530 (from a board member here) with the intention of doing exactly what you're all talking about--getting an mSATA drive, installing Windows on it, and leaving the existing HDD for data. BUT...the official Lenovo user's guide says don't do that--that for some unstated reason it's not a reliable solution or something, so we should use the mSATA slot and SSDs just for cache. So is this just Lenovo trying to discourage us for no good reason, or is there some legitimate worry in there somewhere? (I was surprised to see Lenovo's warning. I've done just this on my desktop, a 256GB SSD for all programs, an 80GB SSD as a cache, and a 1TB HDD for data, and it just screams. I'd like the same on my laptop, please.)

[ajkula66]

I'd like the same on my laptop, please.

Feel free to proceed.

I've ran a number of *20 series ThinkPads - which maintain the same mSATA setup - with mSATA drives as OS/boot drives and loved it.

Obviously, YMMV.

[Non-Thinker]

Great, thanks!

[hellosailor]

Perhaps the official Lenovo emergency boot and recovery options can't be installed, or won't work properly, if they are placed on an mSATA boot drive. That would be enough reason for them to say "You can't do that" but for some (most?) of us? Those recovery options have been worse than useless.

[ajkula66]

Perhaps the official Lenovo emergency boot and recovery options can't be installed, or won't work properly, if they are placed on an mSATA boot drive. That would be enough reason for them to say "You can't do that" but for some (most?) of us? Those recovery options have been worse than useless.

Nope.

I've installed W7 Pro from Lenovo media on more than one of these systems with mSATA as a boot drive, and everything went smooth. Of course, then I nuked the recovery partition and left that space unclaimed...

[Rockrz]

I've got 3 Lenovo laptops running mSata and it works fantastic! Much faster than regular hard drive and since I use Acronis for recovery, I don't need Windows recovery and have it turned off and I'm clueless about Lenovo recovery so that's not even in play.

Yep, do a fresh Windows install on a new mSata drive and life will be wonderful... the babes will dig you once again!

then I nuked the recovery partition and left that space unclaimed...

Hope the radiation doesn't git'cha