T420 mSATA

[jwjensen356]

I've got a recently acquired T420 (to replace my R51 and T40). I want to add an mSATA card to the internal memory area. Any specific advice of mSATAs, does/don'ts, etc?

[theterminator93]

The don'ts are mainly avoid TLC cells and SandForce controllers.

I have a variety of mSATA SSDs in service. The only type I've had issues with is the MyDigitalSSD BP4 - but that was in a Dell (using one in my T601F daily). I usually end up with Crucial M550s when I buy new because the price point is attractive for the spec. Other members have their preferred drive types and reasonings as well, all valid. In the end it's your money, your computer, your data, and your choice.

In my machines I have the following. The only ones I bought new were the Crucials. The others I got used:
T420 - Crucial M550 256GB + 500GB HDD
W520 - Crucial MX200 500GB + 500GB HDD
X220 - Samsung PM830 128GB
X220T - Toshiba HG5 128GB
T601F - MyDigitalSSD BP4 128GB

I don't pay much attention to benchmarks with raw throughput since nearly every mSATA SSD out there is SATA-III; the mSATA port in all the *20 series is SATA-II (which really has no impact on real world performance when observed qualitatively). The ability to run up to two additional hard disks when using an mSATA SSD as the OS disk far outweighs the small speed penalty IMO.