T400s with Win7 - Disk upgrade advice sought

[matram]

Hi,

I got my new T400S yesterday. It is a 2.4 GHz, 2 GB, 250 GB model. Basically the only model available here in Sweden. Being a member of MSDN I installed Win7 with drivers from the Lenovo Beta site. Everything seems to work nicely. Now for the next step in the process.

I am planning to install a second HDD in the Ultrabay. I have a bay adapter and a disk caddy on order. The question then comes to a suitable disk. Seagate Momentus 500 GB, 7200 rpm seems to be the best value here in Sweden at 130 USD ex VAT. Anyone have any experience with this model? Normally I go with Hitachi but their 320 model will not be available for another month.

Second question comes to the primary disc. Having had an X40 with 1.8" drive I was very afraid of performance issues on the T400S.

First impression is quite positive 70 second boot until the hourglass cursor disappears (75 with the original install of XP). The question is would it be worth to upgrade to an SSD. Lenovo lists their 256 GB SSD at 1530 USD ex VAT here in Sweden and of course not available yet.

Probably a better option (performance and value wise) would be the Intel X18M 160 GB which is listed at 730 USD also not available.

Given that I would probably keep windows and program files on the SSD and user files mostly on the second HDD do you think it would be worth the huge cost? The applications that feels sluggish on my old X61s with a Hitachi 200 GB/7200 rpm drive are Visual Studio (many small files) and Adobe Lightroom (huge raw image files).

Looking forward to your input.

Mats

[mgo]

Hi,

I got my new T400S yesterday. I am planning to install a second HDD in the Ultrabay.
First impression is quite positive 70 second boot until the hourglass cursor disappears
Given that I would probably keep windows and program files on the SSD and user files mostly on the second HDD do you think it would be worth the huge cost? Mats

It sounds like you are developing a set up very similar to what I have been using on my T60 ThinkPads for a while now. (operating system on one main drive partition, documents on a second partition on the main drive, and then another drive in Ultra Bay for backups, imaging and multimedia files)

A 70 second boot is pretty darned good; it sounds like you have a quick machine already.

Prices for a solid state drive are really high where you are. Perhaps you could consider a 80 gig size. I am running Intel X25-M solid state drives which are plenty big for my operating system on one partition and documents on the second partition. Your C:\ drive only needs to be around 25-30 gig in size for operating system and all programs. SSD speed is 30% to 60% faster than a standard drive.

Aa for the brand of hard drive in Ultra Bay, they are all pretty much the same these days, and just try what is available. I hear the single platter drives with "perpendicular" technology are very fast and quiet.

[nomoreno]

Hi Mats,

I wonder whether you can tell me how difficult it is to install those Lenovo drivers and applications after you re-install the Win 7. In particular, did all the Lenovo-specific Blue buttons work after your re-install those Lenovo applications? What about the Access Connection, the IBM/Lenovo program that manages network connection.

I am waiting to buy a T400s after Win 7 releases on Oct.22 because I don't want to re-install everything, but my current computer's hard drive is running low and I don't know if I can wait for another month. I do also have access to the MSDN to get a copy of Win 7 Profession RTM, so I am thinking the same thing as you are doing, that is, upgrade to Win 7 myself. Did you also install the Win 7 Profession RTM on your computer?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[mgo]

Hi Mats,

I wonder whether you can tell me how difficult it is to install those Lenovo drivers and applications after you re-install the Win 7. In particular, did all the Lenovo-specific Blue buttons work after your re-install those Lenovo applications? What about the Access Connection, the IBM/Lenovo program that manages network connection.

I am waiting to buy a T400s after Win 7 releases on Oct.22 because I don't want to re-install everything, but my current computer's hard drive is running low and I don't know if I can wait for another month. I do also have access to the MSDN to get a copy of Win 7 Profession RTM, so I am thinking the same thing as you are doing, that is, upgrade to Win 7 myself. Did you also install the Win 7 Profession RTM on your computer?

Thanks a lot in advance!

I suggest waiting for the unit with Windows 7 already on board. It will save a lot of time and hassles.

Should you decide to install Windows 7 on your own, Lenovo is posting many Windows 7 items at:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... -BETA.html

but I am not sure if that would work on your machine. One could only try.

If your existing drive is getting full, simply move some files over to an external drive for the time being. If your new Ultra Bay adapter will fit in both your old machine and your new one (much of the time they do) move your extra files over now and they will be ready for your machine when it arrives. Robocopy is great for copy/move.

If you want to go ahead and use your MSDN subscription to install Windows 7, go ahead. Installation is pretty painless.

I opted for the Windows 7 Ultimate, because I wanted to encrypt my backup USB drive to secure financial files and other personal legal things.

Go to

http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=270

for information on what is being carried over to Windows 7 by Lenovo. Access connections -is- listed on the Lenovo download site I mentioned above.

Some of the driver installs for Windows 7 can be puzzling; often they do not send the install files to C:\Drivers like in the "old days" but will install right off. Then you may get a security dialog asking if you want to run this program at boot up. There, you will uncheck "ask every time" or whatever it says. That will make the nag go away for good.

Since you are on MSDN, chances are you are experienced enough to get thru any little "speed bumps" on install.

Windows 7 is rather good, and pretty much trouble free on fresh install.

[matram]

Hi Nomoreno,

Installing Win7 was easy. I made a clean install and then installed the relevant beta drivers from the Lenovo site. Everything installed without problem.

I initially tried to NOT use Access Connection but could not get a proper login to my ISP with the built in Ericsson WWAN card and Win7 modem. Installing Access Connections fixed this. Great not to have to rely on separate WWAN card and software!

The blue button does NOT work at the moment. On screen display of brightness does not work either although you can adjust the brightness OK.

I kept the standard audio drivers installed by Win7 as I had heard there was some issues with the latest version of the Conexant drivers. I had to increase gain on the mic a bit but I can now have a SKYPE video conference with only built in hardware. Great!

OK it is only been a day but everything seems to be very stable.

Honestly my initial plan was also to wait until the end of October but my old machine was having some problems and I felt I could not trust it any longer.

Mats

[matram]

Hi Mgo,

Thanks for the advice I checked the space used on my current machine and it ended up being
Win7 - 7.7 GB (11.2 on old machine for Win XP)
Apps - 19 GB
Documents and Settings - 9 GB (excluding multimedia)
Multimedia - 70 GB

Based on this I took your advice and ordered a 80GB Intel and 500GB Seagate.

I also run HD Tune on the old and new machine
X61s w Hitachi 200GB/7200 rpm - 52.3 MB/s average transfer and 14.8 ms latency
T400s w Toshiba 250 GB - 35.5 MB/s average transfer and 18.3 ms latency

Not as bad as I expected but still the SSD should deliver more. We will see tomorrow when the SSD arrives.

Thanks for your input.

Mats

[matram]

Now I have installed the X18M 80 GB Intel SSD in place of the original Toshiba HDD on the T400s.

Avg Transfer Rate went up to 173.4 MB/s with an access time of 0.1 ms. This is 5 times the speed of the HDD.

Win 7 starts up in 35 seconds.

Disk intensive stuff like installing drivers feels very snappy indeed.

Mats

[Jarl]

Hey,

I've got a t400s with win7 as well, and most things seem to be working fine. My only problem is the external microphone. I have tried using several Nokia headsets, the speakers on them work fine, but the pc does not recognize the microphone. I have tried with original windows drivers, and the Conexant ones from Lenovo. The guy at Lenovo said that I have to wait for the windows 7 compatible drivers, but I'm still wondering:

Has anyone of you guys a problem with external microphones on your systems?

Jarl