Is Intel 160GB SSD in X220 SATA 3?

Anyone know if the X220's optional Intel 160GB SSd is SATA 3 yet?
Does anyone know its Intel model number?

Lenovo does not currently ship any SATA 3 drives. It is probably either the X25-M or an Intel 320 series. There have been reports of some recent orders shipping with a special (with a part number suffix) 320.
Edit: FYI the Intel 320 is only a SATA II SSD. The Intel 510 SSD is SATA III and does not come in a 160GB version.
When asking for help, post your question in the forum. Remember to include your system type, model number and OS. Do not post your serial number.
Did someone help you today? Press the star on the left to thank them with a Kudo!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"! This will help others with the same question in the future.
My TPs: Twist 2HU: i5-3317U Win 8 Pro, 4GB RAM 250GB Samsung 840 | T420 4177CTO: i5-2520M, HD+, Win 7 Pro x64, 8GB RAM, Optimus, 160GB Intel 320 SSD, Intel 6300 WiFi, BT 3.0 | T400 2764CTO: P8700, WXGA, Win 7 Ult x64, AMD 3470, 8GB RAM, 64GB Samsung SSD, BT, Intel 5300 WiFi | A20m 14.1" PIII 500 (retired). Monitors: 2x Dell U2211h IPS 100% sRGB calibrated w/ Spyder3.

Similar Messages

New Intel 160GB SSD Hangs (pinwheel) on Snow Leopard Install

I'm hoping I'm just missing a step and not trying to get a faulty drive going. I just got a new X25 M Intel SSD. First I ran the Intel firmware update tool, and that seemed to go okay. Then I tried putting in the Snow Leopard disk and it just sits there with the pinwheel... It has EFI 1.7 if that helps. Not sure what else to do. It came with a 500GB 7200 RPM drive which runs fine. I'm looking to completely wipe and start over.

Upon further investigation, it appears to be either a faulty DVD or drive... I tried running the DVD with the old drive in and it still just hangs... so I'll bring it to the genius' at Apple tomorrow to see what's going on.

T420 160GB SSD model ?

Is it true that the Intel 160GB SSD offered in T420 custom builds is still the older X25 model? Or is it now the 320 series? I cannot seem to find a definitive answer anywhere.
I would like a 320 series SSD and if Lenovo is not offering them yet then can someone tell me which specific model of that drive I need to buy and whether any additional rails etc are needed to swap out the stock 320GB/7200 HDD? I also want to confirm the T420 will be able to utilize a SATA III SSD (6Gb/s) should I feel the need for speed.
Is this the correct intel 320 version: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/796963-REG/Intel_SSDSA2CW160G3K5_160GB_SSD_320_Series.html

There had been rumors that Lenovo was testing the 320 series. I have not seen anything official that the 320 passed Lenovo validation. The T420 can use a SATA III connection. I added the Intel 320 16GB SSD into my machine aftermarket. My machine shipped with a 9.5mm 500GB HDD (bought during a free upgrade special, I now use the drive for backups) so I bought the normal 9mm height 320 to put into the machine. The 320 drive fit perfectly.
Lenovo seems to ship some T420 with 9.5mm HDD and some with 7mm HDD. You will probably want to wait until you have your machine in hand or ask the your rep what height you will have. If you get a 7mm HDD then you would need different rails to fit a 9.5mm SSD. I imagine Lenvo only buys only the 7mm SSDs and uses different rails to fit them into machines as needed. You are better off with the aftermarket 320 as it has a 5 year warranty. I recommend following Lenovo's procedure & creating the system restore disks and then using those to install from. My machine boots faster that way compared to cloning with Intel's cloning tool (rebranded Arconis).
If I were you, I would very careful with the Intel 320 SSD. Some of them have an issue called the 8MB bug. Intel is "aware of the issue;" however, they are otherwise silent on a possible fix or cure. The bug often occurs after "unsafe shutdowns" (holding in the power button, BSOD sudden reboots, and other power issues. The bug causes the SSD to loose all of your data and show up as 8MB to the operating system. A secure erase sometimes makes the drive usable again, but, of course, it is erased so you have lost all the data. My first 320 died within the first day. I am now at about the one week mark with 320 #2. If you want more details see here: http://communities.intel.com/thread/22227?start=0&tstart=0 .
When asking for help, post your question in the forum. Remember to include your system type, model number and OS. Do not post your serial number.
Did someone help you today? Press the star on the left to thank them with a Kudo!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"! This will help others with the same question in the future.
My TPs: Twist 2HU: i5-3317U Win 8 Pro, 4GB RAM 250GB Samsung 840 | T420 4177CTO: i5-2520M, HD+, Win 7 Pro x64, 8GB RAM, Optimus, 160GB Intel 320 SSD, Intel 6300 WiFi, BT 3.0 | T400 2764CTO: P8700, WXGA, Win 7 Ult x64, AMD 3470, 8GB RAM, 64GB Samsung SSD, BT, Intel 5300 WiFi | A20m 14.1" PIII 500 (retired). Monitors: 2x Dell U2211h IPS 100% sRGB calibrated w/ Spyder3.

X230: SATA errors with 180GB Intel 520 SSD under heavy write load

Hi,
We spent a couple of days cornering what appears to be an issue with the Intel 520 SSD drives in Lenovo x230 laptops. It was first showing up on a clean Debian installation, while installing a guest operating system into a VM. Looking around on forums, there appears to be some people having issues with database workloads too. So I decided to create a small user-space program to repoduce the problem. IMPORTANT: Before you try it, be ready for a system crash requiring a cold reboot.. It's available at:
git://git.efficios.com/test-ssd.git
direct link to .c file:
https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git;a=blob;f=test-ssd-write.c;hb=refs/heads/master
This program simply performs random-access-writes of 4Kb into a single file.
Executive summary of our findings (the details are in the test-ssd-write.c header in the git repo):
- We reproduced this issue on 4 x230 machines (all our x230 have 180GB Intel drives, and they are all affected),
- We took a SSD from one of the machines, moved it into an x200, and the problem still occurs,
- The problem seems to occur independently of the filesystem (reproduced on ext3 and ext4),
- Problem reproduced by test-ssd-write.c (git tree above): After less than 5 minutes of the heavy write workload, we get SATA errors and we need to cold reboot the machine to access the drive again. Example usage (don't forget to prepare for a computer freeze):
./test-ssd-write somefileondisk 209715200 1234 -z
(see options by just running ./test-ssd-write)
The problem occurs with drive model SSDSC2BW180A3L, with both firmwares LE1i and LF1i (those are Lenovo firmwares). We could reproduce the issue on 3.2 (Debian), 3.5 (Debian), 3.7.9 (Arch) distribution kernels. We could reproduce it with x230 BIOS G2ET90WW (2.50) 2012-20-12 and G2ET86WW (2.06) 2012-11-13, but since it can be reproduced on a x200 too, it does not appear to be a BIOS issue.
We tried the program on a range of other SSD drives, one of those including the same SandForce 2281 controller (details within test-ssd-write.c header). So our current guess is that the Lenovo firmware on the SSD might be part of the problem, but it might be good if we could to confirm that Intel's firmwares work fine.
Thoughts, ideas, hints about who to contact on this issue would be very much welcome,
Thanks,
Mathieu

I can confirm the exact same problem with Debian and Ubuntu.
I can reproduce it easily on Debian by installing a VM.
On Ubuntu it is harder to reproduce but I already hit this problem when installing updates (dpkg does a lot of sync/fdatasync just like your test program).
I think the difference between the 2 distros that explain why it is easier to reproduce on one is the default I/O scheduler (cfq for Debian and deadline for Ubuntu).
Lenovo already completely replaced my laptop (X230 with SSDSC2BW180A3L) and I still have this problem.
We need a firmware fix.
Thanks !

Intel 320 160gb SSD any issues with mac pro 2008?

Hi there.
I have a mac pro 2008. and Install Intel 320 160gb ssd. and boot...
It's shows black screen...
is any one has that issue? I tested that SSD with my old quad mac pro 2007, it works fine...
Please help me....

The 2600XT required 10.5.2+ and while it may 'look' like a G5 the Mac Pro is not. G5 refers to IBM PowerPC based, not Intel Xeon EFI based.
You're running 10.6.3, might want to update your profile itself.

X220 with Intel 310 ssd slow boot times

I recently bought an x220 i5-2520 and installed an intel 310 80GB ssd.
I cloned C: using the intel Acronis tools, updated all drivers and firmware and all works well.
However, my boot times are over 1 minute - much less than the 20-40 seconds I see posted on the web.
I have cleaned out a lot of unnecessary items from startup using msconfig, but no major difference.
It seems to me that most of the slowdown is happening after the login. It takes around 30 seconds after that to get to the desktop.
Why are my boots 2-3x slower than others?

Hi,
I'm running a slightly different configuration, with bios at 1.21, the I7 processor, the Intel 310 ssd and a samsung SSD in the primary drive. I generally average about 20 seconds to ready for input after inputting the HD & Windows password.
I did create the "Recovery" CD/DVD set and installed to the Intel 310 using the Recovery disks without any problem. My boot time included the standard Lenovo/ThinkPad software and usually that doesn't cause much delay.
My other software is iTunes, Office 2010, Picasa, Adobe PhotoShop, and VMWare (my real work). Even the virutal system run quit quickly.
What SW are you running?
I did a couple of tests with 320GB original HD, and boot time was only 2-3 seconds more.
Jim

Any recommendations of 7 mm SSD for X220

Hi guys,
I was wondering if anyone can recommend a solid SATA 3 SSD with the height of 7mm or any new ones that are coming soon that are also 7 mm in height?
Sincerely,
John

Good choice. Unfortunately, you can lost the warranty as you should remove the bezel (spacer). Look at this:
http://imgur.com/a/PNHQ8
As to my first post - you are right, of course, it was my typo , sorry. I meant 510 series, but it has 9,5 mm in height.
Note, I know some guys who have inserted 9,5 mm ssd in x220 w/o problems. The only one point - you should remove the special side rubber rails and replace them by something else more thin.
x220 | i5-2520m | Intel ssd 320 series | Gobi 2000 3G GPS | WiFi
x220 | i5-2520m | hdd 320 | Intel msata ssd 310 series | 3G GPS | WiFi
Do it well, worse becomes itself
Русскоязычное Сообщество English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español

Unable to use Intel 530 SSD with M5400

Hello!
I finally decided to write over here, after reading and viewing a lot of forums lately on this subject.
Context:
I have an Lenovo M5400 (but don't think this is definitory to the problem, as I've seen that the same simptoms seem to exist to other lenovo models as well) with the SSHD drive. I bought an Intel 530 SSD (don't think the brand mathers either) and wanted to replace the SSHD with it.
Upon replacing the original drive with the SSD, in order to make a clean windows install, the Windows 8 installer is unable to correctly detect my drive.
The drive is visible in the BIOS (at times?!) and seems to interfere somehow with the booting process, as sometimes, the boot stucks with a blank screen and the green light of the drive is on permanently. (this doesn't happen all the time).
What I tried:
1) At first, I had the drive unitialized: no GPT or MBR, no partitions on it. I tried to install it as such, but failed. It was not visible to the Windows installer, only in BIOS, in the boot order, I could see it. This was done in BIOS legacy mode.
2) I tried loading drivers in the Windows installer, via the "Load driver" option, when you get the message "W couldn't find any drives" or something like that. That was unsuccessful with the following: a) lenovo ahci drivers, from the online driver store, b) my previous windows drivers, which I took on a USB stick, c) some drivers from intel site.
3) At this point, the Intel firmware update bootable tool was not seeing my drive either.
4) I then initialized my drive by connecting it via a SATA-to-USB cable to my computer and repeated step 2), with no success still. I initialized it as MBR but I doubt that initializing it as GPT would have made a diffrence. I tried both with creating a primary and active partition and with leaving the drive initialized with all the space unallocated. No success.
5) I tried to update lenovo BIOS, because I suspect it's the cause of the problem, but was unable to do so. Downloaded the bios utility but it gives me an error "Bios folder ... ". With the bootable bios cd, it doesn't work: it doesn't boot. Has anyone managed to flash a newer bios? There is one posted on 09/30/2013 on the site, and my current one is 09/26/2013, as shown in BIOS.
6) I then fiddled with various BIOS modes: uefi, legacy, both with priority, but with no success.
At one point, I managed to see the drive in the windows installer, it was in UEFI mode only, with WIn 8 Optimized defaults ( I think) but I feared that it was just a single happening and didn't do anything, instead tried to see which settings worked in order to be able to reproduce this. I completly lost my chance, as after that, I didn't see the drive again in the windows installer. When it worked, I didn't have to load any driver. It saw it as MBR and prompted to format is as GPT, in order to use with UEFI booting.
The things I noticed:
On some occasions, in the bios boot order menu, the drive is identified as an Intel ssd, and on others just as an generic ATA HDD. I think there is a bad link between those two. When I reboot, restart, on some occasions I see it as the Intel drive and on others as the generic one. I think that in the case of generic drive, the windows installer has no chance on recognizing it.
When it is seen in the bios though, I get all sort of problems when trying to boot a CD or USB, as it seems to ignore them and get stuck in the boot process. I think that in this situations it correctly detects the SSD, if I were to look in the BIOS. But when I try to boot the CD or the USB in these situations, it just stucks with the green drive light permanently on, and with the CPU working on something ( I hear the fans starting) and the boot stops here indefinetly. I have to restart, and then, depending on the case, I get the same results, or I can boot the CD but don't find the drive.
I don't know by what chance I managed to "capture" it once in the windows installer but think this should be the common case.
After all these, what I suspect is that the Lenovo BIOS is broken somehow. It messes up with the boot order, because although I have priority for the DVD, the boot gets stuck on trying to do something with the SSD, as described above.
I am in the situation of returning the SSD back to the shop, as it is unusable with the current Lenovo m5400 motherboard/bios or whatever other hardware interferes with making it properly work ( ahci controller?).
I am very upset by this, and have seen that on these very boards, there are other posts as well, not on this model, but on other lenovo models, with the same scenarios and simptopms as mine, which didn't get any solution.
So, is there an answer to my problem? To update the BIOS? How to make the BIOS to not mess up with the boot order and get stuck? I tried all the possible combinations with no success and it's really frustrating.
Another update:
A lot of people seem to be having problem with the particular Intel 530 SSD. So this issue may not be related only to the motherboard/bios. I will post links to the corresponding threads from the intel boards:
https://communities.intel.com/thread/49389?start=15&tstart=0
https://communities.intel.com/thread/52959
https://communities.intel.com/thread/51111
Does anyone have any idea or hint if using other software for initializing the SSD than Computer Management/diskpart is of any help? Like EASUS partition manager or Gparted? Maybe the disk isn't partitioned correctly.
The disk isn't detected as an Intel SSD with the SATA-to-USB cable, instead being masked by it. Maybe this is another problem?

Hello! I have the same problem as you.
I tried to connect OCZ Vertex 2 60GBSSD but I failed. It has the same conntroller SandForce but the older generation.
Maybe that's the problem?
I was unable to install it on Windows 8.1, when I switched to the BIOS to ACHI mode Capability mode. But later he again loaded with it, then the BIOS will not see it to be.
I think the problem in the BIOS! I have 2.03 the latest.

K9N platinum - AHCI for Intel x25 SSD

Hello... I intend to set up an 80Gb Intel x25 SSD 2nd Gen (Win 7 - 64bit) on my system in a week or so its a K9N platinum v1, apparently I need AHCI set on the SATA channel - looking through the BIOS setup (Rev1.8) I can't seam to find this option - would someone be kind enough to advise.
Cheers

I am quite certain that I do have the same motherboard. Here's a link to what I purchased:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130049
I looked through my manual as well and didn't say any mention of AHCI anywhere. I guess it's not supported?

Can we talk about the Intel 320 SSD? ...or "How to buy a 600GB brick."

So my refund from Amazon came in, for an Intel 320 SSD drive, which suffered from the "8MB glitch." Essentially, after the cloning process failed, the SSD became convinced it's really an 8MB thumb drive.
It bricks itself.
In a way, I was lucky. I didn't lose any data. I've read that the glitch can happen at any time, like after the drive has been in use for a long time. That means a user can have all their data on a big 600GB SSD and then, poof, it vanishes, OS and all.
Now I've heard that SSDs have shorter longevity than spinning hard drives, but my understanding is that an SSD would lose its write ability first, allowing the data to be harvested before it dies completely.
But an SSD bricking itself? No warning? Just like that? Jeez, that's scary.
For the record, I'm not that much of a techie. I just like to read, mildly compare processor stats, that sort of thing. I couldn't even begin to explain SSD benchmarks and that sort of thing. I just wanted an upgrade, and the X220 makes it so easy to replace the hard drive--it's just one screw! Having an expensive SSD brick itself on me like this was kind of my worst fear.
Thing is, I'd still like to get an SSD. What are my options? I don't want to case-mod a Crucial M4 or something, and the only other 7mm SSD I know of is the Samsung 830. I've read the 830 is a power hog, bad for battery life.
What are my options? Should I settle for the Samsung 830, or is it just better to get an mSATA SSD like the Nocti 120GB, and get a backup Momentus Thin spinning disk for data?

joncordova wrote:
I'll make sure to check the firmware if I get the Samsung 830.
The Samsung 830 is a different story. It's based on Samsung controller and their own nand flash. Of course the firmware version would be in a different system from the Intel ones. The early batch of the Samsung 830 Series is shipped with CXM01B1Q firmware, and the latest version is CXM02B1Q. The early version is not known to have any serious bug, but just worse write amplification and possible performance loss under continuous heavy load. It is recommended to update it to the latest firmware if it isn't yet.

Which SSD for x220

Hi,
I'm planning on ordering an x220 pretty soon, but I'm not sure which one to pick. There's one at 128 GB that just says Solid state, and one at 160, from Intel. Now, how much difference is there (besides the 32 GB, obviously)?
Is it worth the extra money and more than 4 weeks shipping time?
Thanks!

I've got x220 4290-CTO with Intel 320 Series SSD 120 Gb. It's the new model more fast and reliable then x-25 with 9,5 and 7 mm form factor (I've got the second one). The factory configuration of laptop was with Hitachi HDD which has been replaced by me. I've just transferred partitions, Windows system, applications and data using Intel Data Migration Software (based on Acronis sw) which works fine. Then I've tuned and optimized the SSD and system with Intel Toolbox as these operations are absolutelly needed. And NOTE - there aren't any POST delay issues in my laptop.
There are several guys at this forum who've fitted 9,5 mm disk w/o prolems they've claimed. As for me there is a little but solved problem with laptop case for fiiting 9,5 mm disk.
I guess the Factory Recovery disks can't build the new partitions clearly as the size of hdd and ssd is different. But I may be mistaken. For this reason I've used the special Intel sw.
I assume also that 160 Gb SSD, factory installed in new x220, isn't an Intel 320 Series as this disk is new and more cost expensive.
Why to wait 4 weeks and to pay expensive price while good result can be reached by yourself, faster and more cheaply?
x220 | i5-2520m | Intel ssd 320 series | Gobi 2000 3G GPS | WiFi
x220 | i5-2520m | hdd 320 | Intel msata ssd 310 series | 3G GPS | WiFi
Do it well, worse becomes itself
Русскоязычное Сообщество English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español

IMac 2011 + Intel 510 SSD Performance

Yesterday I installed Intel`s SSD 510 (120GB) in my iMac 2011 27 inch (along with a 2TB WD Caviar black)
Today I did some testing and the results are somehow disappointing.
It would be great if other owners of Intel`s 510 can post some benchmark results! Here is mine:
Tested with AJA:
Write: 131,3
Read: 174,4
720x486 8-bit and 128mb file size
The 510 in system profiler:
Finally: xbench
The results should be WAY higher!?
Does anybody have a hint what I did wrong?

How did you manage to get the SSD and the 2TB drive in your new Imac? OWC said you couldn't update those internal parts. I am too looking to get an Imac 27" but I want to add my own SSD and 2TB drive similar to what you did. did you buy the imac with this set up already from apple? do you have to get the SSD/Harddrive combo from apple to have the parts needed for the replacement? thanks in advance.

Intel 330 ssd in 2008 MBP Unibody

My old hitachi HDD went on the fritz and I obviously don't want to replace the corrupt hard drive with another hitachi HDD. I'm looking for an SSD to install. I don't need a huge drive because my data's in the cloud for storage so I'm looking at the SSD.
I would like to purchase the intel 330 120gb SSD. Here are my basic specs:
MBP late 2008 unibody
2.8ghz processor
4gb ram
NVIDIA 9600
250gb Hitachi 2.5" HDD (this is the original corrupt drive I want to replace)
-How does TRIM work on the mac? Will I have TRIM issues with the intel 330? How do I go about this?
-Has anyone had any 1.5gb negotiation rate issues? How did you resolve them?
-Any other installation issues I should be aware of and workarounds for them?
Thank you, appreciate your help!

Hi TigerJessB
I have an Intel 330 SSD 180Gb in my mid-2009 Mbp Unibody (Cord 2 Duo 2,26Ghz, 8Gb Ram, Nvidia 9600) and it works fine. Support of trim is ok after using "Trim enabler" software from www.groths.org/?page_id=322.
Best regards

Tecra R850 - SSD support for SATA III 6.0GB

Hi.
I bought R850 with SSD.
The bad thing is that SSD 256gb installed is limited to SATA II with transfer up to 300/mb. I read that Sandy Bridge Supports SATA III which covers 600/mb.
Is somebody successfuly installed better SSD disk capable with SATA3?
I tried Sisoft Sandra and it reported that SSD SATA is II, the same for Motherboard. The HwINFO reported that chipset is capable with SATA 3. The Everest shows only SSD data with SATA 2.
Is the bios blocked for higher transfers ? I got 180mb/s read, 150 mb/write - which is 3x worse than normal SATA 3 256gb SSD harddisks.
Can anybody help me and tell - if it is matter of R850 bios ? or just only the old Toshiba SSD firmware ? if I buy better SSD with SATA3 - will it fully support higher speed ?
Best Regards
Tomi2012

HI. this is Tecra R850-1D8 with Toshiba's SSD 256gb. I know that laptop has Sandy bridge and should support 6.0gb SATA III, but in strange way Toshiba limited it and Sandra and other programs sees that it its SATA II only compatible. I think the problem is hidden in the bios.
I think there is no hardware limits - only slow old SSD and limited bios.
Maybe this could be unblocked ? or Toshiba upgrade the bios - to allow user to use newer SSD drives ?
May they would like to sell new R850 with newer SSDs so they will need unblock it.
Let me please know what You think
T

Maxtor 6Y160MOSTD 160GB DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA/150 -- on -- MSI K8N Neo4 Plat...

Hello there... I have a Maxtor 6Y160MOSTD 160GB DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA/150 on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. I've had this problem before but it wasn't important enough to report until now.
I have the latest BIOS (1.B)
Now... I did have a dual boot - XP and Fedora Core... then I decided since Linux would only install the base text system, to get rid of it. I formatted using Windows disk manager. BUT the GRUB MBR was still on there. It resulted in an error. So I took my winXP disk and popped it in. I tried to first repair the MBR. I used the command BOOTCFG DEFAULT. that didn't work. So without thinking I decided to reinstall XP all together. When It got to the restart, the GRUB was still there, therefore didn't boot. Well what I ended up doing is trying the repair again. Used the command FIXBOOT - didin't work. I tried agian. Repair - found the command FIXMBR DUH! So I ran that and it recognized that the original MBR had been replaced. So I fixed the MBR and rebooted. XP wanted to install. So I let it. I came back some time later and found out it was stuck on "Initializing Devices...". At first I thought it was the graphics card. b/c linux had problems before probing the graphics card. I decided out of the blue to swap my 160GB HDD for a smaller PATA 2.1GB HDD and installed XP seemlessly. The obvious reason: XP couldn't detect the hard drive. The reason this is confusing is because I installed XP before on my HDD and no problems. I tried figeting with the chords, switching SATA slots. No luck. I really wanna know whats up with that. Help PLEASE.
Did I leave some info out?

Have you tried to download the Firmware for your HDD? Maybe you can refer to this site ==> https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?action=profile;u=77029

Is Intel 160GB SSD in X220 SATA 3?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for