T400 killed SSD Vertex 2 - recovery? Recommended drives?

Hello all,
after almost 6 months of working perfectly fine, my ThinkPad T400 2765 52G (out of the box except for double/quadruple memory and SSD) won't boot from a OCZ Vertex 2 120GB any more.
Screen will only show the common 2100 error, BIOS does not recognize the drive. 
As I am on a 2-months'-trip abroad, I do not have many opportunities to mess around with the drive or even let a specialist have a look.
So far, I bought the first best HDD and a SATA to USB casing to check if the SSD can be found while connected to a USB port, without success. (Neither BIOS nor Win7 would recognize the drive.)
BIOS settings, prior to crash set to AHCI, are since then on Comaptible..
Is the drive a complete write-off?
Can the data be rescued in any economic way? As I am travelling, I was unable to obtain my usual backup routine and so some new folders slipped thorugh. They are of great value to me, but yet not worth the cost of a professional data rescue firm. In varius ThinkPad forums, I stumbled upon fellas who succeeded in accessing a device that had not been listed in BIOS via Linux.
Problems in combination with ThinkPads seem to occur on a regular basis with all current Vertex drives, be it due to incompatibility issues with the Sandforce controller or due to the physical measurements of the drives. Also, the Lenovo SSD Firmware update does not contain anything useful for OCZ products. So, what drives does Lenovo recommend in combination with the T400 series?
Thanks in advance for your help and support!
Bernhard

Try OCZ forums for help. Many SSDs have issues. My T400 shipped with a Samsung SSD. If data reliability and compatibility is your goal (instead of speed), I'd look to an older Gen Intel or Samsung for a replacement. For Intel, I would go with a last gen Intel X25-G2. I went with an Intel 320 in my T420 and had the 8MB loose all data bug hit in the first day of use, the firmware fix for the 320 is coming who knows when. I wish I had just returned it and bought something else.
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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.

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