X220 USB 3.0 Performance vs ExpressCard

Has anyone done any benchmarks or testing of the internal USB 3.0 port on the Core i7 builds of the x220 laptops? I am curious how that compares vs. going the ExpressCard route.

usb 3 is only usefull if your doing large data file mobing like a ssd back up drive into notebook.
there are no other devices that will ever use that sorta bandwith.
even usb keys wont take advantage of this speed because there are usb 2 keys that have a boost and the flash in them is the limiting factor beyound that.
bottom line is usb 3 is for the future not really now.
it kinda like when sata come out and nothing could run at sata speeds untill ssd became mature.
most notebooks have esata and that is good enough for most all sata tranfers even slower ssd.
very few devices can break esata right now and pretty much most all the data backups wont because of power settings on usb type devices and they come with platter drives made to be power light.
unless you buy a ssd that has a special mini usb port and makes use of a usb host controller you wont ever find a use now for it.
those back up drives marked usb 3 is a sales pitch.
bottom line use atto to bench your device and see if it being held back.
no platter drive breaks ata 100 speeds unless it a ssd.

Similar Messages

X220 - USB 3.0 issue

Not at all sure this is a Lenovo X220 issue (win 7- 64bit), but I'm having the following problem with my 1tb WD My Passport Essential SE USB 3.0 external drive:
It works fine when plugged into the USB 3.0 port. However, if I safely eject it, and use it in a USB 2.0 port, it will not be recognized if I go back to the USB 3.0 port. I can usely get it working again in USB 3.0 mode if I reboot. (I have two of these external drives, and the behavior is identical for both of them).
I've tried lots of different things, but still can't solve this issue. Are there any newer USB 3.0 drivers for Windows 7, or for the X220, that I should be installing? The only one I see for USB 3.0 on the Lenovo site is for the Nec controller.
Again - not saying this is a Lenovo issue, but I don't have another computer with USB 3.0, so I was hoping people might be able to tell me about their experience with USB 3.0 and the X220. Thank you.

I updated the USB 3 drivers from Lenovo - even tried a later version from Renesas, but no resolution of the issue.
Would be interested if anyone else out there is running USB 3 external drives in their X220 - if so, have you ever used the same drive in a USB 2 port?
Thanks.

X220: USB Boot Issues.

Hello Everyone! I just recieved my new X220 by UPS this morning and I've been loving using it, Windows 7 is not as bad as I had expected it to be (I've usedOS X since '05.) and the keyboard is great, and the trackpoint too. Overall I'm very impressed with the hardware so far. I am wanting to install linux on this because I miss the comfort of the bash shell. So I loaded up my flash drive with UNetBootin as I usually would do for a USB install since this has no cd drive. When I get the thinkpad splash screen I hit F12 to go into boot options and I selected the correct USB drive, but when I hit enter to boot from it...the screen goes black for a second, then comes back to the boot menu. Any ideas as to why it might not be working?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

To anyone wondering, to do this, You must set the BIOS boot order to USB HDD as #1. Can't believe I forgot that *facepalm* got 11.04 up and running great now! Thanks for all of the help.

X220 GPU has low performance after wake up on batteries

Hi, I've got this problem. My X220's GPU doesn't perform well after waking up on batteries. The performance is low (about 50% of normal). My drivers, BIOS etc. are up to date. What helps is restarting the computer but it's not solution for me becouse I like to have started a lot of programs. I reinstalled my Win Pro 64bit but without success. The problem still persists. Do you have any experience with this kind of problem? Thanks!
P.S. Sorry for my english
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I had something similar before, it could be due to Battery Stretch limiting the CPU load. Only real way to solve it is to restart. You could try putting it to sleep and wake up again though, it might work (I haven't tried it myself).

X220 Problems after upgrade to Win 8 Pro

Hi all,
Two weeks ago I upgraded OS on my ThinkPad X220 (model 428759G, BIOS 1.37) to Windows 8 Pro X64. After upgrade I did “factory reset” (function of Windows 8), because I preferred clean installation.
Then there were installed all updates via Windows Update service. After that I installed drivers and software from Lenovo via Lenovo System Update and Avira Antivirus Premium 2013.
Now I deal with the a few problems.
1) Every day (several times a day) this service C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Lenovo Mobile Hotspot\LnvHotSpotSvc.exe stops working. More information is below (sorry for Czech language).
Popis
Cesta k chybující aplikaci: C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Lenovo Mobile Hotspot\LnvHotSpotSvc.exe
Podpis problému
Název události problému: CLR20r3
Podpis problému 01: lnvhotspotsvc.exe
Podpis problému 02: 1.0.0.0
Podpis problému 03: 50868221
Podpis problému 04: mscorlib
Podpis problému 05: 4.0.30319.18033
Podpis problému 06: 50b5a743
Podpis problému 07: 463b
Podpis problému 08: 463
Podpis problému 09: System.ArgumentException
Verze operačního systému: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.256.103
ID národního prostředí: 1029
Další informace 1: c260
Další informace 2: c260c868fe2b439579a8cdd5b50df4ea
Další informace 3: ca56
Další informace 4: ca569b82c589dd4827724bf86448a9b7
Další informace o tomto problému
ID sady: d9f78c18685917da9b5639ff6386b88a (-861750507)
2) From this webpage http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/research/hints-or-tips/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=MIGR-77280 I downloaded and installed the Hotkey Features Integration (version 3.84.1500). But not all of FN keys work properly.
For example Fn+F8 doesn’t switch off touchpad or trackpoint, FN+F5 doesn’t switch off Bluetooth or WiFi – only both of them are switched off (via Airplane mode in Windows 8). If I want to switch off Bluetooth I can do it via controls in Windows 8. But I don’t understand why Bluetooth light is still on.
3) Sometimes if laptop is woke up from sleep or hibernation mode, the system service ntoskrnl.exe (NT Kernel & System) uses CPU with 30% (fan is on high speed). Only restart fixes this problem.
Does anyone have similar problems?

Mobile hotspot error confirmed (but not important for me ).
Keys are working fine for me. BUT: I use old driver for Windows 7. The new one from January, 18th with Windows 8 look works as you described.
Btw. I dont like Bios - express card witn USB 3.0 NEC PD720200a is not working at all.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Windows-8/X220-USB-3-express-card-with-NEC-uPD720201-incompatibility/td-...
Jiří Cvrk
TP YOGA S1 .. X220, X61, T22, ms w8nd8ws

USB net stick will not work and not recognized by brand new macbook pro lion

Hi and thank you to anyone that can help!
I just bought a new macbook pro with OX 10.7 Lion the other day. I have an Alcatel x220 USB internet net stick that I used to use with my previous computer with Windows 7.
When I insert the usb stick, the setup driver is supposed to come up, so I can install it on the Macbook. But nothing comes up, and the macbook does not even recognize that I have inserted the net stick.
I also downloaded the program, and the drivers, and still nothing. The apple people tried fixing it for a few hours today, and they can't figure it out either. Same with the cell phone company that provides me with the net stick. No one has any idea how to fix it.
Basically, anyone have any idea how to get the USB net stick Alcatel x220 to work with a new macbook pro OS Lion 10.7?!?!?!?!? This is driving me crazy, and I would really appreciate anyones' help! Thank you!!
Daniel

thanks I appreciate your response. Yeah I read something about the 64 bit problem. I found this link and at the bottom there is a driver update or something to make it work with 64 bit. But I can't seem to get it to work right, and even could the apple tech people. This is the link: http://www.alcatelonetouch.com/global-en/products/mobile_broadband/ot-x220.html
Also, do you have any idea which USB sticks there are that are compatible with the 64 bit Lion?
Thanks again

Does x220-i7 and x230 support USB 3.0 and SATA III (6GB) ExpressCards?

I am going to buy a used x220 i7 or x230 i5 and would like to confirm:
1)Each and every x220 and x230 laptop (regardless of model and options) does have an available (external) MiniPCI Express slot.
2)Every x230 i5 and x220 i7 (including those that do not have a built-in USB 3.0 port) will fully support a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter with 2 USB 3.0 ports and will get a USB 3.0 speed on Win7-64.
3) Every x230 i5 and x220 i7 will fully support a SATA III (6GB) ExpressCard adapter with 2 ESATA ports and will get a SATA III speed on Win7-64.

rybshik schrieb:
1)Each and every x220 and x230 laptop (regardless of model and options) does have an available (external) MiniPCI Express slot.
False. It's an ExpressCard 54 slot.
rybshik schrieb:
2)Every x230 i5 and x220 i7 (including those that do not have a built-in USB 3.0 port) will fully support a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter with 2 USB 3.0 ports and will get a USB 3.0 speed on Win7-64.
True.
rybshik schrieb:
3) Every x230 i5 and x220 i7 will fully support a SATA III (6GB) ExpressCard adapter with 2 ESATA ports and will get a SATA III speed on Win7-64.
It will support the card, but speed may be limited due to the limitations of ExpressCard.

X220 "Create Recovery Media" on USB flash drive

Is it required to first create an Active Partition on the USB flash drive, within Windows 7, before creating "Factory Recovery Disks" on a USB flash drive - FOR THE X220?
I've carefully looked at the X220 User Guide and it makes no mention of it. Yet, I came across a web page on this site explaining how to create an active partition prior to making recovery media. However, it does NOT reference the X220 as an affected computer and I wonder if the active partition happens automatically on the X220.

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/Making-a-usb-stick-with-the-Lenovo-recovery-pa...
Here's the best thread I can find on the subject. You're still going to have to make the partition active. The x220 doesn't have anything extra in it to automatically make it active. That thread has some good links in it with pretty good instructions. I know the x220 isn't listed as an affected system but I think that the support site just hasn't been updated yet.
Dave
T430u, x301, x200T, x61T, x61, x32, x41T, x40, U160, ThinkPad Tablet 1838-22R, Z500 touch, Yoga Tab 2 Windows 8.1, Yoga Tablet 3 Pro
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X220 and ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock - any success?

I've just bought a ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock for my i7 X220 having been at a site last year which had Fujitsu PR08 USB 3.0 replicators - those, once I had installed the driver, worked perfectly with two 1920x1200 displays.
Anyway I can't get my displays (LG IPS235 1920x1080), either via DVI-D or DVI-I with VGA adapter, to work plugged into the dock. They work fine when connected directly to the X220.
I suspect this might be a USB 3.0 issue as it seems the support for USB 3.0 on X220 is not quite what I'd expected (e.g. see https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/X220-and-Mini-Dock-Series-3-with-USB-3-0/td-p...).
USB devices connect via the dock, but at USB 2.0 speed (which apparently is to be expected).
I can't see a network device at all (shouldn't it show up as another network adapter in adition to the built-in Intel 82579LM NIC?).
I have removed displaylink software and ThinkPad Dock software (originally I went to the latest 1.7.15 but tried cleaning everything off and using the older version 1.07.04 (no luck) then upgrading to 1.7.15 again).
I'm sure I read that this dock was compatible on a Lenovo spec somewhere. I have been through http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=HT073584
So far it's wasted a lot of time and been very disappointing - I'm kind of wishing I hadn't bothered (I'm not sure if the supplier will take it back as I've opened the packaging etc). Has anyone had any more success with this dock and the i7 X220?
X220 (4287CTO): i7, 16GB, m500 960GB, F5521gw, Win8.1 ~ I use ThinkPad on the road quite a lot. I need an ultrabook (X2*0, X1 Carbon) with 16GB & clickable trackpoint buttons!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

A quick update:
Under Windows 7 I couldn't get the dock to work at all well - basically it worked as USB2 hub and that it. This included a long call to Lenovo and reinstalling the ThinkPad dock softare several times, from both the original CD and the latest ones. Note I even installed the latest version of DisplayLink drivers (7.5M1) directly from their site which did work (core went from 7.5.5172.0 to 7.5.54051.0) but gave a useful warning that the USB3 host controller software (Renesas emulation stuff) might need updating (and I found a 2.1.39.0 version, compared to the 2.1.36 Lenovo version, which I tried too - installed but didn't help). DisplayLink also mentioned (here) that Windows 8 had a different way to deal with older USB3 controllers like Renesas.
Anyway, I was all set to try send the dock back and thought I'd try Windows 8.1 (which I'd bought and was thinking of trying out on a new SSD).
On Windows 8.1 the USB 3.0 Dock seems to work fine: display, network and USB ports. Currently I've even got 4 displays running off the X220: 2 x DVI-D in the dock, 1 VGA plugged into the X220 and the built-in screen. I don't suppose this would be any use for games, but for business work it seems to be working fine so far
Note: I installed the latest DisplayLink driver again (mainly because I thought that I was missing transparent borders - turns out that's because Aero Glass has currently gone from Win8!).
For anyone who's interested here's the USB section of device manager - let me know if you need driver versions.
HTH
Simon
X220 (4287CTO): i7, 16GB, m500 960GB, F5521gw, Win8.1 ~ I use ThinkPad on the road quite a lot. I need an ultrabook (X2*0, X1 Carbon) with 16GB & clickable trackpoint buttons!

X220 Ultrabase external USB HDD strange click sounds on boot

I have X220 and Ultrabase 3. External USB HDD (WD Passport) is connect to one of Ultrabase USB ports. When I reboot and press F12 to get the boot menu there are two strange click (or scratch) noises coming out of the external HDD. One click before the menu appears and second after boot device (CD drive) is selected. I tried different HDD with the same result. It loooks like a short power drop or so but it happens with the boot menu only. The first external HDD I used for three years is damaged now, don't know whether it is connected with this issue. BIOS version 1.38, no USB 3 port. I found the issue is specific to Ultrabase USB ports. When the same external HDD is connected directly to notebook USB port, it is fine. I use the Ultrabase setup for booting from Acronis TrueImage bootable CD to create backups. Anyone has similar issue ? Is possible to use the notebook USB port when it is docked in Ultrabase ?

It could be that the port where it does not function may not be producing sufficient power for the given HDD. It has been shown that all USB ports do not output the same power. You might test with a USB 'Y' connector or a powered hub.
Ciao.

X220 ultrabase usb replicator stops on undock/sleep

Hi:
ultrabase usb replicator works fine, then, upon:
- selecting undock from start menu
- selecting sleep mode from start menu
- physically undocking and docking
- waking-up using button on ultrabase,
the ultrabase usb replicator stops working, which is verified from the device manager.
have reloaded bios, firmware and usb drivers with no luck.
any ideas?
thanks!

I have a 3-week old x220. i have been able to:
1. undock (via software), then put into sleep mode, then remove laptop from ultrabase.
2. replace laptop back into dock and wake up. all usb ports on dock became functional.
as of last week I started experiencing same exact problem as the first poster. where upon wake up none of the usb ports on the dock are functional. even if i pull out a usb connection from the dock then insert again, it is never seen by the x220. these ports are somehow disabled.
Anyone with an advice? Thanks in advance.

X220: external USB keyboard not detected in BIOS

Hi!
I use an external USB keyboard attached to the port replicator of my X220. When Windows is booted the keyboard works without any problems. But I cannot use the keyboard pre-boot, e.g. to enter the HDD password after starting up, to configure the BIOS, etc.
I tried all USB ports both of the port replicator and the X220. The keyboard is still not detected by the BIOS (Version 1.20) and there are no BIOS options to enable "USB keyboard support".
Has anyone experienced similar problems? Are there any solutions to get the keyboard detected by the BIOS?
Thank you for your support!

@beastiesoft and earthartja,
If I am not mistaken, we are discussing this on the T series thread. Check here.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T420-Not-recognizing-keyboard-before-OS-loa...
@someotherguy,
Drop you an email on this.
//JameZ
Check out the Community Knowledge Base for hints and tips.
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X240 | 8GB RAM | 512GB Samsung SSD

USB Enhanced Performance Keyboard utility crash

USB Enhanced Performance Keyboard (Wired) : skd881x daemon has stopped working
What I'm getting here is a consistent crash of the OSD / button management daemon (Skdaemon.exe) on a standard french Vista 32bit install. This might be a duplicate of this unresolved problem, although the OS is 32 bit here.
I can reproduce the crash easily by using either one of the Volume+, Volume- or Mute buttons at any time as long as the Play/Pause button has never been pressed before. If I start the daemon, choose "Play/Pause" (the indication "Play/Pause" appears in the OSD), then the instance of the daemon will never crash afterwards and I will be able to use the volume buttons until the next reboot.
I have tried :
using the keyboard configuration tool to change most of the settings,
clean uninstalling/reinstalling the (latest) driver and utility,
looking up for a solution elsewhere,
to no avail.
I would appreciate any pointer to resolve that annoying problem.
EDIT : updated the title so it appears more explicit from the forum view

I know that bumping my own thread is not really a display of gentleman's manners, but I would like to know if there is a way to reach lenovo directly, at least to make the company aware of this annoying bug (which does seem to be recurrent). I can't seem to find it as I'm lost in the endless cross-references between lenovo and IBM support pages, and a part of the online support doesn't seem to be available in France

Low performance USB port on X61

Hi,
Recently I found my X61 has a low USB performance, when I copy files to my external USB HDD, the speed is about 13MB/s. Then I tested X61's writing speed on external USB HDD with HDtune and ATTO Disk benchmark, it is around 12-14MB/s. But The USB HDD have a writing speed over 25MB/s on other computers.
I have three USB HDDs of different model, and the USB writing speed on X61 is all the same, so it must be the problem of X61.
Anyone has the same problem? Any solution to this problem?

joecct77 wrote:
There is a USB Port on my MI424 router. Does it work and if so, what can I hook it up to and how do I do it (besides plugging the cable in)??
THANKS!!
Last I heard, the usb port on the Verizon supplied routers are not active and may or may not be active in later verisions.
"If your problem has been solved, please mark it as such. Don't forget to hand out your Kudos!"

[W510] - USB 3.0 SSD, poor performance.

Help please?
I'm getting some rather poor performance on both of the USB 3.0 ports on the laptop.
I have an SSD that's been tested via internal SATA II connection, capable of (sequential) read 275MB/s, and write 250MB/s. Also have a 3.5 inch WD Caviar Black 2TB SATAIII (WD2002FAEX), tested via eSATA, capable of (sequential) read 150MB/s, and write 150MB/s (think it saturated the eSATA on the W510).
However, when either of these two drives was connected via USB 3.0 (tested with three different brands of USB 3.0 enclosure), the sequential read performance was only at 85MB/s, and write was (REALLY bad) at 60MB/s (even with the SSD). This leads me to think there's a bottleneck somewhere on the W510 (because I know for certain, the USB 3.0 enclosures are capable to at least give 130MB/s read and write. The drives are also capable of performing faster than 100MB/s as well).
All drivers, BIOS, firmware are the latest. Platform is Windows 7 Ultimate - 64bit.
The NEC USB 3.0 chipset seems to be connected to PCI Express 2.0 x1 bus. Reading on the Intel QM57 chipset spec, the PCI Express 2.0 implementation is only capable of serving 2.5GT/s (http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/qm57/qm57-overview.htm), using 8b/10b encoding (http://www.tmworld.com/article/318759-What_does_GT_s_mean_anyway_.php), that gives 2Gbps. So I was expecting the USB 3.0 connection is capable of giving me around (not exact, as I accept there's overhead) 200MB/s.
At this point in time, a single mechanical drive (consumer level) can't quite go up to 200MB/s yet, but SSD can. And therefore, I expected my SSD benchmark via USB 3.0 could at least give me that....sadly it wasn't the case with the W510.
This brings two questions I have for the forum:
1. Why is my W510 USB 3.0, in combination with high performance disks and rather capable USB 3.0 enclosures, perform so poorly.
2. If my understanding from above is correct, then isn't this "USB 3.0" feature (regardless of my benchmark result) sounds misleading? Because the product, W510, is simply incapable of delivering a USB 3.0 experience even in "ideal" situation (limited by the 2.5GT/s).

I did try eSATA as well, the WD drive was able to do 150MB/s and 149MB/s, read and write respectively. (as the QM57 chipset natively supports SATA at 3Gb/s)
The issue here is as part of the decision process to get the W510, USB 3 capability came into consideration (for having more than 1 fast external storage device).
EDIT:
Ultimately, what I'm really after is:
1. Have I configured something incorrectly, or misconfigured something. Or is there's some ideal component linkage I'm missing.
2. Is the W510's USB 3.0, at the very least, capable of delivering 2.5GT/s?
3. I may, or may not have to file a complaint to Lenovo or BBB for misleading marketing / sales info.
2nd EDIT:
I do thank you for suggesting eSATA. However, if Lenovo is going to reply to this, I simply won't take "use the touchpad instead" if the trackpoint isn't working properly.

X220 USB 3.0 Performanc​e vs ExpressCar​d

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X220 USB 3.0 Performance vs ExpressCard