mSATA FAQ: A Basic Primer

[cliff1127]

Where can I buy the 80gb Intel mSATA? Is Newegg the only retailer? They've been sold out for about 2 weeks, and searching on the Fry's website makes it seem like it's not available there.

[mavrik13]

As someone who will be buying an x220t, thank you for this thread.

I have a question that I haven't seen discussed anywhere - battery life and use of the HDD. If I were to install a mSATA SSD, and use it as my primary drive... would the HDD continue to drain the battery?

What about only using a mSATA SSD, and taking out the HDD all together (I'd keep an external HDD at home for storage, and just keep what I need in a 80/128gb SSD). Besides cost, is there a downside to this? How would this compare to simply buying/installing a normal sized SSD?

[LoneWolf15]

Best thing to do is get on the e-mail list for when it's back in stock --and make sure that e-mail forwards to your cell phone.

Provantage.com has them too, but currently out. I thought NCIX might have them too, but I searched, apparently they don't carry them.

[chaosphoenix]

Assuming no access to the HDD, the drain would just be the HDD idle drain. Just because you installed an mSATA drive doesnt mean the OS ignores the HDD. It still uses it, however if you only have media that you access on in a while on the HDD, it will be spun down most of the time.

[mazzmond]

I installed the intel 80 gb mSATA card in my wife's T520. Did a standard Lenovo system restore using the recovery media that I burned on initial boot up of the machine and I can confirm that the SSD is properly aligned using this method. Also defrag was not turned on for the SSD (was turned on and scheduled for standard hard drive) and system restore was turned off with this method as well.

I also did a fresh install using the same intel 80 gb mSATA card (ordered 2 of them about 3 weeks ago) on my x220 using Windows 7 and after setting my BIOS to UEFI only. Both computers have same intel processor and 8 GB of RAM. Boot time is very similar so enabling UEFI only and a fresh install doesn't seem to gain any speed over the recovery media method and using the standard BIOS settings. So for those who really want a UEFI only system and contemplating a fresh install...I don't think you gain much at all at least in terms of boot speed and time spent during POST.

[LoneWolf15]

Very useful information mazzmod. I will modify portions of my original post as a result.

How did you confirm proper SSD alignment?

[mazzmond]

Start menu, type "run" then msinfo32

components => storage => disks

Values for my system are below. This is on the T520 and has both the intel mSATA 80gb and standard mechanical hard drive that came with the system. If you're able to divide "partition starting offset" by 4096 and you get a whole number (no decimal point) then you're properly aligned. Again this was with a brand new intel 80gb mSATA drive. Installed that drive, removed the Hitachi hard disk, used the Lenovo system restore from the burned factory recovery disks. So looks like it works for those not wanting to do a clean install. I personally like clean installs but didn't feel like spending the time doing all that on my wife's system.

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model HITACHI HTS545025B9A300
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 1
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 232.88 GB (250,056,737,280 bytes)
Total Cylinders 30,401
Total Sectors 488,392,065
Total Tracks 7,752,255
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 232.88 GB (250,057,064,448 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,048,576 bytes

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model INTEL SSDMAEMC080G2
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 2
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 2
Sectors/Track 63
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,749,120 bytes)
Total Cylinders 9,729
Total Sectors 156,296,385
Total Tracks 2,480,895
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size 1.17 GB (1,257,242,624 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,048,576 bytes
Partition Disk #1, Partition #1
Partition Size 73.36 GB (78,767,022,080 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,258,291,200 bytes

[Kaizad]

The Hardware Maintenance Manual mentions special Nylon Coated screws that are single use and should be replaced with new screws only.

Anyone know where we can order these?
Which sizes would be needed for the x220? (keyboard, palmrest etc)
Any additional screws required to install the mSATA? (assuming it didn't have WWAN to start with)

[Fuzzyhead]

@Kaizad:

That's outrageous and sux donkey balls.

You don't need additional screws, because one screw should be already at the WWAN slot.

[sp00n]

The Hardware Maintenance Manual mentions special Nylon Coated screws that are single use and should be replaced with new screws only.

Anyone know where we can order these?
Which sizes would be needed for the x220? (keyboard, palmrest etc)
Any additional screws required to install the mSATA? (assuming it didn't have WWAN to start with)

i've never seen a one-time-use only screw before on a thinkpad. can you specify which screws you're referring to?