Lenovo T510 and Sandisk SSD

[Jelorian]

I have a T510 that I'd like to upgrade. I saw a good deal on a Sandisk 120GB SSD and bought it so that I could replace the current hard drive in my T510.

Just wondering if anyone has done it yet and if you had any issues. If it doesn't work, it isn't a huge deal to me as I'll just put in a new PC as a boot/system drive. I currently have an Intel SSD in my gaming rig and it goes from hitting the power switch to login prompt in less than 20 seconds.

I hoping to get similar performance on my T510.

Thanks all!

Jel

 

[corkyg]

I too have a T510, and I see no reason why the SSD would not work in it. My boot drive is a hybrid Momentus XT, 320GB, and it boots from a cold start to fully loaded on line in about 32 seconds.

 

[Jelorian]

Well, it looks like it is on its way. I'll keep this thread active with any issues or successes that I have. Next upgrade would be the drive caddy that replaces the DVD/CD and a 500GB or 1TB drive, and maybe max out the RAM to 8GB.

 

[Jelorian]

Got the drive the other day and got ready to install it. My action plan was to clone the existing drive to the Sandisk SSD and then swap the drives out. Sounds easy, but it never is.

In the end I got it installed and I go from hitting the power button to log on screen in 29 secs. After punching in my password I'm logged in and ready to go 9 secs later.

I didn't bother to time the old HDD, but I'm sure I could easily swap it back and see how much time I'm actually saving.

Here are the steps I took and the issues I had. Nothing too crazy, but issues nonetheless.

1. Remove old HDD out of T510 and install into SATA0 in a spare desktop PC.
2. Unwrapped new Sandisk SDD and install into SATA1 in same spare desktop PC.
3. Boot with Acronis True Image CD with the intent of cloning the original HDD to the SSD.
4. System boots off of CD, but does not recognize/see the SSD
5. Realized that SSD may need to be partitioned and/or formatted first, removed SSD from SATA1.
6. Booted up spare PC into Windows 7 and installed SSD in a USB caddy
7. Partitioned and formatted SSD in Windows 7
8. Shut down PC, installed SSD into SATA1 again
9. Boot spare PC using Acronis True Image CD
10. System boots fine and sees both drives however, I was unable to select the SSD as a target destination for cloning.
11. Removed HDD and installed back into T510 and created Recovery CD from Lenovo Tools Application
12. Removed original HDD and installed new SSD into T510. 13. Booted off recovery media CDs and ‘recovered’ Windows 7 to the new SSD.

In the end, I’m guessing that it was better to install it this way as it is essentially a clean install of Windows 7.

Next up is the 2nd drive caddy and hopefully a 1TB drive and 8GB of RAM

 

[corkyg]

Sounds like it all worked out as planned. Good show! Yeah - the Ultraybay III Adapter will handle your second drive with out the caddy.

 

[Jelorian]

Sounds like it all worked out as planned. Good show! Yeah - the Ultraybay III Adapter will handle your second drive with out the caddy.

Is the Ultrabay III adapter the OEM model made by Lenovo? I've seen the generic ones go for under $20 but not too sure about them.

 

[gsaldivar]

I'm using a cheap generic Ultrabay with my W520. It works great, but pay close attention to the dimensions (height) of the one you buy - there are at least two different models. If you get the incorrect one, you may end up with one that doesn't fit, or one that fits but leaves a nasty gap in the case:

 

[prash303]

I currently have the same laptop, but I don't have an extra PC. I cloned it using the software using a USB adapter, but my boot up time is just way too slow.
I tried to do a recovery CD onto the SSD, but it would install, and then the computer wouldn't read the SSD.

 

[corkyg]

Just got through doing this on my T-510. It was an easy process, quick, and booted/loaded perfectly. Here is the illustrated process completed yesterday:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2270260

You should also install and run the Samsung SSD Magician that came with the 830.

 

[Jelorian]

Next up is the 2nd drive caddy and hopefully a 1TB drive and 8GB of RAM

It's been a few months...I do have the generic drive caddy now and while it is not as snug and well built as the OEM product, it does the job for a fraction of the cost. Still haven't got around to upgrading to 8GB of RAM but with 4GB now I don't have any issues as I'm not doing any game on this guy right now..