Recommendations for an m.2 2242 (short length) SSD for my ThinkPad

  • Thread starter Deleted member 245375
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 245375

Guest
Just got a great deal on a near-mint ThinkPad W541 and I'm scoping out all the tech sites for m.2 2242 (the smaller size form factor) SSD reviews and figured I'd just ask outright in case anyone else out there might be in a similar situation. The laptop has the standard 2.5" drive bay and I just ordered a hard drive optical caddy since I really have no use for the optical drive (I have a nice LG external USB M-Disc capable burner already).

So, because this machine - which is just shy of 3 years old when it shipped in August 2015 - can't support larger than the smallest 2242 form factor m.2 drives, sadly, and of course it doesn't have NVMe support either so it's got to be a plain old vanilla m.2 2242 SATA III SSD that I'm in the market for.

The current 2.5" bay has the factory Samsung SSD in it (not sure which model it's based on, probably the 840 series) and of course it won't work with Samsung Magician which is utterly ridiculous - I swear I wish there was a hack to that app that lets me make use of that an the RAPID RAM cache since I've got 16GB of RAM in it (can max out at 32GB but that'll take awhile).

So I hope to find a decent performing m.2 2242 SSD that I can put in the m.2 slot obviously and then make that the boot/system drive. Would prefer to find a 480GB or larger if such things exist but if needed then a 250/256GB model would work too, smaller than that is pushing it I suppose as I do have a few VMs that take up maybe 140GB of space which means with a 256GB that leaves plenty of room for the host OS, Windows 7 Pro x64.

Any and all recommendations, suggestions, and tips are welcome, thanks. Just in case people aren't aware this is a size comparison of the m.2 form factors, and the 2242 is my only option:

m.2 Form Factors.jpg
 
I am in a similar boat with ThinkPad X240 and HP Elitebook 840 G1. I really have been contemplating MyDigitalSSD at 240-256GB range w/ a Phison controller. I think Amazon has a 480-512GB by Transcend? Haven't pulled trigger, but I would pull trigger on the former as I have at least two SSDs with a Phison controller.
 
I saw the Samsung 860 EVO earlier, they make it in the m.2 2242 form factor so that's probably what I'm going to end up getting, had no issues with the Samsung products I've owned (mostly OEM drives and it really irks me that the Magician software won't work with them, I see no logic in that decision really). Anyway, this is about the going rate for the MZ-M6E250BW I'll be looking at getting:

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-250GB-mSATA-Internal-MZ-M6E250BW/dp/B078WS5W4D

SAMSUNG_MZ-M6E250BW.png


I doubt I'll find it for less someplace else so, whenever I can scrape together some money I'll probably grab one. Apparently they don't make the 860 PRO series in the 2242 form factor, sadly.

Thanks for the input, however.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
No problem at all. Thank you Tiberian, it's good to know that Samsung has a m.2 2242 SSD as well. I overlooked Samsung; the funny thing I recently saw it at Micro Center.
 
You want a M.2 2242 SATA, not an mSATA. Unfortunately they seem to be a rare item especially in larger sizes. Probably not worth it, just get a larger 2.5" SSD.
 
Lenovo Quick Pick says that this is made for your machine: 4XB0K48501

Search on eBay. Available for $150.
 
Sorry to ask in your post but which should work as an aux ( inside a caddy ) in a L540?
 
Blue Fox said:
That's not an M.2 drive.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct and I'm glad you caught that, I missed it entirely: it's an m.2 SATA drive, not an m.2 NGFF SSD so no, it wouldn't work in this laptop unfortunately. Now the hunt is on for one that will, dammit. :)

Luke M said:
You want a M.2 2242 SATA, not an mSATA. Unfortunately they seem to be a rare item especially in larger sizes. Probably not worth it, just get a larger 2.5" SSD.
Click to expand...

Yes, I realize that, and yes I could get a larger traditional 2.5" SSD but since the slot works for an m.2 drive, I figure I might as well make use of it. I don't want to have super huge SSDs actually, that would lead me to store larger files on them and that's not good for SSDs in general; storage of large files is better for traditional hard drives and now I have the 1TB inside the optical bay with the SATA caddy adapter for that purpose.

viper_0307 said:
See the third page of PDF, sadly HP refers to m.2. http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/html/pdfs/AMS_HP_EliteBook_840_G1_Notebook_PC_Data_Sheet.pdf


I am sure this is the case with Lenovo too?
Click to expand...

I can't say for sure, I've read reports from some W540 owners (basically the same laptop as the W541 I have with minor differences, the hardware is the same internally) that they have been successful at using the m.2 SSD they chose as a bootable device; if not then I could just use it for imaging purposes I suppose, we'll see what happens whenever I'm able to get one.

elvis1 said:
Sorry to ask in your post but which should work as an aux ( inside a caddy ) in a L540?
Click to expand...

In a caddy like the one I just got for replacing the optical drive (which I don't have a use for since I have the nice LG external USB one) you can use any traditional SATA drive, 2.5" form factor.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Tiberian said:
You are absolutely correct and I'm glad you caught that, I missed it entirely: it's an m.2 SATA drive, not an m.2 NGFF SSD so no, it wouldn't work in this laptop unfortunately. Now the hunt is on for one that will, dammit. :)
Click to expand...
No, it's not an "M.2 SATA drive" either. M.2 = NGFF. The linked SSD is mSATA which is entirely separate from M.2. M.2 defines the form factor, which can either be SATA or PCIe (or USB for things that aren't drives). mSATA has a different connector altogether.

Here's a photo to show you the difference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#/media/File:M.2_and_mSATA_SSDs_comparison.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top