Thinking about putting an SSD in a Thinkpad T530

C

Christopher

Gawd
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Sep 16, 2002
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634
Hi forum,

I'm thinking about replacing the spinning disk with an SSD on a Thinkpad T530. Anyone done this? How difficult is it? What kind of form factor do you need, and if any adapters or brackets so it will fit correctly?

This machine I use a collection of virtual machines to demonstrate software so my storage requirements are a bit higher than average. Are there any SSDs in the 500G range that will work?
 
I have not googled up the specs on your exact box, there are a few that require the thinner form factor but I have yet to run into one, the SSDs are built on the exact HDD form factor. You will pay a goodly sum for a half terabyte but it should be plug and play.
 
I have replaced original WD Black drive by OCZ Vertex3 SSD in my thinkpad T420, and after a year of usage i think i will never come back to spindles again ;) I dont know about T530, but in older T420 you can put at most three drives, one in a "standard" place where your current drive is placed, second drive can be installed in a special dedicated "case" as a dvd drive replacement, and third one is a mSATA slot. In my laptop i have two drives, ssd as the main drive and old wd black in place of dvdrom, im very happy with this setup so far :)

to replace a drive you just need a screwdriver, open the case, get the drive, put the ssd, close the case, thats it
 
Anysize will fit into a t530, mine came with 7mm bumpers on it, but a 9mm drive will also fit.

You also have the option of using a msata card, if you didn't get the celldata option, as they use the same slot. (mounts right under the keyboard)

I opted for a samsung 830 256g, really happy. Going to join it with an msata drive here in the next week or two.
 
patrickdk said:
Anysize will fit into a t530, mine came with 7mm bumpers on it, but a 9mm drive will also fit.

You also have the option of using a msata card, if you didn't get the celldata option, as they use the same slot. (mounts right under the keyboard)

I opted for a samsung 830 256g, really happy. Going to join it with an msata drive here in the next week or two.
Click to expand...

When I ordered my T530 directly from Lenovo, I kind of gagged when I saw the price premium for their SSD. So I got the 500 GB 5400 rpm drive instead with my system, plus I got a Corsair 240 GB drive as part of a "kit." The kit includes software and a "magic cable" that allows you to move your hard drive contents to the SSD in one mouse-click. Once I got through that process and tested out the SSD, I reformatted the 512 GB hard drive for use with an external 2.5" drive. Now I have lots of portable backup storage AND my system runs way faster than it did with the HDD. Highly recommended.
 
I got the Samsung 830 256GB that was on sale a few weeks ago for my Lenovo Thinkpad X120e. Works great, Windows 7 and other programs load very quickly. I know the 840 is out and is supposed to be faster but I'm not sure if I'll notice the difference. Nothing beats an SSD as a boot drive for speed.
 
Thanks everyone for the input, it sounds like standard 2.5" SSDs will work fine. I've got SSDs on all my desktop workstations, and once you go SSD its hard to go back to spinning disks.
 
A standard 2.5" SSD will fit fine into a T530, I have one in front of me right now.
 
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