I decided to upgrade my X505 with a SSD drive when the prices started to fall. I picked up my SSD for $270, which I thought was very reasonable.

Since I have 2 X505’s and 4 drives (2@20GB, 1@30GB, and 1@32GB) it is easier for me to do apples to apples benchmarks. Over the next week I will open one X505 and install the standard 20GB HDD. I will install XP and without updates or installing anything else, I will benchmark it. Then, I will remove the drive and install the 32GB SSD drive. Again, without updates or installing anything, I will bechmark it again (I will install the benchmark program). I will then upload the results and screenshots so we can all see exactly the effect the SSD had on the X505.

In the process I will explain how to remove the casing on the SSD so it will fit in the X505 (it won’t work out of the box, it’s too thick).

Feel free to make suggestions or comments along the way.

Below are some teaser pictures:

UPDATE: 1/31/07

Benchmarks are done. I had problems running PCMark on the 20GB, it failed the final two tests for some reason. I posted all the results anyway.

20GB Toshiba HDD - Clean XP install - No Updates/Drivers
30GB Toshiba HDD - Daily use Vista - SP1 Updated
32GB Samsung SSD - Clean XP install - No Updates/Drivers

First, the PCMark scores:

Now, the HD Tach:
20GB (RED) vs 30GB (BLUE)

30GB (RED) vs 32GB SSD (BLUE)

As you can clearly see, the 30GB is faster then the 20GB and the SSD smokes them both. The important numbers are the average read, not the burst.

The 30GB drive is 8.39% faster then the 20GB drive.
The 32GB SSD drive is 195.83% faster then the 30GB drive.
The 32GB SSD drive is 220.64% faster then the 20GB drive.

In the real world, the SSD shut down in around 4 seconds, and booted (not standby or hybernate) in under 10 seconds. I’m sure once you add Anti-Virus and applications it will slow down, but it’s very fast as it is.

How-To:

The drive as shipped is too thick for the X505.
Front:

Flip the drive over and remove 4 tiny phillips screws from the body:

Pry the metal on the side (I used a swiss army knife).
The metal above the connector has a bit of glue, but it’s not difficult.

Now you can replace the blue shock protectors from the original HDD and place the SSD into the system. Total time to remove the plate should be 5 minutes or less. I wouldn’t remove any other part of the unit as the size would be too small and it would rattle in your system. No need to buy a different version of the drive, the OEM version works perfectly.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Erik

That’s what I call an upgrade. Will read your report with a lot of interest.

Hey man,
Good to hear form you, long time no see! I would love to hear more about your upgrade and see how the start up time measures up in XP or Vista. I have not had the guts to open my X505 yet, but would love to get some SSD love some day in it.
Stan

VAIOfreak - 30 December 2007 04:39 PM

Hey man,
Good to hear form you, long time no see! I would love to hear more about your upgrade and see how the start up time measures up in XP or Vista. I have not had the guts to open my X505 yet, but would love to get some SSD love some day in it.
Stan

Yeah, sorry about that, I moved, got married, and now I’m expecting a baby any day now. Forums weren’t top priority at the time. I’m going to try and get working on the 20GB benchmarks right now.

Erik

I’m looking forward to hear the results.  I’d been interested in buying an X505 now that the ebay price is dropping.

Bump, all done.

Happy New Year!

Erik

great job erik! 

I’ve been holding back on the SSD but after seeing your write up I’m preety much on the boat.

Can you let us know where you got your Samsung 32GB ?  Thanks. (benchmarks look impressive!)

- S

lover of tiffanys - 31 December 2007 08:35 PM

great job erik! 

I’ve been holding back on the SSD but after seeing your write up I’m preety much on the boat.

Can you let us know where you got your Samsung 32GB ?  Thanks. (benchmarks look impressive!)

- S

Newegg is selling it for $349.99 with free shipping and a Seagate 300GB SATA drive valued at $79.99. I was able to re-sell the drive at MSRP to make the unit $270. Even without selling the second drive, $350 is a great price.

Now if we could only upgrade the RAM to 1GB I’d be in heaven. Anyone know how to solder?

Erik

Hi there,

Would this work the same way on a TR2A? Congratulations for the nice job.

—Julio.

jdalge - 14 January 2008 10:27 AM

Hi there,

Would this work the same way on a TR2A? Congratulations for the nice job.

—Julio.

It should work the same way if you have a Toshiba drive. If you have the Hitachi one, I’m not sure. Also, I don’t think you would have to remove the plate in order for the drive to fit…I don’t exactly remember, but I doubt it’s as tight in the TR as it is in the X.

Erik

tifosiv122 - 14 January 2008 12:09 PM

jdalge - 14 January 2008 10:27 AM

Hi there,

Would this work the same way on a TR2A? Congratulations for the nice job.

—Julio.

It should work the same way if you have a Toshiba drive. If you have the Hitachi one, I’m not sure. Also, I don’t think you would have to remove the plate in order for the drive to fit…I don’t exactly remember, but I doubt it’s as tight in the TR as it is in the X.

Erik

Thanks for the quick answer, Erik. It is a Toshiba drive, in fact. I agree with you, maybe there is no need to remove the plate to fit it in. Do you believe it would be possible to keep the old hd as a second drive?

—Julio.

jdalge - 15 January 2008 04:44 AM

tifosiv122 - 14 January 2008 12:09 PM

jdalge - 14 January 2008 10:27 AM

Hi there,

Would this work the same way on a TR2A? Congratulations for the nice job.

—Julio.

It should work the same way if you have a Toshiba drive. If you have the Hitachi one, I’m not sure. Also, I don’t think you would have to remove the plate in order for the drive to fit…I don’t exactly remember, but I doubt it’s as tight in the TR as it is in the X.

Erik

Thanks for the quick answer, Erik. It is a Toshiba drive, in fact. I agree with you, maybe there is no need to remove the plate to fit it in. Do you believe it would be possible to keep the old hd as a second drive?

—Julio.

Anything is possible. I’m pretty sure someone on this board added a second drive to their TR…I don’t remember exactly who, but I think if you search for it on the board you might find it.

If you can’t, let me know, I’ll look.

Erik

tifosiv122 - 15 January 2008 05:45 AM

jdalge - 15 January 2008 04:44 AM

tifosiv122 - 14 January 2008 12:09 PM

jdalge - 14 January 2008 10:27 AM

Hi there,

Would this work the same way on a TR2A? Congratulations for the nice job.

—Julio.

It should work the same way if you have a Toshiba drive. If you have the Hitachi one, I’m not sure. Also, I don’t think you would have to remove the plate in order for the drive to fit…I don’t exactly remember, but I doubt it’s as tight in the TR as it is in the X.

Erik

Thanks for the quick answer, Erik. It is a Toshiba drive, in fact. I agree with you, maybe there is no need to remove the plate to fit it in. Do you believe it would be possible to keep the old hd as a second drive?

—Julio.

Anything is possible. I’m pretty sure someone on this board added a second drive to their TR…I don’t remember exactly who, but I think if you search for it on the board you might find it.

If you can’t, let me know, I’ll look.

Erik

I think it was done by replacing the optical drive. I’ll let you know what I’m able to come up with. Thanks for you help.

—Julio.

Thanks for the news! I’ll be on the lookout for a drive!

great mod! i’m thinking about doing the same thing with my x505, but maybe with a compact flash.  do you think i can get the same kinda performance (compared to your SSD specs) with a 16 or 32 GB CF card?

i tried finding your deal on newegg.com, but i couldn’t find it, was it a special or something? do you still have a link to it?

also, did you notice any improvement in your battery life??

thank you

s2je77 - 20 January 2008 01:42 AM

great mod! i’m thinking about doing the same thing with my x505, but maybe with a compact flash.  do you think i can get the same kinda performance (compared to your SSD specs) with a 16 or 32 GB CF card?

i tried finding your deal on newegg.com, but i couldn’t find it, was it a special or something? do you still have a link to it?

also, did you notice any improvement in your battery life??

thank you

Newegg was running the special until 12/31, I guess they changed it now.

I don’t think a CF card will run anywhere near as fast. I couldn’t find hard specs for the 32GB card, but the SanDisk Extreme III 16GB Compact Flash (CF) Flash Card Model SDCFX3-16384-901 which is a higher end card, only has a speed of 20MB/second which is nowhere near the speed the SSD is getting.

I haven’t noticed a change in battery life, but I haven’t used it all that much off the battery in the past few weeks.

Erik