[ltp] ssd for X220

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 12:29:30AM -0800, Rubin Abdi wrote:
> 
> Currently in my X220 I'm running a 128GB mSATA SSD (I think they come in
> 256GB now) with root running of off it (for the most part), and a second
> 2.5" 1TB platter drive running as a sort of secondary home or media
> storage. laptop-mode-tools has some config somewhere that'll shut the
> drive down after 15 seconds of inactivity while running on battery power.

This is what I'm doing, although I'm using an Intel series 810 mSATA
ssd.  It's only 80 gigs, but it's based on the X-25M controller, and I
trust it a heck of a lot more than some of the other more
"adventurous" SSD controller designs.  (Intel tends to be a lot more
conservative with their FTL designs than some of the other SSD
manufacturers.)   Currently it's available for around $180.

> The platter drive is some Samsung thing. I had to sort of remove my
> motherboard from inside the machine and wedge the thing in there without
> the drive try to make it fit (kind of regretting it now).

The trick is to make sure you use a 7mm hard drive.  I'm using a
Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500, which is a 5400rpm, 500G drive, which is
available for around $60.  The reason why I'm using the older 5400rpm
drive is because I care more about battery lifetime than performance
--- 80G is plenty of room for the stuff that requires low latency
access, which in my case is my system binaries, my home directory, and
my source trees.  I keep my A/V media files, build trees with the
object files, and less frequently used bulk data on the 5400pm HDD.

       	      	       		       	    	 - Ted