Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 2nd Generation (Rel 2) - SSD Replacement / Upgrade

Our refurbished laptop came with a 128GB SSD, which quickly filled-up, due to dual-booting, student software, and so forth.

So, time to upgrade!

Lenovo recommends the following storage options:

• 128GB SSD M.2
• Intel 180GB Opal SSD
• 256GB SSD M.2 eDrive Capable
• Intel 240GB Opal SSD
• 512GB SSD M.2

NOTES

• Lingo
• Second generation names:
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 2
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2nd gen
• New ThinkPad X1 Carbon
• ThinkPad X1C2
• m.2
• "The M.2 connector can have different keying notches that denote various uses of M.2 modules."
• Overview of what M and B+M means
• eDrive: 
• Per Wikipedia, "Microsoft eDrive is a specification for storage devices to allow compliant storage devices to use its built-in encryption."
• It seems "eDrive adds the additional capability of BitLocker in HW mode (IEEE1667)
• Opal: 
• Per Wikipedia, "The Opal Storage Specification is a set of specifications for features of data storage devices (such as disk drives) that enhance their security. For example, it defines a way of encrypting the stored data so that an unauthorized person who gains possession of the device cannot see the data."
• It appears Opal does not represent an acronym
• PCIe (PCI Express, or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express)
• Overview of what 2280 means (note: please ignore PCIe, at the link)
• 2280 means, "22mm wide, 80mm length"
• 22mm width seems to represent the standard, with lengths set at 30, 42, 60, 80, and 110
• Reference
• Hardware Maintenance Manual, for machine types: 20A7 and 20A8
• Lenovo Product Specifications Reference (PSREF)
• Comparing mSATA (generation one) with m.2 (generation two)
• X1 generation 2, announced in January, 2014, comes in two machine types:
• 20A7
• 20A8
• The difference (?)
• Storage details:
• One commenter, on which drives will work: "...any SATA (not the newest PCIe) 2280 m.2 SSD with M or B+M keys."
• Seems to imply it needs the notch in the m.2 module in the "M" position
• 80mm length (or less, I guess?)...so, no 110mm form factors
• "Only one M.2 slot in the X1C2 will recognize SSDs" (via)
• Note: "The SSD in the X1C2 only supported SATA M.2 2280 NGFF SSDs. Which means that the port was only connected to SATA. With the X1C3, the socket is connected to both PCIe and SATAIII." That is, you can use PCIe SSDs.
• SSDs advertised as 480GB instead of 512GB...potentially the controller over-provisioning (?)
• Upgrade notes
• Video of removing chassis screws and replacing SSD, in a first generation X1 Carbon
• Clone the existing SSD to the new SSD
• Vendor options:
• SSD:
• Transcend 512 GB SATA III 6Gb/s MTS800 80 mm M.2 SSD Solid State Drive TS512GMTS800
• Reviews: positive and positive
• M+B keyed
• Micron MTFDDAV512MBF-1AN12A M600 512 GB Internal Solid State Drive - M.2 - 560 MBps Maximum Read Transfer Rate - 510 MBps Maximum Write Transfer Rate - M.2 2280
• Crucial M500 480GB SATA 6Gbps M.2 Internal SSD [Crucial PN: CT480M500SSD4]
• (?)
• Cloning
• M-Factors Storage "DT-119 (M.2 (NGFF) SSD to SATA adapter)" + Apricorn EZ Upgrade USB 3.0 enclosure + Apricorn EZ Gig software  
• Cloning hint: "The only tricky part was getting the X1 Carbon 2014 to recognize the Transcend ssd while it was attached externally through the USB 3.0 configuration. But this just requires that you run diskmgmt.msc (just do a search for it in the X1 Carbon 2014 start menu and then click on the program once you find it to open it) to right-click on unallocated drive-space to create a "New Simple Volume," partition so that the new SSD can then be formatted."
• ZTC Thunder Enclosure NGFF M.2 SSD to USB 3.0 Adapter. Support UASP SuperSpeed 6Gb/s 520MB/s Black Model ZTC-EN004-BK
• (?)
• Post-upgrade:
• "The SSD did not have the latest firmware. There is no update program for Windows 8, so it was necessary to create a bootable USB flash drive (or a bootable CD/DVD). The recommended program "Universal USB Installer" prepared the USB flash drive. It was not UEFI compatible, so it was necessary to temporarily disable Secure Boot and enable Legacy Boot mode. This was not difficult for me, but it could be for others. The firmware update was successful and no files were lost." (via)
• "I had troubles for the first two days ater installation due to Power saving configuration under windows 8." (via)

We determined to go with the Transcend and ZTC Thunder.