Wait, why isn't you UltraBay HD included on the priority drive list? I currently have a W540 with a WD HD in place of the DVD and it appears as an option on the regular boot list. I was specifically planning to upgrade to a M.2 2242 to make it my OS/application drive. Will that not work? For those interested in getting a W540/1 to fill up with solid-state storage: beware getting off-lease models from eBay. I have a few and the all look like they may be slightly (or more) bent from being stacked on a pallet. If you remove the battery and look at the back of the unit, you may see an uneven split between the body halves on the right side.
Hi there, I think that in the BIOS, I had not included it in the list of bootable drives. I believe that you can enable / disable each individual drive as a bootable. I have to go back and check. I am currently testing a multi-boot install and will report.
@@Made2hack Hi, Have you tested booting from m.2? I am considering buying a m.2 SSD drive to give my laptop a second OS. Thanks in advance for an answer!
@@RadarORLY Shouldn't be any problem with that. I'm using an older T420 with older mSATA SSD as main drive with the OS on it along with 2 HDDs (one in caddy and the other one plugged to HDD port) for more than 3 years now and it runs smooth. The only thing I don't get is why he's using the SATA SSD and not the M.2 for OS. OS should run much faster and smoother on M.2
@@jackdaniels5383 M.2 is the pin form factor and it can potentially support both nvme and slower sata drives. Unfortunately the W541 only supports sata over its M.2 port so all the drives will max out at the same 6gb/s and if you try to plug in an nvme-only m.2 (if that even exists in 2242) it won't fit.
what is the 16GB M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for ? Is there any benefits of upgrade? I'm considering buying a W541 16 GB ram with a quad core 4710 the optical drive is staying .
Hi, i guess so. I have W540, which is basically same HW, just with different touch pad, and I am running 512GB M.2 2242 as a system drive with no issues.
@@richi5549 just bear in mind W540/541 supports only mSATA based 2242 drives, it needs to be B-Key. I personally used UMAX 512GB drive, which based on photos lookst to be OEM from Transcend.
Hi there, apparently M2 Sata has been offered since the W520 Thinkpads. But I don't own the W540 to check the M2 slot. If you can find pictures or layouts of the M2 slot, the Transcend should fit since it's the smaller size M2.
Next time take MX500 as primery SSD it is better than cheaper technology of EVO 850 :) when samsung as primery tha the PRO variants there are to compare with MX500
But it's not as fast as the EVO. You can also use the "Samsung Magician" software to optimize the EVO. It doesn't work with the Transcend M.2 drive. I did nearly the same thing with my W540: C drive: 1tb, Samsung EVO 860 D drive: 1tb, Samsung EVO 860 E drive: "MyDigital SuperBoot2" M.2 NGFF drive.
The m.2 2242 and sataSSD have the same performance but the m.2 is smoother. If you have the money, buy both of them and have m.2 run the OS, sata ssd as main storage.
Bought same drive in you link, my W541 won't recognize the Transcend ssd, it's the same model in your amazon link, :( Bios Hangs, freezes, pretty bummed this did not work, triple checked, got the same drive in your link you provided, no work, plez help,
Were you able to activate the bios drive options before installing the drive? And did you make sure that you installed in the SSD slot and not in the wifi slot? ( I believe it is also mSata slot).
@@Made2hack Greed made my put a P/N 4XB1B85887 ThinkPad 1TB PCie NVMe M.2 2242 SSD into my W541 opposite the WiFi/BT slot BUT it does not come up i BIOS and and guess where not Argh!! Any ideas? (Am I trying something like putting DDR4 memory into the four slots?. ROFLMAO
@@frankjonsson9104 Hi There, I'm thinking that it is due to the fact that you chose NVME. I don't think it is supported by the board, I think only the M.2 spec works (seeing that it is a bit of an older laptop).
thanks for the video, installed the same transcend m2 ssd 430s as the c drive, works fine with the read speed is 500MB/s write speed is 220MB/s
i'm glad it was useful!
Is 256gb max for that slot? Or can I go up to 500gb or 1tb?
@@Gunfightin I installed 500gb
I filled up all the Sata II slots on my Lenovo ThinkPad W541 with SSD Drives!!!
What is the use of 16 GB SSD for ?
Wait, why isn't you UltraBay HD included on the priority drive list? I currently have a W540 with a WD HD in place of the DVD and it appears as an option on the regular boot list. I was specifically planning to upgrade to a M.2 2242 to make it my OS/application drive. Will that not work?
For those interested in getting a W540/1 to fill up with solid-state storage: beware getting off-lease models from eBay. I have a few and the all look like they may be slightly (or more) bent from being stacked on a pallet. If you remove the battery and look at the back of the unit, you may see an uneven split between the body halves on the right side.
Hi there, I think that in the BIOS, I had not included it in the list of bootable drives. I believe that you can enable / disable each individual drive as a bootable. I have to go back and check. I am currently testing a multi-boot install and will report.
@@Made2hack Hi, Have you tested booting from m.2? I am considering buying a m.2 SSD drive to give my laptop a second OS. Thanks in advance for an answer!
@@RadarORLY Shouldn't be any problem with that. I'm using an older T420 with older mSATA SSD as main drive with the OS on it along with 2 HDDs (one in caddy and the other one plugged to HDD port) for more than 3 years now and it runs smooth. The only thing I don't get is why he's using the SATA SSD and not the M.2 for OS. OS should run much faster and smoother on M.2
@@jackdaniels5383 M.2 is the pin form factor and it can potentially support both nvme and slower sata drives. Unfortunately the W541 only supports sata over its M.2 port so all the drives will max out at the same 6gb/s and if you try to plug in an nvme-only m.2 (if that even exists in 2242) it won't fit.
what is the 16GB M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for ?
Is there any benefits of upgrade?
I'm considering buying a W541 16 GB ram with a quad core 4710 the optical drive is staying .
I am planning to do the same thing with my W540.
Me too
what is Transcend ? and could you please add a way how to use a SIM card in w540?
hello
hi, what can you say about Lenovo thinkpad w541, is it suitable for gaming?
well, it's an old model, so whatever worked with gpu chips of 8-10 years ago perhaps.
Hello, Does W541 support M.2 2242 512GB?
Hi, i guess so. I have W540, which is basically same HW, just with different touch pad, and I am running 512GB M.2 2242 as a system drive with no issues.
@@pivox thank you.
@@pivox great to hear, sounds promesing. im going to give it a try
@@richi5549 just bear in mind W540/541 supports only mSATA based 2242 drives, it needs to be B-Key. I personally used UMAX 512GB drive, which based on photos lookst to be OEM from Transcend.
@@pivox thanks i'll do soms research on these types of M2 drives
Is the MTS430S Msata SSD compatible with a W540 laptop ...?
Hi there, apparently M2 Sata has been offered since the W520 Thinkpads. But I don't own the W540 to check the M2 slot. If you can find pictures or layouts of the M2 slot, the Transcend should fit since it's the smaller size M2.
Next time take MX500 as primery SSD it is better than cheaper technology of EVO 850 :) when samsung as primery tha the PRO variants there are to compare with MX500
But it's not as fast as the EVO. You can also use the "Samsung Magician" software to optimize the EVO. It doesn't work with the Transcend M.2 drive. I did nearly the same thing with my W540:
C drive: 1tb, Samsung EVO 860
D drive: 1tb, Samsung EVO 860
E drive: "MyDigital SuperBoot2" M.2 NGFF drive.
@@dragunovbushcraft152 Why so many SSD drives though? and correct me if Im wrong, but doesnt using SSD as a storage drive bad for it?
can you Raid-0 combine these three drives in the BIOS?
I don't know for sure unfortunately.
hey should i buy a m.2 2242 ssd or [buy normal size ssd and replace the present hdd with the optical drive]
The m.2 2242 and sataSSD have the same performance but the m.2 is smoother. If you have the money, buy both of them and have m.2 run the OS, sata ssd as main storage.
Bought same drive in you link, my W541 won't recognize the Transcend ssd, it's the same model in your amazon link, :( Bios Hangs, freezes, pretty bummed this did not work, triple checked, got the same drive in your link you provided, no work, plez help,
Were you able to activate the bios drive options before installing the drive? And did you make sure that you installed in the SSD slot and not in the wifi slot? ( I believe it is also mSata slot).
@@Made2hack Greed made my put a P/N 4XB1B85887 ThinkPad 1TB PCie NVMe M.2 2242 SSD into my W541 opposite the WiFi/BT slot BUT it does not come up i BIOS and and guess where not Argh!! Any ideas? (Am I trying something like putting DDR4 memory into the four slots?. ROFLMAO
@@frankjonsson9104 Hi There, I'm thinking that it is due to the fact that you chose NVME. I don't think it is supported by the board, I think only the M.2 spec works (seeing that it is a bit of an older laptop).
@@frankjonsson9104 Yes, NVME have started to come down in price and are attractive!
where can i buy lenovo UltraBay HD?
Hi, I posted a link in the description for Amazon.
@@Made2hack the link is not longer available!
@@gabryst2945 www.amazon.co.uk/Newmodeus-Lenovo-W540-W541-T540/dp/B00JQPUWO4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Newmodeus%2C+HDD%2FSSD+Caddy+Adapter+for+Lenovo+W540%2C+W541%2C+T540%2C+T440p&linkCode=gs3&linkId=346c3b3b27716503c85b442bb0fa15ce&qid=1615532904&sr=8-1
Hey. I have a chance to buy a clean w541 for a 100 dollars do you recommend to get it?
If it works and it is useful for what you need, why not? I mean $100 working Thinkpad is not bad.
HomuaGoum seems a little to cheap I saw think pads w541 for around 400
see this video on my thinkpad t440p