Expanding storage and RAM in P1 Thinkpad

[Muse]

This P1 Gen 1 Thinkpad has 256GB and 16GB DDR4 2933 Mhz, single stick. I found the exact same stick for sale on ebay, not installed yet.

I bought a SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen3. X4, NVMe 1.3 64L V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7E1T0BW at Newegg, also not installed yet.

The machine has issues with its keyboard. The 5 and 6 keys sometimes need to be hit several times to get a response, it's a sporadic problem, but intolerable. The T key seems relatively insensitive. I think there may be issues with the 2 USB-A ports, used to think so, now not sure. The warranty is until April 2022, so I have time to initiate an RMA. Meantime, I just bought a minimally speced P1 Gen 3 off Lenovo's website, which is delayed in shipment. When I get it, I'll feel much better about RMAing this P1.

Meantime I want to upgrade this P1 Gen 1 while waiting for the P1 Gen 3 (for which I've already received the same Samsung 1TB M.2 SSD and a couple of 16GB Crucial sticks). I'm fine with opening this P1 Gen 1 machine and inserting the 2nd 1GB Micron stick and the 2nd M.2 1TB SSD.

I have to make decisions concerning installing the 1TB M.2 in this P1 Gen 1. Eventually, when I RMA the machine, I figure I'll want to remove the 1TB SSD, have just the original 256GB M.2 and the original 16GB stick in it. I have some data on the 256GB M.2 that I'll want to remove. I'm not paranoid about it but I figure I just don't want to sent out my machine with all my to-me sensitive and personal data on it. I figure I can either install Win10 Pro (what's on it now) on the 1TB M.2 fresh or maybe clone what's on the 256GB drive to it. Don't know the issues, but the install seems OK now, and that would save me the work of reinstalling everything.

Until such time as I do the RMA of this machine leave both M.2 drives in this P1 Gen 1 and configure Windows to use the 1TB? Remove the 1TB and delete my sensitive data from the 256GB M.2 before the RMA?

What software should/can I use to do the cloning? I used to use Acronic True Image WD edition, but obviously that only works when you have a WD drive in the machine. I saw in this thread here:

What Disk Imaging Program Do You Use in the Windows 10 Era?
/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=128207&p=831411

... talk of Macrium Free, and I figure I could use that. Just put in the fresh 1TB and use Macrium to clone the 256GB drive to the bigger one?

[Brad]

Remove ram and SSD prior to repair.

Brad

[Muse]

Remove ram and SSD prior to repair.

Brad

Are you suggesting that I return this P1 Gen 1 via RMA without the SSD or any RAM in it? If that's doable and acceptable, I'll surely do it, but I wasn't aware of the possibility. Obviously, they should have nothing to do with the problems the machine has.

[Brad]

Yes, that is what I am suggesting.

You may get a surprise too when making the call (800.426.7378) or requesting service online (www.lenovo.com/mtsa).

Within the last couple of weeks there have been what tech support is calling IT issues at their repair depot and they are offering an upgrade to onsite service for your depot coverage. This upgrade could end at any moment so make your case now.

You don't have to be concerned about what to include when sending your prized P1 in for service as they will come to you and install. What's better than that?

Brad

[w0qj]

This P1 Gen 1 Thinkpad has 256GB and 16GB DDR4 2933 Mhz, single stick. I found the exact same stick for sale on ebay, not installed yet.

I bought a SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB PCIe Gen3. X4, NVMe 1.3 64L V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V7E1T0BW at Newegg, also not installed yet.

The machine has issues with its keyboard. The 5 and 6 keys sometimes need to be hit several times to get a response, it's a sporadic problem, but intolerable. The T key seems relatively insensitive. I think there may be issues with the 2 USB-A ports, used to think so, now not sure. The warranty is until April 2022, so I have time to initiate an RMA. Meantime, I just bought a minimally speced P1 Gen 3 off Lenovo's website, which is delayed in shipment. When I get it, I'll feel much better about RMAing this P1.

Meantime I want to upgrade this P1 Gen 1 while waiting for the P1 Gen 3 (for which I've already received the same Samsung 1TB M.2 SSD and a couple of 16GB Crucial sticks). I'm fine with opening this P1 Gen 1 machine and inserting the 2nd 1GB Micron stick and the 2nd M.2 1TB SSD.

I have to make decisions concerning installing the 1TB M.2 in this P1 Gen 1. Eventually, when I RMA the machine, I figure I'll want to remove the 1TB SSD, have just the original 256GB M.2 and the original 16GB stick in it. I have some data on the 256GB M.2 that I'll want to remove. I'm not paranoid about it but I figure I just don't want to sent out my machine with all my to-me sensitive and personal data on it. I figure I can either install Win10 Pro (what's on it now) on the 1TB M.2 fresh or maybe clone what's on the 256GB drive to it. Don't know the issues, but the install seems OK now, and that would save me the work of reinstalling everything.

Until such time as I do the RMA of this machine leave both M.2 drives in this P1 Gen 1 and configure Windows to use the 1TB? Remove the 1TB and delete my sensitive data from the 256GB M.2 before the RMA?

What software should/can I use to do the cloning? I used to use Acronic True Image WD edition, but obviously that only works when you have a WD drive in the machine. I saw in this thread here:

What Disk Imaging Program Do You Use in the Windows 10 Era?
/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=128207&p=831411

... talk of Macrium Free, and I figure I could use that. Just put in the fresh 1TB and use Macrium to clone the 256GB drive to the bigger one?

Wishing you FUN upgrading your upcoming P1 (Gen 3) !

In the meantime, your questions:
1. Are you sure you wish to fiddle your P1 Gen 1 (which you plan to RMA)?
By the time you finish this SSD Win10 OS cloning thing, your new ThinkPad might arrive!
~If you really must access your data which presumably would not fit in your 256GB SSD, just use an external HDD/SSD.
~If you can spare SSD external USB enclosure, you can also use your just-bought 1 TB SSD for this temporary purpose!

2. I'm not sure if BOTH SSD with same Win10 OS image would work on your P1 Gen 1. It might not, but I have never tried this.
In my days working with T410 with two HDD, I actually did clone the Win7 onto both HDD (the 2nd HDD in Ultrabay), but T410 would not boot up with 2 HDD with same OS in it.
Removing one of my HDD, and T410 would boot up as normal.
ThinkPad support staff said that "T410 would check first before bootup, and it will not allow two (or more) copies the same Win7 OS to be on different HDD on same computer".

I have not tried this stunt on any of my subsequent ThinkPads.

3. Disk cloning program--just search this Forum; it's been discussed at length! Many brands are competent.

We use AOMEI Backupper. ymmv.
(By the way, we also use AOMEI OneKey Recovery, which really mimics the previous ThinkPad/ThinkVantage Rescue & Recovery software).

4. Personal advice: we usually just get the Product Recovery USB thumbdrive, stick new SSD in, and do full Product Recovery.
We try not to use Disk Imaging programs at all.
Once we have the "golden image" with customised Win10 settings, we then use AOMEI OKR for image snapshot, just like you would previously for Rescue & Recovery.

5. Finally, both P1 Gen 1 and X1 Extreme Gen 1 can accommodate 2TB SSD (M.2 PCIe NVMe "2280" type). Just a tidbit to let you know!

...Within the last couple of weeks there have been what tech support is calling IT issues at their repair depot and they are offering an upgrade to onsite service for your depot coverage. This upgrade could end at any moment so make your case now.

You don't have to be concerned about what to include when sending your prized P1 in for service as they will come to you and install. What's better than that? ...

Our key ThinkPad machines have 5-year onsite warranty, which is really useful, since submitting to repair depot might entail days of repairs, travel to/from repair depot, etc.

Just last week, our X1C4 (X1 Carbon 4th Gen) had arrested/stuck fan problem, and we got ThinkPad technician to come for onsite repairs, and our X1C4 was good to go!
Very useful in this day and age of COVID-19, when computers are really needed for remote work...

[Muse]

I am using my P1 Gen1 right this moment. It's got 2 M.2 SSDs in it, but only one has Windows 10 on it. Here's what I did:

I inserted a new Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD 1TB, downloaded and ran Samsung's migration tool (both the original and added SSDs are Samsung, and I heard that tool works flawlessly and very easily... it was so intuitive I didn't bother to consult the documentation) and migrated the installed 256GB Samsung M.2 SSD to the new Samsung 1TB M.2 SS. Then I removed the original SSD, put the new 1TB SSD in it's place and put an Adata 512GB M.2 SSD in the other slot. That Adata SSD had failed in my desktop machine a few weeks previous, but the P1 Gen1 was able to see it and reformat its main partition (which I had done prior to inserting the Samsung 1TB drive and doing the drive migration). After removing the Adata drive and inserting the 1TB, doing the migration, putting the 1TB drive in the first slot, and the Adata drive in the 2nd slot, the P1 Gen1 booted up fine after the machine sorted things out (which happened pretty quickly).

I also added a 16GB DDR4 RAM stick that is an exact match for the one that came with the machine. I found that on Ebay, new, and at a decent price.

So, I'm running at 1TB storage, plus 1/2TB from that Adata drive (which benchmark's a great deal slower than the Samsung drive, about 1/3 that speed!), and 32GB storage. When I RMA this machine (the keyboard remains balky in at least 3 keys, 2 particularly), I will remove the SSDs and RAM before sending off the machine.

My new P1 Gen3 machine arrived a few days ago, I haven't opened the box, but I already have on hand the same model Samsung 1TB M.2 SSD as is in this machine, plus I picked up two 16GB sticks of Crucial RAM from Newegg. The machine is bare bones in the box. Now, I will use the Samsung migration tool to move Windows 10 to the Samsung 1TB SSD, then swap slots (I think this is necessary, but not sure, at least unless I make changes in the BIOS). At that point, your contention may be true that the machine won't work unless I remove the 256GB SSD, however I figure I can reformat it. Well, I may not be able to reformat it without an external enclosure for it. I will get one if necessary. The idea is to use that original 256GB SSD as a 2nd drive in the machine. Actually, I may prefer to use both of the original 256GB Samsung M.2 SSDs in my P1's as "secondary" storage (the Gen1 and the Gen3) and set aside the 512GB Adata SSD. I imagine the Samsung drives are a lot faster. I'm not hurting for storage! Besides that, the Adata drive is suspect. My desktop was able to see it in BIOS but was unable to boot from it and a Windows 10 installation USB drive was unable to see it. However, before setting up this P1 with its new 1TB SSD I decided to give the Adata drive another chance, and put it in and with some persistence managed to revive it.

[w0qj]

Do share with us your experience with your shiny new P1 (Gen 3) when you have time, in the P-series Forum as below:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewforum.php?f=81

It's the "ferrari" of the ThinkPads, nice, sleek, FAST !