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X1 Carbon 3rd Gen Boot SSD
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 5:20 pm
by Scorpion8
My X1 Carbon Gen 3 has a 256GB SATA-III boot SSD. It has resisted all attempts to replace it with a larger 500GB/1TB PCIe NVMe SSD even though the original specs say the machine could have come with either. I'm using the latest DiskGenius to clone the boot drive, but a no-fly zone seems to have been established.
Any thoughts or guidance? What am I missing, something in BIOS (both point to ATA HDD0 as the boot device).
Update - Tried two known-good M.2 SSDs that were not SATA .... no joy. Am I stuck with a SATA-drive even if I source a bigger one? The installed SATA is a B-Key, and am trying to use an M-Key.
The entry in PSREF states: "M.2 SSD / PCIe 2.0 x4 or SATA (e.g. xxxG SSD PCIe or xxxG SSD)"
Re: X1 Carbon 3rd Gen Boot SSD
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:26 pm
by axur-delmeria
IIRC the X1 Carbon 3rd Gen doesn't have BIOS/UEFI boot support for NVMe SSDs. There was a brief transition period where early PCIe SSDs use the AHCI interface (same as SATA SSDs), and this is what the X1C G3 had. Note that there was a spirited attempt to mod the BIOS/UEFI
on the winraid forums, but it remained unsolved.
You
could boot from a USB flash disk that has
Clover bootloader installed which can then be used to boot the NVMe SSD.
Re: X1 Carbon 3rd Gen Boot SSD
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:50 pm
by Scorpion8
axur-delmeria wrote: ↑Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:26 pm
IIRC the X1 Carbon 3rd Gen doesn't have BIOS/UEFI boot support for NVMe SSDs.
I guess that makes sense, since a working drive in other Thinkpads gets the cold-shoulder in the X1 Carbon here.
So, for the record, replace
only with another SATA-III drive of larger size, same M&B Key format?
Re: X1 Carbon 3rd Gen Boot SSD
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:26 am
by axur-delmeria
Scorpion8 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:50 pm
I guess that makes sense, since a working drive in other Thinkpads gets the cold-shoulder in the X1 Carbon here.
So, for the record, replace
only with another SATA-III drive of larger size, same M&B Key format?
Yes, M.2 SATA SSD with B or B+M key. I don't think you'll be able to find a PCIe AHCI SSD in this day and age.
Re: X1 Carbon 3rd Gen Boot SSD
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:57 pm
by Scorpion8
axur-delmeria wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:26 am
Scorpion8 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:50 pm
I guess that makes sense, since a working drive in other Thinkpads gets the cold-shoulder in the X1 Carbon here.
So, for the record, replace
only with another SATA-III drive of larger size, same M&B Key format?
Yes, M.2 SATA SSD with B or B+M key. I don't think you'll be able to find a PCIe AHCI SSD in this day and age.
Thanks for the help!