SSD Upgrade How-To: Toshiba Z830/Z835 Ultrabook

Posted on 26 June 2012, Last updated on 11 March 2020 by

Test Results

Using CrystalDiskMark 64-bit we tested the speed of the drive in various write and read scenarios.

CDMark 64

Here are the original values tested on the original Toshiba SSD

crystaldisk battery performance mode

Although the maximum read speed has increased, it’s the write  speeds that are most impressive and  most important for general use.  Increases of 5X in the sequential write speed, 6X in the 512K write speed can be seen.

Below the results from the ATTO Disk Benchmark test.

ATTO MydigitalSSD

 

Real World Performance

Unzip, Video editing and similar ‘chunky’ operations should immediately be faster and in editing the accompanying video here we saw a smoother operation in handling the 15 or more 720p scenes in Cyberlink Power Director. Boot speed has been improved slightly (1-2 seconds to 16 seconds.) There’s a theoretical improvement in efficiency (the faster a disk operation can be completed, the sooner a CPU, disk, memory and bus can move to the idle state.) but this won’t be noticeable to most people. We’ll be testing this setup for a couple of weeks and adding more information to this section.

Stability

We haven’t seen any problems but we’ll be running this test for a few weeks before we complete this section of the report.

SATA III operation

Why isn’t the maximum read speed closer to the higher theoretical speeds of a SATA III drive? This question remains open as we look to optimise this SSD setup. We’re looking for a way to confirm that the bus is working in SATA III mode and we’ll update this section when we have more information. We’re also planning a fresh Windows 8 install and test.

Video Tutorial

Please help us by ‘liking’ or sharing the video if you find it useful. (The same applies to this article) Thanks!

Many thanks to MyDigitalSSD for sending the 256GB  BulletProof mSATA III SSD over for this test.

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29 Comments For This Post

  1. Adam says:

    This IS the mSATA drive to beat!

    SSD Review has been raving about it for quite some time. It’s a shame that mSATA is still so much more expensive than the 2.5″ drives, though…

    Adam

  2. Adam says:

    The bus on the Toshiba is NOT operating in SATA III mode; an SSD Review author has claimed that he has found a way to re-enabled it despite Toshiba support claiming that it’s impossible.

    Lenovo also has a history of disabling SATA III support when the motherboard chipset and all components would otherwise support it. The prevailing theory is that it helps battery life numbers but I’ve never seen it tested in both modes to confirm.

    It’s REALLY annoying when MFGRs hobble hardware like this.

    Adam

  3. Chippy says:

    I’ve been following the SSD Review information but it seems they never came forward with a reason why it was working.
    I’ll be re-building with Windows 8 next week to see if it has an effect.

  4. mark says:

    Anyone know if Micron/Crucial, Samsung or Intel are coming out with new retail mSATAs?

  5. joe says:

    I’m waiting for Crucial and Samsung to come out with commercially available mSATAs too. If they don’t cost much more than MyDigitalSSD then I’d just go with them.

    Anyone know what’s the rated write endurance on these BP3s in TBW? To me, that’s a more useful number than the MTBF. Thanks.

  6. JC says:

    I’m planning on buying a small mSATA SSD to boot Ubuntu on my Lenovo X230. I’m just waiting until the Ivy Bridge graphics drivers get stable enough for the current LTS release (there’s some known freezing and crashing right now). Hopefully, by then, there will be many companies to choose from.

  7. gus says:

    Do these suffer the same issues as the previous MyDigitalSSD BulletProof SSDs? This thread: forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/643829-mydigitalssd-msata-ssd-64gb-very-bad-performance.html mentions slow performance, freezing, crashing, etc. I’m looking for a 64 GB mSATA.

  8. MyDigitalSSD says:

    The issue you are referring to was only with that one 64GB model and it only effected a few systems. The cause has yet been determined. We sold thousands of those 64GB Drives and have to date only received around 10pcs back due to that issue. You will know it instantly if your system has this issue you will get HDD type speeds out of it in testing. We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of our SSD so even if you win the bad luck lotto you are all set.

  9. MP says:

    I’ve read about these SSDs and I’ve actually tried to find one before, but couldn’t locate anyone who sells it in Sweden. I saw that there’s a retailer in GB – but I’d like one closer. Anyone in Germany?
    I’d love to pop one of these into my next laptop, be it the zenbook or series 9.

  10. 1806 says:

    I replaced SSD and clean installed W7pro.
    I install only driver: Chipset, WiFi, Display, SDcard, BT, FlashCard.
    Intel Rapid Start and Intel AT disabled in BIOS.
    Now I have 12% self discharge per day…
    Chippy, do you have discharge?

    Here my SSD test:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/77080d1333606424-mydigitalssd-bullet-proof-128gb-msata-review-z835ssd.jpg

  11. Chippy says:

    Interesting. I’ll keep an eye out for this and let you know if I see anything. Thanks for the heads-up.

  12. MyDigitalSSD says:

    I doubt it is related to the SSD.

    This may help you out.

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/166856-t61-p-battery-self-discharge-hibernate-mode-2.html

  13. Dominic says:

    Would love to see a similar article for the S9 15″ please.

  14. Chippy says:

    Unfortunately I don’t have the S9 15″ at the moment. My feeling is that it would benefit more than the Z830 because of the relatively low small-block speeds.

  15. MP says:

    Is this the one with the SandForce controller or the other (Phison?)?

  16. MP says:

    Nm, I saw it said Phison on the picture. ;)

  17. joe says:

    What’s the benefit of this drive compared to existing SATA II mSATA SSDs? It seems to have the same or lower speeds compared to others and it’s also around the same price.

  18. Tony says:

    Nothing really. Even if you do get SATA III speeds, you wouldn’t notice outside of benchmarks unless you’re transfering large files on the order of gigabytes each all day. The noticeable feeling of increased speed is largely due to low access times. Some SSDs have access times in the 10s of microseconds. It’d be great to see these numbers in benchmark reviews too.

    They use both 3rd party flash and controllers just like a lot of the others (OCZ, Kingston, ADATA, Mushkin, etc.). I’d just buy the cheapest among those or pay a little bit more if/when Samsung, Intel or Crucial/Micron comes out with consumer mSATA SSDs.

  19. Pratish says:

    Chippy, thanks for a useful guide – debating whether to void the warranty by doing this.. doesn’t look too complicated anyway :) Is there any restriction on the size of the mSATA drive on the z830 bios?

  20. LuisG says:

    Does not work in Samsung Slate 7 or Acer Iconia Tab W500. And you upgrade the firmware for the controller Phison S8.

  21. Jin says:

    Dear Chippy,
    Great tutorial. I’m using an older R700 and upgraded to an SSD (Corsair 240GB), but not the Force GT one. No issues there, but was thinking of getting an ASUS UX32VD. The only problem is that I really like/need the finger print reader on the Toshiba Ultrabooks, but unfortunately the ASUS does not come with one. Now, is there any way to “hack” a finger print reader and make it work as seamlessly, into an ASUS UX32VD? -With login fingerprint scanning on bootup, etc.? I’m pretty handy with a Dremel and soldering, etc., so I would be thrilled if there is any way to achieve this. I have done a lot of scratch building during my RC-car days, so I’m confident to take on any modding job. Eagerly awaiting your response. Sincerely, Jin

  22. Greg says:

    Dear Chippy,
    Can I assume that the same upgrade can be performed on the Toshiba Z930?
    Our Z930 has only 128GB which may be insufficient in a year or so.
    Your comments please.

  23. antonio says:

    This works for z930?

  24. Wyatt says:

    This is really attention-grabbing, You are an overly professional blogger.
    I’ve joined your rss feed and look ahead to in the hunt for more of your magnificent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks

  25. Mike says:

    Hey,
    my z830 broke 3 months after I bought it, so I bought a yoga after everywhere i looked basically told me it would take $500 to repair.

    I was wondering could i strip the z830 down for parts and use the SSD in my desktop? and possibly use the RAM to upgrade my yoga?

  26. Tim says:

    Mike –

    You can actually use the mSATA drive in the Yoga… The yoga has 2 msata ports and only one is occupied… I was really leaning towards getting one, but I know the price is going to drop by quite a bit this summer when more win 8 hardware comes out with the new intel chip releases..

  27. Webby says:

    What combination i have to choose that the ultrabook starts with the recovery data ?

  28. Daryl says:

    I really appreciate this tutorial but you should add to the tools list that the Torx T-7 needs to be for tamper-proof Torx screws, ie, with the hole in the end of it. :-)

  29. Andy says:

    Hello Everybody i’m Andy and I’m from Switzerland.
    I installed a few weeks ago a new ssd to 240GB BP4 in my toshiba satellite Z830. So far so good.
    But as soon as I started the computer, the battery was no longer detected!
    I know that the ssd works fine, but just since I made ??the change of ssd, the battery seems to be dead.
    Someone has already happened?
    And if so, found a solution?
    sorry for my english :)

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