The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is one of the company's most powerful business laptops, and it's also one of the most configurable. Most ThinkPads are somewhat well-known for being highly configurable, but the ThinkPad X1 Extreme is a very high-performance machine and it has lots of room of upgrades. But because of that, it can also get very expensive to get those upgrades all at once. Thankfully, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme also gives you some room to upgrade the SSD or RAM after the fact, so you can save some money and checkout and upgrade later.

On that note, if you need some help upgrading the SSD in your Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5, you're in the right place. We're here to guide you through the process of replacing or adding an SSD to your laptop. Depending on your configuration, you may have two SSD slots available - but models with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU or higher only have one SSD slot.

What you'll need

If you're planning to upgrade the SSD on your Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, you're going to need a few things, which include:

  • Philips-head screwdriver
  • Prying tool
  • Anti-static wrist strap
  • Thermal pad (may be optional)
  • SSD
  • External or cloud storage (to backup your data)
  • A USB drive (for reinstalling Windows)

A good way to get the screwdriver and prying tool is with the iFixit Essential Electronics Toolkit. You're also going to want to wear an anti-static wrist strap to prevent electric discharges while you work inside the laptop.

If you're replacing the primary SSD, which supports PCIe 4.0 speeds, you're going to want a high-speed PCIe 4.0 SSD such as the Samsung 980 Pro. The secondary SSD slot only supports PCIe 3.0 speeds, so you can get a cheaper PCIe 3.0 SSD if you want to save some money. The standard Samsung 980 SSD is a good choice if you want one of those.

The Samsung 980 Pro SSD has fast PCIe 4.0 speeds and it's one of the most popular options out there.
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB

The Samsung 980 Pro SSD has fast PCIe 4.0 speeds and it's one of the most popular options out there.

You may also want to buy a thermal pad for the SSD if it has a different layout from the one that's already installed, or if yours is broken. If the SSD you bought is dual-sided (usually, only 4TB models are), Lenovo recommends a thermal pad with 1.25mm of thickness such as this one from Kritical, and for single-sided SSDs, you'll want a thicker one (2.5mm), like this Thermalright one.

Finally, one thing to note if you're removing the pre-installed SSD is that the new SSD won't have any of your data on it. You may want to back up your personal data on an external USB drive or cloud storage, and follow our guide to install Windows 11 in order to create a USB drive that can install Windows 11. Alternatively, you can request recovery media from Lenovo to recover your PC with all the original Lenovo software installed.

Preparing to upgrade

Once you have all the equipment ready and you've backed up your data, you're also going to want to make sure you don't risk any electric discharges that can damage the laptop. First, you'll have to disable the built-in battery inside the laptop. Keep the laptop plugged into an outlet during this procedure. Here's how to do it:

  • Go to the Control Panel and change the view from Categories to either Large icons or Small icons. Find an option called Power options.
  • On this page, click Choose what the power buttons do in the side menu of the left.
  • Click Change settings that are currently unavailable near the top of the page (you'll need administrator privileges to do it). Then, disable the box that says Turn on fast startup (recommended). Click Save changes.
    Screenshot of the power options in Control Panel
  • Restart your PC and press F1 when the Lenovo logo appears to enter the ThinkPad setup menu.
  • Navigate to Config > Power. In this submenu, choose Disable built-in battery.
  • Confirm your choice and then the computer will power off.

Once this is done, unplug the AC adapter and any other accessories from the laptop, and wait 5 minutes before getting started.

Upgrading the SSD in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

With all of this done, you can finally start to upgrade the SSD inside the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme. Lay the laptop upside down and with the hinge facing away from you, then follow these steps:

  • Use the Philips-head screwdriver to remove the seven screws holding the bottom base cover in place. Lift the base cover starting from the hinge (you may need a prying tool), then remove it completely.
    Illustration showing how to remove the base cover on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
  • Depending on your configuration, you may have one or two SSD slots. If your model has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU or higher, there's only one SSD slot on the right (a), just below the cooling fan.
    Illustration showing the placement of the SSD slots on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
    If you have two SSD slots, however, the primary slot (with PCIe 4.0) is on the left (b), with the one on the right being the secondary slot with PCIe 3.0. Some models may also have a bracket covering the SSD on the left side of the laptop.
  • For the SSD on the left, start by unscrewing the two screws holding the bracket in place (if it has one). Then, remove the screw holding the SSD itself, and carefully slide the SSD away from the M.2 slot at an angle.
    Illustration showing how to remove the SSD on the left side in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5.
    • For the SSD on the right, you can just remove the screw holding the SSD in place, then carefully slide it out of the M.2 slot. This SSD is inside a sleeve and you'll want the new one to go in the same sleeve.
      Illustration showing how to remove the SSD on the right side in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
  • If your new SSD is double-sided (usually, only 4TB SSDs should be), you may need to replace the thermal pad under the SSD with a thinner one. Remove the existing thermal pad and place the new one in its place.
  • To install the new SSD, simply slide it in the same position as the one you just removed, aligning the notch on the SSD with the M.2 slot. Then, re-attach the screw that holds the SSD in place. You'll want to be careful to avoid overtightening - overly tight screws can damage the components inside the laptop. For the SSD slot on the left, also re-attach the SSD bracket (if it has one) using the two screws.
  • Re-attach the base cover of the laptop in its original position and tighten the seven screws to hold it in place.

You should now be ready to boot up your PC. If you removed the primary SSD containing your operating system, plug in your USB recovery media so you can boot from it and reinstall Windows 11 as we explain in our guide linked above. If you simply added a new SSD to your system, simply press the power button and you should boot into Windows as usual.

Because you disabled the built-in battery, you're going to need to be plugged into AC power. You can follow the steps in the Preparing to upgrade section above to re-enable the battery and Fast startup in Windows.


And that's about it if you want to upgrade the SSD in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5. It can be a somewhat lengthy process, especially if you're replacing the primary SSD on your laptop, but if you want more storage space, this is the way to get it. Of course, if you don't want to have to do this later, you can always get a higher storage configuration out of the box.

Lenovo lets you configure the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with a lot of options, whether it's for storage, RAM, the CPU, and more. You can get started using the link below. If you're looking for something a bit different, check out the best Lenovo laptops to see what the company has to offer in other segments of the market. We also have a list of the best laptops in general if you want to expand your search.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is a powerful business laptop with Intel H-series processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics to handle demanding workloads and gaming.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is a powerful business laptop with Intel H-series processors and NVIDIA RTX graphics to handle the most demanding workloads.