Msata into M4600 problems

Hello everybody,

I seem to have some issues here with adding the msata to my m4600 to supplement the HDD.

I installed the SSD into the WWAN port and attached it with a screw. Looking into the bios, it's recognized and BIOS is set to AHCI already (dunno what that means? - some people talk about changing this setting to ahci after installing the msata).
When booting, Windows displayed that the drivers were installed and it's ready to use - it even shows up in the device manager. However, the funky thing is when I use FDISK to create a partition fdisk says that the task can't be completed because of an I/O error.
I tried the Dell Diagnostics in the Bios to test it, and it passed the test.
In the Bios, the Msata is recognized with 128GB, however in windows prior to initializing the capacity is ready 357GB.

I want to clone my current partition to the msata and not do a fresh restart so I can move all my installed software without going through the pain of reinstalling..

Anyone knows where I messed up? Or is the msata-SSD acting silly?
Thanks!

 

try looking at

Control PAnel > Admin Tools > Computer management > Disk Management

and see if the drive is listed there

If it is is there a drive letter assigned ?

If not assign the drive letter and see if it will format then

 

Subscribed. Im still very interested in do this exact task for my m4600. Wish I could be of some help, but I have zero experience or knowledge on msata drives other then what dave stated above.

 

Just a quick heads-up:

I removed my primary HDD (just the SSD left) and inserted a Win7 install-CD recently. It recognized the msata without problems and let me create a partition and install Win7. This new Win7 install works fine (although there are no drivers installed whatsoever besides what the Win7 CD has).

Now, when I boot with the HDD and use my current Win7 install, Disk management wants to create a MBP on it (which I cancel, because the Win7 on it works lovely) - so no drive letter has been assigned.
That kinda sucks, because it seems as if my Win7 "Professional" version just doesn't want to work with the Samsung SSD - whereas the Win7 Ultimate I installed onto the SSD works perfectly and is properly displayed in the device manager in full detail...
Now I guess I have to re-install everything from Dell that I need and all my stuff for working with this laptop...

 

Like I said in my first post you can assign the drive letter manually

Seen this happen several times.

easy fix

 

again, no luck - drive manager wants me to initialize the drive before I can do anything with it (such as assigning a drive letter). initializing means it wants to create a partition on the drive (such as a MBP) - but that fails because of I/O errors....

 

so you managed to format and install Win7 on the msata SSD by removing the primary drive and it works

when you put the primary drive back in you don't see the msata drive anymore - Correct ?

 

It took a while, but I took screenshots so you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I removed the primary drive and the Win7 installation on the msata drive works well (besides the pain of installing the drivers).
Now when I put the primary drive back in the msata drive is *STILL* listed in disk manager as not initalized. First thing disk manager wants to do to the msata drive is to create a MBP on it. And I can't assign a drive letter whatsoever because it urges me to create a partition on it...

Here are two screenshots of the disk manager and the device manager with the msata drive details.
First screenshot is what disk manager does when I open it. "Datenträger 1" with the black unallotted space is the msata in question - notice it's being displayed as having 357GB capacity. The second screenshot are the drive details of device manager....
Mind you, if I change boot order in BIOS a fresh installation of Win7 loads up without any issues. The fresh Win7 install displays the msata device details properly.

 

I forgot to mention AHCI is a Advanced Host Controller Interface basically the newer SATA hard drives support advanced features that are supported when you enable the AHCI settings in your BIOS.

now back to your problem.

have you updated your M4600 to the latest BIOS ?

when you removed the main drive and installed Windows sucessfully on the msata did windows report it as a 120Gb drive ?

 

you may want to check with samsung to see if there are any reported issues with the drive and the Precision laptop

a firmware update for the drive may be available