M14x HDD question

So I have an M11x r1. With their 500gb HD. I was thinking of getting an SSD. But I need the storage space. Right now i'm thinking of buying a seperate HD for my work files. Since I will be using this computer to work off from. So I was thinking. Is there any way to get that SSD boot times and performance while getting storage space, short of getting a much larger and much much more expensive SSD. Or did I answer my own problem?

Edit: I plan to get an M14x to replace my existing M11x, forgot to mention that.

 

Short of getting a 240GB SSD there's no one really good answer to that.

Honestly, I think the best price/performance ratio would be to get a 120GB SSD (which, unless you're storing movies or every game you own, is STILL a lot of storage). A Vertex 2 120GB drive can be had for about $200, and is /really/ fast. Sure, newer, faster SATA 6 SSDs are available, but they'll still run you a price premium (not sure your budget, so I can only offer base advice).

OCZ Vertex 2 (285MB/s Read, 275 MB/s Write)

No, 120GB won't hold movies, but it'll still hold a lot of games, docs, etc. Even more if you turn off Window 7's shadow copy/file restore.

Then, you can buy an external SATA 3.0 HDD enclosure, take the hard drive from the M14X, and plop it into there. Will cost about $25-35 depending on what model you get.

StarTech USB 3 SATA Hard Drive Enclosure
(As an example)

So, you'll get 120GB of fast SSD storage for your OS, games and more, then can drop everything else off onto the 500GB HDD that comes with the M14X. And since it has two USB 3.0 ports, it's fine, and you won't really take a performance hit at all.

 

There's also the option of a Momentus XT drive. 500GB and twice was fast as a regular drive, for around $120.

 

you could also look into the hybrid HDs...

 

For your storage needs, get a 1TB External HDD powered by usb2.0 or the new Seagate Freeagent GoFlex USB 3.0 for less then $120, sometimes newegg sells them for $100.

 

hybrid HD. Completely forgot about those things. I remember way back, they had reliability issues. or was that blown out of proportion or did they fix it?

 

One more question, since I heard that the HDD is other the palmrest, would the hybrid HD be cooler or would I just have to get a SSD for cooler temps? Thanks guys for the replies.

 

Twice as fast? I highly doubt that.

For my MacBook Pro I had the luxury of setting up the best of both worlds - 128GB SSD for the OSes and 750GB HDD for storage. Perhaps once M14x's get in people's hands we'll see mods that remove the optical disc drive and replace it with a hard drive (like the Optibay that I installed on my MacBook Pro).

I don't think an external USB 3.0 SATA enclosure is the answer. We bought laptops for a reason. Who wants that hanging off?

 

Seagate's Momentus XT Reviewed, Finally a Good Hybrid HDD - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Might want to actually look at a review before saying stuff like that.

 

I'm aware of the reviews. It's more like "twice as fast*"

*in some applications

 

I dropped a Momentus in my M11xR2 the day it was delivered. It's certainly very very fast. Not SSD fast, but a whole lot better than hard disk (I have other notebooks and computers here that are disk based).

Back on the original question though, NewEgg have a 240gig SSD going for $300 at the moment - that's a bargain.

 

That sounds like a great offer to me !

 

My mistake, it's a 250gig drive

Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX250G 2.5" 250GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

I second that. A Momentus XT certainly isn't as fast as a solid state drive but it's a hell of a lot faster than a standard hard drive with none of the downsides of an SSD (storage space, cost).

 

Is SATAIII supported/would it be easy to change the connection?

 

SSD or XT hybrid provides faster speed. However SSD prices are stilll quite high compared to normal HDD. So for me i would keep @ 500gb HDD.

One dollar saved is another cent of interest earned.

 

yes it is...

lmao...earning potential on the savings you talk about is like getting 1/8 of a canday bar....

sorry, ill spend the funds to get my performance now...

 

The difference between a 500GB hard drive and a 500GB Momentus XT is less than $100. Compared to a system that costs $1200 in the first place, that's not exactly much.

If someone is that interested in saving money, why are they buying an Alienware in the first place?

 

I'm thinking of throwing a Momentus XT in my m14x when I get it. I was going to go SSD but don't want to sacrifice the space!

 

Do you think with a little bit of haggling they will allow you to configure the m14x with the momentus xt ?

 

Crucial C300 128gb sata III ssd is down to $200 on the egg

Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

searching on dell.com i dont even see the xt as a drive that they offer. maybe they dont offer it any more due to its flakiness?

 

If you guys could help me decide what SSD I should get I would greatly appreciate it.

I don't know jack about SSD's really as far as what is the fastest etc now..

All I know is that I don't want a cheaper brand like crucial and have heard about alot of OCZ failures. So I would prefer sticking premium like Intel,Samsung,Corsair and mabye even Kingston. I would like to get best quality I can get as well as the most storage 160gb-200gb for around $300-400. Fast read/write speed wont hurt either

This one looks fast but it's only 120gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167042 (2.5" like one in link will fit in M14x right?)
Slower one but it has 256gb which I will probably end up using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147064

Thanks

Edit: I cannot afford FAILURE

 

Corsair drives are excellent. Intel drives are great too, but expensive.

 

Keep almost buying this one lol Newegg.com - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW160G3K5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) I don't know if the super fast SATA lll 120GB one is going to make much of a gaming difference and I could use the 160GB's extra storage (plus $300 price would be nicer). They say you can pickup another 30min of battery on average with a SSD also which would be a major plus.

 

Corsair Force series. 275 read and over 80 write - on 4k random writes. Higher on other types of writes. The bottom line, they kick BUTT!

StevenX

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I have been reading this article -

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...ds/SSD_vs_HDD_is_there_a_difference_Rev_3.pdf

It says that you can get 6% better FPS with a SSD vs a 10k RPM HDD. So would this mean that SATA lll vs SATA ll will give even higher FPS gain? Some people even say that you gain no FPS from the SSD's. I think that games like Crysis 1 and Metro etc.. would benefit.

I tried doing a little digging for Intel vs Corsair vs Samsung and how well they work with the Dell's but didn't find anything. I don't want to do alot to get it to work well. I know that Samsung is what Dell uses. I hear that Samsung has inferior controllers to Intel however.

 

Noobish question, but I am king of the noobs! Not a good king either...

...since swapping in an SSD is relatively simple - is it ever more effective to get an SSD right through Dell/Alienware when you're customizing the rig? I can't ever see the reason why it would be better that way, instead of installing yourself...

 

Nope cheaper to buy it on your own and clone it. Something (Processors gpus) are obviously better and cheaper when you upgrade from dell, but others (hard drives solid state drives, and ram) are usually cheaper to find on your own and have less than 3 minutes for an upgrade and do not violate warranties like your thermal paste and other upgrades.

 

+ Get a $5 enclosure you will have a brand new portable hdd to play with

 

I dont know why, but SSD's get me excited.

 

I love my 160gb vertex 2. It is perfect for me until the vertex 3 drops in price by like 20%

 

Is the M14X capable of Sata 3? And is it easy to put the Alienware specific drivers back on (such as the soundblaster software, lighting control panel, etc)?

I remember I reformatted an old Dell laptop a while ago and none of the included CDs (or website downloads) allowed me to recreate the partition to play music without booting into windows.

 

Yes according to tech it is sata 3 only issue I had is red windows log in screen but that is because I'm too lazy. Lighting and everything is easy just download drivers and app from dell

 

I think I'm going to upgrade to an SSD. I have the 500GB stock HDD on the M14X. My 80GB backwards compatible PS3 is in desperate need of a bigger hard drive. So, i'll stick the 500GB in there and put an SSD into the laptop.

Other than the recommendation on the front page, does anyone know a good SATA 3 SSD (128GBish or 256GBish)?

Edit: Well, I'll admit I know almost nothing about SSDs. Is there going to be a substantial difference in performance between SATA2 and SATA3?

 

Vertex 3 120 gb is around 250 240 gb is 500. Your looking at 500mbps read and write speeds and the reason why the size is wierd is because they are actually larger 8gb and 1gb but they use the space for wear leveling to make it last longer

 

At this point of time
OCZ Vertex 3 > Intel 510 > Corsair Performance 3 > Crucial C300
And yes, when connected to SATA3 port the difference is huge, Vertex 3 nearly reaching SATA3's bandwidth

+according to anandtech, Vertex 3 120 GB is noticable inferior than 240GB for some reason.

 

Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
^^
Crucial C300 is the cheapest (and best rated) 128GB SSD with SATA 3.
But, as you pointed it out. It has the lowest read/write speeds.

Hmm... the 256GB ones are a bit more expensive than what I want to spend on an HDD (considering it's a third of the cost of the laptop itself!). Well, I'll watch prices and snag a good 128GB SATA 3 SSD if they dip to around $200.

 

Yea we'd better wait til someone try the actual machine before making any further investment. Some reviews suggest the Vertex 3 is actually slower than V2 when connected to SATA2

But hey, I was thinking about same thing like you until I tried my very first SSD. Holy crap, I never seen my PC being that fast after upgrading only one single part! If you ask me to choose between SSD+560Ti or HDD+590, I would choose the SSD package over a powerful graphic card any day.

 

M14x manual says it supports SATA III I thought I read.

 

its a p67 mobo so it should support sata III...... I called and "confirmed" with "dell tech" but who knows if they are really right was transferred

i am looking at either a vertex 2 or vertex 3 (if i can afford it)

550Mbps is redic and im wondering what the start time for win 7 would be

 

Would the Intel 510 Series be worth getting over the 320 series? 510 would be 40gigs less and from what I could gather it didn't seem to have random reads higher than the 320.

Basically what i'm asking is, would I really notice much of a difference??