2 x OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 6Gb/s in m17xR3. Problems ?

Hi,

I had ordered a new m17x r3 last week and its bound to arrive in 2 weeks I guess. I ordered it with cheapest disk option (320 gig 7200 rpm) as I wanted to put SSD in it which I buy separately.

So my plan is to get 2 x 120gb OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 6GB/s (550MB/s read, 500MB/s write) into both the HD bays in the laptop. I heard from someone on the forums that we have issues and only 1 SSD of 6GB/s could be detected in Port 1 and not in Port 0 so dont buy 2 SSDs. I just want to validate this concern with you guys and to (hopefully) see some examples that you guys are already running 2 SATA III 6gb/s SSDs in your laptops ?

Why I need 2 SSDs? Answer = I plan to put OS & all installed softwares on SSD 1 (except games). And use SSD 2 to store all VM images I run for my work + all games I will install. Just to give parallel I/O while running games (OS i/o and Game i/o) & running multiple VMs (os i/o and VM i/o). I will never run games and VMs together. VMs = my day job, games = my evenings.

Thanks for your input. I would buy accordingly.

 

I have heard that port 0 in the r3s changes from 3gb/s to 6gb/s and back without any reason. I think port 1 is the only reliable 6gb/s that never changes.

 

well my R3 will not do 6gb/s in slot 0, no matter what I try. I've seen some members have better luck than myself and their drives run at 6gb/s all the time on both slots. It seems to be hit and miss on that end.

What I would do in your situation is get the vertex 3 for your os and programs (maybe a couple games) and then an intel 310 series for the second drive. The 4k speeds are where the 310s shine, and this would be very helpful for a VM machine. They also don't slow down like the vertex 3 when nearing capacity.

 

Could you please tell me how to identify port 0 / port 1 OR (hdd bay 0 / 1) ? Sory, I havn't yet received the laptop so couldn't see if it's mentioned on it.

 

could we get DELL support to look into our R3s ? Is it covered ?

 

I purchased my m17x specifically as a virtual machine lab. You most likely do not need an SSD to run the VMs on. Here is my setup:

256Gb SSD for OS and swap file
750Gb WD Scorpio Black for my VMs

The performance is perceived to be greater against than the local Scorpio Black than it is with our Tier 0/1 SAN at work, given the load they are under.

Using VMware Workstation 7.1 I run a lab of dual ESX hosts, 5 to 6 Windows 2008 Enterprise Server images and/or Solaris/Linux VMs simultaneously without a problem. These VMs are doing various functions such as serving AD, IIS, Apache, mock storage appliances, etc.

I decided that a second SSD was way too restricting on space and took a chance with a storage HDD. Paid off big time with the Scorpio Black 750Gb.

 

very good and relevant info. +1 rep

 

Port 0 is the hdd slot nearest the side of the machine, port 1 is near the middle. You'll see what I mean when you take the bottom off of your laptop the first time.