500gb + 32gb msata ssd cache? Help me understand please...

Just made a tough decision...XPS 12 or the M17x...I went with the M17x as i am an avid gamer :]. My question that I have is i chose the 500gb hdd + 32gb msata caching ssd option and i'm not quite sure what this does? I know it says that it can boost performance. The thing i'm wondering is can i format everything once i get it and install Windows 8 to the 32gb mSata caching ssd to have the OS running quickly and then have the 500gb drive hold all my games and music? If not, i will probably remove the option and bank the $75...unless you guys feel that the performance boost is worth it. :] Thanks all!

 

Skip the Msata and just buy a real SSD. You can find 128gb drives that perform 5x faster for less than $75. My M17x R4 has the 32gb msata drive and it's slow for an SSD Read speeds are around 230MB/s and writes are around 80MB/s where all the newer SSD's are around 500MB/s Read and pretty close to the same for write performance.

 

Personally I'd go for the msata cache drive and add a larger SSD later. This way your mechanical drive will still be speeded up after you reinstall windows (or restore) to the new SSD. The msata port is a pig to get to requiring an almost complete strip down .

I've seen a couple of people that have added a cache drive aftermarket without a reinstall and both were impressed with the instant speed increase.

Remember that the caching is OS independent and does not require any drivers, it can be configured on a screen that pops up before the bios splash screen as well as using pre-installed windows software (IRST). A cache drive is 'invisible' in windows explorer.

Good Luck!

 

I'm not following you? If you want the best performance your better off skipping the Msata and buying a real SSD. The msata ssd after you install an SSD is a waste, for $75 for 32gb of SLOW SSD performance when you can buy a 128gb real SSD drive for around $75. I have an R4 that came with the 32gb msata and 500gb 7200rpm drive. Read speads where around 180MB/s and writes where around 80MB/s. A real SSD 3x faster in Reads and 5x faster in writes. In my oprinion save the $75 buy a real SSD and use the 500gb drive for Backup and the 128GB SSD for your primary drive.

 

It was simply a way to purchase an R4 with the HD speeded up on an MSATA drive but later fit a cheaper, dedicated, SSD. Get the full size SSD aftermarket and make that the boot drive. Install windows and you have a machime running at full SSD speeds along with the 'old' HD also being considertably speeded up. Win, win

The IRST software will not allow a cache to be added to an SSD but it will still be there after a full reinstall if applied to the existing HD and the boot order changed.

Hope that's a little clearer

 

I uderstand what your saying but don't understand your logic Paying $75 extra for a 32gb msata drive which is 3x slower that a $75 128gb real SSD makes no sense to me.

 

You're absolutely right for the money. The logic was to buy a cheaper 'real' SSD aftermarket, but retain (at the extra cost of $75) a faster data drive. Depends if that is worth it to the OP?

The $75 is not wasted if you like the idea of a boosted second drive but don't want to buy another SSD for data; or buying a cheaper small msata aftermarket for caching the mechanical drive, but have to go through a complete tear down.

 

Good point I didn't think about it that way. So the mSata drive would be used to cache the 500gb data drive while your dedicated SSD has your OS and frequently used programs......makes sense. I just went with Dual Samung 830 SSD's in Raid 0

 

I would buy aftermarket.

 

Yes that would be my plan. I had no choice on my config as it was a like-for-like replacement from Dell on my R3. I would have liked the data drive speeded up but I'm not tearing it down just for that. Dual SSD's is the best idea but since I have my 1Tb almost full already (time to delete some games!) its not a viable option, yet, to replace it with an SSD

 

Can someone help me here?
In a dilemma of 64GB mSATA Cache + 750GB HDD vs 250GB SSD. Help please?

 

Well, your choice is a very fast 250gb, enough for around 10 to 15 games on top of windows, OR 750gb of almost-as-fast storage space (less OS of course). I don't have any data to back up the speed differential only statements from users that have added a cache drive aftermarket. All said it was a massive improvement and windows startup seemed to be identical, within the usual windows variable, as mine.

I had no choice as this machine was a dell replacement for my R3 that did not have an msata slot. Although not a requirement of caching it was not until the R4 that dell offered a a cache drive. I would have gone for the cache drive. This leaves a spare slot that another HDD can be added and also speeded up by RAID'ing it to the other one. This would give you 1.5TB of fast storage if you added another 750gb drive.

Simplicity of use is also a factor. With the cache drive you only 'see' the 750 drive so everything goes onto that. The system sorts out which files to put on the SSD. I (with 30+ games) have to decide where to put them. It only matters during game loads so not a biggie but something to think about.

Feel free to ask any questions, I often confuse rather than make this tricky subject clearer

 

Sorry to hijack but seemed like a decent place to ask my question since this thread is about the mSATA caching option.

My new 17 is coming with an80gb mSATA and 2 750gb drives in raid. Now I have a 128GB SSD that runs my OS now and i will obviously be moving that over and reinstalling as I know the SSD will outperform the mSATA. My question is can I leave that mSATA in there and will it still cache for the HDD that I use for storage? will it cache both the SSD and HDD? Is it even worth it or should i just use it as another drive?

 

Use it elsewhere as separate drive.

 

You just leave it caching the remaining HDD, You now have two fast drives. It's all in hardware so simple to put in your new SSD, change the boot order in the BIOS and install windows to it.

Just don't follow advice about setting AHCI mode for the drives when putting in an SSD. This will disable the caching and the overhead is only visible in benchmarks, not in real world use . Also make sure windows selects the correct disk driver -intel RAID, during the install. If it does not you can expand the IRST software download to a USB and select it from there.

You can't cache an SSD with an SSD but you could conceivably RAID the two SSD's into a single unit, but you'd be slowing it down a small amount and loose the super fast HDD. Not sure if that is an option these days? At one time drives in a RAID had to be identical sized.

As soon as you remove one of the HDD's the RAID will break and the data on it become inaccessible. You will probably need to use windows disk manager to create a new partition and format it for use.

I'd be interested to see if it is any faster after you put in the dedicated SSD against the caching option it comes with? Why didn't you save a bit of cash and just order it with a single cached HDD? Another dell restriction on the config?

 

The system is a replacement for my failing R4 so tehnically I am not paying for it. My original R4 came with 2 500GB HDD's in raid but I only bothered to get that because it was included with the build at the time as I had my SSD already ordered and awaiting the laptop to install it in. Now that they are replacing it, they are giving me the slightly larger 750gb HDD but also including the mSATA so I was not about to tell them not to bother

I was just hoping that I could use the SSD as the OS /Boot drive and then have the mSATA help the HDD which according to you I should be able to do This will be my first experience with an mSATA. I never considered it with the R4 because of the SATA2 port that it would be running on.

 

I've worked with people doing exactly what you want to do except those only had a single HDD cached. In that case it gets really easy as there is no raid to break. You simply change the boot order and install. If it does not go well changing back the boot order returns the original install.

Two people sinply imaged their existing installation and restored it to the new SSD without any problems. Of course a fresh install is always recommended but it is a quick way to do it and not a lot of time wasted if it does not work.

I Understand now why the two drives, the msata was a score then!

Gotta be honest I don't think you will see much difference between how it arrives and a standalone SSD boot drive but I am very interested in the results

I know that people say the msata port on the new one is SATA III but until I actually see one I'm not sure. It was confirmed by a dell rep when it first came out it is still SATA II. This along with the technical restrictions of the chipset.

The chipset can only support 6 x 6Gb/s ports. The OEM has two choices at the moment as to where they allocate them. On the R4, four of them are wired to the fast-USB ports for 6Gb/s transfer rates. The remaining two are the drive bays. Leaving the msata without a fast channel to use.

Now, IF they new model only has two fast-usb 3.0 ports (they have to be allocated in pairs) then it is possible the msata port is SATA III, but the ODD bay will also be SATA III. Probably easy to identify as USB 3.0 ports have an 'SS' next to the port.

Edit: Just realised why you got the msata as well - they cannot supply two HDD's without a cache, another anomaly caused by the restricted builds they have to swallow, haha. I also got a bigger second drive because a 750gb was not an option on the R4 at the time

 

I would suggest a MyDigitalSSD 128GB Super Cache 2 mSATA. Fast as a traditional 2.5" SSD and plenty of room to cache everything you use. Also when using fnet caching software that comes with it if you chose maximized mode it will be just as fast as running directly from the SSD. Also you can leave some of the SSD like 10-20GB and install Linux or another version of windows or use it in any way you like..

Try it you'll like it. If not return it. But you will like it

MyDigitalSSD