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    Another M17x mSATA thread, Maybe...

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Pot Of Jam, May 14, 2013.

  1. Pot Of Jam

    Pot Of Jam Notebook Geek

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    Hello All,
    So, I have been trying to search on this site about the M17x R4 mSATA port and what it can actually do, as I’m not too familiar with the site I haven’t had much luck.

    So basically what I would like to know are a couple of things:

    Can you use it as a Boot Drive?
    Is it SATA III?

    The latter isn’t as important as the first but if the first question has an answer of yes, is it tricky job to do (Video is good but frightening! Lol) and does the BIOS see it as a normal SSD?

    Thanks for all your answers in advance!
     
    Pot Of Jam, May 14, 2013
    #1
  2. MickyD1234

    MickyD1234 Notebook Prophet

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    Hi, It's simply a SATA port designed for SSD's (less ventilation). You can set it to boot; as far as the machine is concerned it's just another drive and will show up in the BIOS. Finally, it is only SATA II.

    HTH ;)
     
    MickyD1234, May 14, 2013
    #2
  3. DDDenniZZZ

    DDDenniZZZ Notebook Deity

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    Like MickyD says... yes and no... Yes its possible to config it as a boot drive, its only sata II (3gb/s). Watch out some people can get SATA II and SATA 3gb/s mixed with SATA III which is SATA 6GB/s.

    A SSD should easilly saturate a SATA II bus (ca.250mb/s) whereas the SATA III will be around 500mb/s. But day to day you wouldn't notice.
     
    DDDenniZZZ, May 14, 2013
    #3
  4. Chris_c81

    Chris_c81 Notebook Consultant

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    As above. I can add that I've been using the mSATA as a boot drive for months now and I've had no issues.

    Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2
     
    Chris_c81, May 14, 2013
    #4
  5. Pot Of Jam

    Pot Of Jam Notebook Geek

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    Thanks for the answers guys! I will have to invest in one and a couple of 2TB's for my M17x :D
     
    Pot Of Jam, May 15, 2013
    #5
  6. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, May 15, 2013
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  7. Pot Of Jam

    Pot Of Jam Notebook Geek

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    I have a 64gb SSD and a 500gb HDD set up at the mo, quite like the idea of 4tb storage! Lol
     
    Pot Of Jam, May 15, 2013
    #7
  8. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Yeah this is the best $ to performance ratio for large storage volumes :) 4 TB of internal storage is a bit nuts though POJ ;)
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 15, 2013
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  9. Alienblaster

    Alienblaster Notebook Enthusiast

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    Guys can I get some basic information about the msata port in the R4?? I have two 500 GB HDDs Raided 0, and I was thinking about adding a new msata to my R4 as the boot drive, as suggested by some members. I wanted to know the details of the port to ensure no pipelining is experienced due to the SSD.

    And which are the best 120/128 GB msata SSDs available today?? Please specify the basics about them (like the controller, the SATA version etc) too. :)
     
    Alienblaster, May 21, 2013
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  10. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Most people use Samsung, if you are planning to use it as a boot drive I would delete the RAID to use the 2 HDD's as storage only.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, May 21, 2013
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  11. Alienblaster

    Alienblaster Notebook Enthusiast

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    which one from samsung?? and why would you delete the RAID?? Is there some compatibility problem for the RAID 0 with the mSATA??
     
    Alienblaster, May 22, 2013
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  12. Pot Of Jam

    Pot Of Jam Notebook Geek

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    Lol nuts is my middle name! Well actually it's Paul...
     
    Pot Of Jam, Jul 7, 2013
    #12