Class 8 SDHC card as SSD: Doesn't work

I've learnt that the mini PCI-e slot is incompatible with SSDs (except those with sata controller on the board), and is disabled for non-Dell devices, so no SSD or other storage will work in this slot.

I thought then that I could use a class 6 8GB SDHC card to install an Ubuntu system on to test what boot times were possible (the SDHC card has a slower sequential read speed than an HDD, but much faster seek time, so on system boot it may be quicker). I just installed Ubuntu onto the card, and now it seems the BIOS doesn't support booting from the SD controller.

Dell really has protected themselves in every possible way from us not needing their factory SSD option. Well I can still use a sata drive. Screw you Dell, disabling functions that other systems have won't make you money in a laptop aimed at gamers or any other non-plebians, it will just lose you business.

Just thought I'd post this since I couldn't find this info anywhere else on the interwebs, and wanted to save other M11x owners the ~1 hour it took for me to install to the SD card and witness it not working.

P.S. Just realised that I can have the bootloader on a usb device or on the hard drive, so that it boots to the hard drive, then gets redirected to the SD card so that teh files are still accessed at low latency. I'll update this when I have tested the SDHC card booting with this method.

 

It is not uncommon to be unable to boot off of an SD card. In order for this to happen, the SD card reader must be connected via USB interface, and the system BIOS needs to be able to recognize an SD card as legacy USB storage. And connecting an SD card reader via USB will draw more voltage and current than a direct-connected SD card reader.

This may surprise you, but sometimes engineering decisions are made because it results in a better design, rather being made to save money for a handful of aftermarket tinkerers.

You can use any 2.5" SATA drive, from any vendor, using any drive technology.

If you really want fast boot times, then why don't you buy an SSD?

 

That's irrelevent to SSDs - if you want an SSD, then just buy a standard 2.5" SATA drive and connect it up ! The M11X uses a standard interface.

This is a common misconception - while cheap solid-state-storage like SD cards appear to have fast seek times, in practice this is only whilst performing single reads and writes to single large files. Running an operating system requires reading and writing thousands of tiny files on a continuous basis, and SD cards are terrible at this - even the very quickest cards are much slower than a basic mechanical Hard Drive.

If you want an SSD, then you need to buy an SSD.

 

Exactly.

The OP just seems upset that he doesn't have an SSD, and blames the laptop design for the fact that he can't get a bunch of crazy work-arounds to work.

Alienware specifically designed a way for you to get SSD speeds on the Alienware M11x. It's called buying an SSD.

 

Maybe I am misunderstanding the OP, but doesn't he just want to boot from an sd card with a Linux install on it?
I was also very disappointed that the m11x is not capable of booting from an sd card. My 2 year old Asus EEEPC can do this.
I have several Linux distributions on sd cards and use them with my EEEPC all the time AND am able to use a Acronis True Image boot sd card to make backups.
I was pretty astonished when I could not do the same with my brand new supposedly latest and greatest m11xr2.
To me it's a crippled machine without that feature.

 

pfsh, the SD card reader on the m11x sucks, anyways. It stick half the card out!!

Get an internal one (MR-04R), like me [dunno about booting, vendor says no booting... to xp/vista that is]

 

You sir, echo my same sentiment. That sd card slot is ridiculously shallow.
I'd be afraid to keep a card in there for fear of breakage.

Bought the MR-04R you recommended off the 'Bay to free up some GB
on my somewhat scrimpy 96GB Vertex (great for storing iTunes and video files).

Glad I saw this thread. Didn't even think about how to use up that
empty WWAN space.

Thanks for the tip!

 

^^ I just got one too... too bad it's going to take a month to get here! It'll be nice to have ReadyBoost again. From what I read on the websites I found it WILL work as an SSD hard drive. Once I get the money to buy a Class 6 or so 32GB SD Card I might go that direction with it.

 

It's about 2 weeks from Taiwan (assuming you got it via ebay).

 

eBay calculated it could get here as late as December 14th. I hope you're right though.

 

well, I live in California, so I get it about 1 day after it lands in the US

These guys use some form of airmail about 1 week to get here (customs?), then it goes to USPS for the remainder of the trip to your mailbox

(I've only seen one vendor for this on ebay... another for it's non-m11x compatible cousin, the MR-04 [uses USB traces of the mPCIe slot, which the m11x doesn't initialize properly... ])