A few mSATA questions

I'm thinking of dropping mSATAs in 2 new machines I'm getting, but was wondering a few things:

1. Just how big is the reliability issue between Intel and other makes (especially OCZ)? The OCZ and Crucial parts seem to be much faster, but if they will die in a year, I'd rather stick with Intel.

2. I'm getting a Sager NP9150 and MSI GE60. From what I've read, the Sager has a SATA2 mSATA port while the MSI has a SATA3. I've read the mSATA drives are supposed to be back and forward compatible, but should I take special care to get an mSATA that will match the SATA version (other than to get maximum speed)?

3. I want to do SRT on the Sager (unfortunately, I don't think the MSI supports it). Are there any extra special concerns about which drives to use specifically for a SRT drive?

4. Are there any rule of thumb guidelines for how large an SRT drive should be? And for a boot drive, I've seen people say that a standard installation for Win7 takes anywhere between 20 and 70GB. What's the truth?

 

1. I have the Intel 310 80GB mSATA and am waiting to get the Crucial for another machine. The Intel 310 is in a Thinkpad t420 and has the OS and programs installed (it has about 34 GB free space). No SRT. However, It has been rock solid. The same machine has a Crucial m4 128 GB and according to the benchmarks, the Intel should be a turtle. But I don't notice the difference when using the machine. Both feel equally fast and certainly much snappier than the 7200 rpm spindle i had.

Many ppl on this board prefer drives that do not use Sandforce controllers because they have been troublesome.

2. My hunch is that in real world use you are not going to notice a difference between the SATA2 and SATA3 when using the new generation of mSATA drives from Crucial and Samsung. My suggestion would be to get what best fits your needs in terms of use, capacity and specs.

3. I don't know much about SRT; but what little I have seen seems to suggest that manufacturers are popping in small capacity mSATA drives like the Intel 311 series (which come in 20GB capacities) and using them for caching. These are paired with a spindle drive. Intel might have a whitepaper and instructions on how to set it up. In other words, by getting a high performance high capacity mSATA such as the new Crucial drives for setting up SRT you might not be getting your money's worth out of the drive.

4. Again, I plead ignorance.

 

I've been reading around a bit more. Found some info:

Claims are that SRT can only support 18.9GB or 64GB mSATAs for caching; any space on a drive between 18.9GB and 64GB on drives under 64GB or over 64GB on drives over 64GB is wasted. Good to know...