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    Does My Laptop Support SATA III ?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by iEthos, Aug 29, 2011.

  1. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    Hello
    I would like to ask which software will show me that my laptop supports SATA III ?
    I would like to buy OCZ Agility 3 but first i need to find out if I have SATA III suppport
     
    iEthos, Aug 29, 2011
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  2. ExMM

    ExMM Notebook Evangelist

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    As many people recommended in this forum, I wouldn't choose an OCZ product.
    But that obviously is up to you..

    You can use SIW to check your SATA configuration:

    Buy SIW Pro or Download SIW Freeware ( scroll down the page for the free version)
     
    ExMM, Aug 30, 2011
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  3. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    No OCZ ? they are best aren't they ?
    thank you for the link
     
    iEthos, Aug 30, 2011
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  4. Toyo

    Toyo Notebook Deity

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    You must ask yourself if you want a little more speed and less reliability or do you want the most reliable, low power, and among the most reliable drive out there? If you chose reliability I would go with the Samsung 470 or wait a month and get one of there newer models which is going to be hard to beat.
     
    Toyo, Aug 30, 2011
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  5. ExMM

    ExMM Notebook Evangelist

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    Not for the reliability, just search in this forum, and you will find dozen of people using it, which had some of the worst customers service/product issues.
    I have read for weeks this SSD section and at the end I went for the Crucial M4, and I have to say thanks to all the people of this forum for their help and recommendation, since I did wanted to buy an OCZ.

    No issue so far with the M4, excellent speed and very easy firmware update.
     
    ExMM, Aug 30, 2011
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  6. madmattd

    madmattd Notebook Deity

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    Quite the opposite, OCZ is one of the WORST. Yes, the Vertex/Agility drives are MODERATELY faster in real-world use, but not such that you can actually notice. Plus Sandforce drives die A LOT, we've been seeing maybe as much as 20% failure rates on the new OCZ drives (unverified, but given the countless people with trouble, very believable). Plus OCZ support is horrendous, even in this day where support is poor to begin with.

    OCZ has refused to acknowledge several of the problems with the new drives and instead insists that it's customers don't know how to use an SSD. 2 points on that: 1, most of these people have had numerous SSDs and had no trouble. 2, Intel/Samsung/Crucial drives just WORK. No tinkering, no crippling your system to get it running (not kidding, OCZ demands you disable any overclocking to use the drive, and by the way it does nothing to help get the drive working 99% of the time), just plug and play, literally.

    Go Intel, Samsung, Crucial. If you have SATA 3, right now the Crucial M4 is probably the best, certainly from a price/performance standpoint while maintaining excellent reliability. Samsung has a SATA 3 drive due out in October, if it is anything like the 470 drive, it will be terrific as well.
     
    madmattd, Aug 30, 2011
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  7. bigbulus

    bigbulus Notebook Consultant

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    Do yourself favor. Buy Intel/Samsung, more expensive, but you'll have peace of mind. Do you realize that your data (picture, movie, docs, etc) are more expensive than the drive? If so, buy the most reliable. In real world application, you won't be able to notice the speed difference between Intel, OCZ, or Samsung. SSDs are fast period! Now, it's only a matter of how you value your data.
     
    bigbulus, Aug 30, 2011
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  8. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    All guys thnx so much for advices!
    So now u completely convinced me not to buy an OCZ SSD
    So I found pretty cheap crucial 128GB but write speed is horrible!
    Only 175 seller States .. that is like mine old Samsung SSDs
    Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 3 Solid State Drive | eBay

    Edit:
    Guys I heard that cruciall released firmware update for these M4s ?
    What speed gain is after update
    Please only SATA 6 results please
    Thnk you
     
    iEthos, Aug 30, 2011
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  9. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    No I do not want samsung again :)
     
    iEthos, Aug 30, 2011
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  10. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    yeah but my data are stored on 1TB Samsung HDD you know
    Am using ssds on windows only and its programs, there are no my personal data..
     
    iEthos, Aug 30, 2011
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  11. Tomy B.

    Tomy B. Notebook Evangelist

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    Can I ask why?
     
    Tomy B., Aug 30, 2011
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  12. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    Bcooz I have 4x Samsung SSDs and now I want to try different drives.
    And samsung doesn't have latest new generation SATA III
    Speeds are below 300MB
    These New SSDs have 480/500MB/s speeds
     
    iEthos, Aug 30, 2011
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  13. madmattd

    madmattd Notebook Deity

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    Samsung's SATA 3 drives are coming in 2 months (October).

    As for speeds of the Crucial M4, well they are typical of a 120/128GB drive (yes Sandforce claims higher, but as we said, Sandforce might be faster in meaningless categories, it is last in the most important: reliability). And for a Windows drive, random READS are what matters, not sequential writes. You won't be doing too many sequential writes on an OS drive, really just when you install Windows. And the M4 is one of the best in random reads.
     
    madmattd, Aug 30, 2011
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  14. ExMM

    ExMM Notebook Evangelist

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    ExMM, Aug 31, 2011
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  15. Tomy B.

    Tomy B. Notebook Evangelist

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    Fair enough, but please report back do You feel any difference between old Samsung and new SSD.
     
    Tomy B., Aug 31, 2011
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  16. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    I have recently Secure erased two of my SSDs using parted magic and I must say that is very good way to bring SSD back to original ..
    The speed is same as when I bought them! 7.4 win score
     
    iEthos, Aug 31, 2011
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  17. Tomy B.

    Tomy B. Notebook Evangelist

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    Which SSD do You have?
     
    Tomy B., Aug 31, 2011
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  18. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    iEthos, Aug 31, 2011
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  19. iEthos

    iEthos Notebook Consultant

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    These are my current Samsung SSDs it's miserable I know :(
     
    iEthos, Aug 31, 2011
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