Plextor M5M, SSD RAID, Windows 7/8, and TRIM?

I am considering getting two Plextor M5M 128GB mSATA SSD's and put them in RAID. Howewever I am still a bit nervous about the whole TRIM scenario and if TRIM truly will work with a drive in RAID with the latest Intel RST drivers? Has anyone validated this?

 

I have two of those in Raid0 in my GE60 and fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify confirms its working. Also loving the 1000mb/sec reads and 660mb/sec writes.

 

Thanks. That fsutil disabledeletenotify only says if it's turned on in Windows, not if the drives are actually accepting the TRIM command though. But from everything I've read says it works with Intel 7 series or later chipsets.

 

Don't worry Wing, TRIM will work because newer machines have an Intel SATA ROM higher than version 11, which can pass a TRIM command to the drives without a problem. Where are you installing the Plextors to? I want to place two of them on my GT60. 128GB is not enough for me

 

if winHex and trimcheck gives out the correct verification on trim via looking at the drives sector code I will tell you as a solid fact that TRIM works, at least with intel raid rom 11 onwards, just make sure you use RAID rom 11 with IRST 11 or raid rom 12 with IRST 12 because cross installation (rom 11 with IRST 12) will cause trim to not work properly, via trimcheck and winHex

 

The Clevo W230ST, 13.3" monster.

I'm considering the 128GB + 128GB because I will have a separate Crucial M4 512GB for storing games and other stuff. Just trying to save a couple hundred bucks.

 

You're going to run boot drive as the 512GB 2.5" M4, and the "two Plextor M5M 128GB mSATA SSD's and put them in RAID" as your secondary drive?

I've never seen a laptop that can use two internal mSATA SSD units. Is this why you say (above) that the Clevo W230ST is a 13.3" monster? Anyway curiosity prompts me to ask for a decent link on the Clevo W230ST. I mean you've already done the homework.

FWIW I took a long look at 1st link in your sig titled "NEW! Clevo P157SM Review w/780m"

Very very interesting.

 

Here you go:

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d450_metabox-clevo-w230st-laptop-notebook.html

It's an Australian reseller but the unit is the same.

Little beast because it carries a haswell cpu combined with the gtx765m gpu. Plus 2 mSATA slots and a normal 2.5" hdd slot. FullHD display and backlit keyboard. All this in a 13.3" form factor and under 2kg

I think Wing will put the OS on that RAID0 config and store everything else on the Crucial M4. It makes more sense this way

 

Yes felix3650 has hit the nail on the head. Using RAID drives as boot drive, and Crucial for games/storage.

1080p IPS 13.3" LCD
i7 quad core Haswell up to i7-4900MQ
GTX 765m 2GB GDDR5
Two SO-DIMM slots (16GB current max)
Two mSATA III slots
One 2.5" SATA III slot
Backlit keyboard
2kg weight

Yes, it is a mini monster.

Mine will be here the day after they open up ordering with i7-4800MQ and 16GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM and preferably 2x128GB Plextor M5M.

It should be showing up on Sager reseller sites in the next week or so in the USA.

 

Awesome laptop! I took a look at the link @felix3650 provided. SATA III on both mSATA ports! Wow!

Any guess as to how good the keyboard's key action will be? i.e. in comparison to units like my T.P. T530 and X220.

Do you have any concern that your Haswell cpu might show up with the USB bug?

And what about heat dissipation for a high powered, small 13.3" laptop?

Or is a better/bigger heatsink one of the options that you can get with the specialty builders that favor Sager/Clevo laptops?

Anyway, I'll look forward to your review of it.

BTW I'm not a pro hockey fan, but is this why things are pitch black?

 

Early impressions here from an NBR user who somehow managed to get ahold of one early: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/705795-w230st-13-weve-been-waiting-125.html#post9260082

He states: " Keyboard is great, keys are very comfortable and does not bend during typing. Surface of every key is covered with soft rubber.There are also 2 levels of intensivity of white backlight."

It may but everything I've read it's pretty minor. Your laptop goes to sleep, your USB drive doesn't pop back on. Just unplug and replug, no big deal. Not to mention there was mention that a Windows patch should fix it (can't find link atm).

Considering they made an 11.6" laptop with i7 quad Ivy Bridge CPU's and a GT 650m, this one will be no issue. A couple posts down from the one I linked above that user showed 3DMark 11 with GPU overclocked didn't exceed 73C

No, lol. It's reference to an old INFOCOM text adventure which was later made into a feature film and also was a TV show on BBC for some years.

 

Should I consider M500 or Plextor?

 

Go with Plextor
Better performing and equally reliable. Also they have higher endurance chips due to Toshiba Toggle NAND vs Micron Syncronous NAND.
Firmware is more optimised too and more importantly a bit cheaper

 

Waaayyy, Waayyy OT - I'll be thinking of you at the Parade today as Lord Stanley's Cup makes it thru the city. Can I get a !Kaaaaaaner! anyone?

In any case, consider me ... " tanding in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here."

 

on the same storage capacity (2xxGb) I'd say the Plextor over the M500

if you are comparing 256Gb m5m and 480Gb M500 I'd say.... the answer is up to you, you pay more for the space, and a less for the speed, heavily dependant on what you truly need (a 2*256Gb raid 0 system disk is not enough? you really need 2*480Gb raid 0 system drive?)

 

I am looking at 2x128GB drives for my main system drive, and I have a 512GB for my games and storage. I like to keep my games and storage separate so I can wipe my windows drive/partition and keep my data intact without having to reload all that. (yes I have backups).

 

I went ahead and ordered two Plextor M5M 128GB SSD's.

 

did the manufacturer get the msata slot fixed in the bios? Good job and I hope you enjoy the SSD setups and I'm guessing you'll have a system image on a backup drive for quick and brainless system restore

 

What msata slot fix are you referring to?

Of course I have backups. I have a 25TB server that does daily automated backups.

 

I just thought the P157SM you got has one of the msata slots faulty/not working.... from your original review

 

It will be most interesting to see if the Sager's have one useable mSATA slot or two when the NP7330 (W230ST) launches.

 

I have been running 2x msata SSD on raid0 with my MSI GT70 for almost a year now, no issues, and trim is working.



But when i reformatted to do a clean install, it didnt work, i was ruining newer intel RTS than what i my BIOS OROM has, to be able to run TRIM under raid, you have to match the OROM and Intel RTS, and then its cake, if you want to run newer Intel RTS you will need either a new bios from Sager o a modifed one. Check this destkop thread, ASUS / ASRock / MSI / GIGABYTE BIOS's with updated RAID OROM, even the last pages have requests for Z87 Haswell mobos.

 

Thanks! Good info. Although how do I know what OROM I have?

Here's the Plextor M5M 2 x 128GB mSATA III RAID 0 in a different machine (with 64k stripe):