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    Problem with new mSATA SSD

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by MegaBUD, Jan 16, 2013.

  1. MegaBUD

    MegaBUD Notebook Evangelist

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    I bought last month a mSATA SSD Mushkin Atlas 240 for my MSI GE60.

    The drive works alright but theres one major issue... it make a EEeeee noise, like a whining coil when it tries to go at full speed (copy files, load a heavy picture).

    After testing the drive with HDtune I found out that the drive average performance was very poor, and "funky"... so i RMAed it and received a new one.

    Now the new drive still do that EEEeeee sound but the performance are better... yet still funky ( http://i.imgur.com/vSWWX.jpg).

    The older drive wouldnt hit anything over 200mbs but this one does go as high as 375ish mb/s.

    At "normal" use theres no sound at all... laptop is silent... but once I start moving big files or loading heavy picture the sound start...

    It sounds almost like a HDD.

    I cant find any information about this kind of problem on a mSATA socket

    Now MSI is telling me that its the drive that is bad... and Mushkin is sure that its the socket on the board that is bad...

    Anyone had this happen to them? im pretty lost at this time...


    Thanks a lot
     
    MegaBUD, Jan 16, 2013
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  2. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Contrary to 'common sense' SSD's are not silent.

    You can try to clean the contacts of both the mSATA SSD and the mSATA connector with a quality cleaner like Deoxit - but the problem is the nand/circuits themselves that are 'noisy' at load.


    As for the flakey performance - how full is this drive and what O/S and SATA (AHCI) driver are you running?

    Was this a clean install (with just the mSATA drive installed...) or was another method used to install the O/S and/or programs?
     
    tilleroftheearth, Jan 17, 2013
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  3. Encrypted11

    Encrypted11 Notebook Evangelist

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    My Samsung 830 makes a short strange noise whenever I open up the CrystalDiskInfo SMART Data tool. :)
     
    Encrypted11, Jan 17, 2013
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  4. MegaBUD

    MegaBUD Notebook Evangelist

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    Both are brand new... theres over 50% empty space left... fresh windows install with all the official driver from MSI... And i also installed the latest firmware on the drive...


    So a bad connection could explain those weird spike in performance?


    thx a lot... you are more helpful than MSI and Mushkin tech support combined.
     
    MegaBUD, Jan 17, 2013
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  5. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    MegaBUD,

    don't give me too much credit yet! :)

    I hope that cleaning the contacts works (even a little) - but if it does stay the same, try using the default MS AHCI driver and see if that is more effective in quieting the drive too (though I would prefer to use the latest IRST drivers instead...).




    Good luck.
     
    tilleroftheearth, Jan 17, 2013
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  6. MegaBUD

    MegaBUD Notebook Evangelist

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    Or maybe I should use a different benchmark software? whats very good like HD tune?


    I updated drivers... i tried with the MS one... still weird performance on HD tune bench...


    Thanks a lot :)


    And yes you are more helpful than them... they just want me to send the unit and wait a month for repair...
     
    MegaBUD, Jan 17, 2013
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  7. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    tilleroftheearth, Jan 17, 2013
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  8. MegaBUD

    MegaBUD Notebook Evangelist

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    Well i did pay 200$ for that thing so... i would like it to work at 100% and not having to replace it in a year because it died on me with all my data... yes i do make a backup once in a while... but most of the time i forget..


    Thx a lot for your help.
     
    MegaBUD, Jan 17, 2013
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