SSD and mSATA Advice

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I am buying a new Alienware 17 which comes with 2 x 750GB in RAID0 with a 64GB mSATA and I intend to replace the drives with a 500GB SSD + 1TB HDD and I have a couple of questions and would like the opinions of the experts here. The computer will have 16GB of RAM will be used for both work and gaming. Work is pretty simple, non-taxing stuff like MS Office and will all be on the primary drive while the games will be on the 1TB D Drive. I don’t overclock and I don’t benchmark and I don’t brag so what I want is a computer that will be as quickly humming along in 2 years time as it does when I set it up.

My first question is regarding the choice for the SSD. While speed is important (after all I have chosen to get an SSD) reliability is more important to me than pure speed so I am looking at getting an Intel 520 480GB. Is there available a faster drive in this size range that also provides excellent reliability?

Secondly BIOS will already be set to RAID and usually I would just reset it to AHCI but does it need to be in RAID for the cache drive to operate. I have never played with mSATA drives so how do I set the mSATA drive to cache the D Drive or will it do that automatically.

I intend to over provision the SSD and my question revolves around how to best do that. Do I need to install the SSD in to a caddy and use Disk Management to create the partition of 400GB and leave 20% unallocated and if I do should it be a basic or dynamic partition.

Lastly the computer will be new but undoubtedly the mSATA will already have data on it so can I over provision it if it has already been used and if so will it appear in Disk Management and is it worthwhile over provisioning the mSATA?</o

 

Howdy. Can't answer your first question. Not sure how fast the Intel SSDs are compared to other drives.

For question 2: Yes, for the cache drive to work, you need to set all the drives on the system to RAID, especially the mSATA. It won't cache automatically. Assuming you will do a clean install on the new SSD you install in your Alienware, you will need to reinstall Intel Rapid Storage Technology. In the Intel RST control panel, it will have an 'accelerate' tab which you can select your mSATA drive to use as a cache drive, and the D drive to be accelerated by the cache drive.

For question 3: don't worry about using Disk Management. You can partition the drive using the Windows Installer just as easily. That will save you the hassle of having install your SSD into a caddy and do it all beforehand.

If your system comes with the mSATA, the mSATA itself won't have any data on it per-say. It will have a cache volume on it as it will come preconfigured as a cache drive from the factory. You will need to reset it as a cache drive if you do a clean install on your new SSD. Overprovisioning and such will not be an issue on your mSATA if you use it as a cache drive, plus the mSATA itself is too small so overprovisioning will only knock off 12GB at most.

 

Hi radji.

Thanks for the reply. I was not sure I could set the limit of the primary partition on the new SSD during Windows install. Every time I have done an install in the past I have always gone with a single partition and included everything. Anyway if I get it wrong I can always stop the install and slot the SSD into a caddy and do it that way.

Regarding the RAID and the mSATA caching drive I was reasonably sure that it had to be in RAID but wasn't sure and I was also sure other people would have asked exactly the same questions so I did a search here looking for an idiots guide to mSATA but I must have been using the wrong search terms because I could not find answers to my questions. Anyway thanks again.

 

You can create multiple partitions on your new SSD in Windows Installer. When it asks which partition you want to install Windows in, just click on advanced to bring up the partition settings. As long as your SSD is totally blank and all the space shows up as unallocated space, you can create 2 partitions by creating the first one for 200GB (leaving 200GB as unallocated), then create another one with the remaining 200GB of unallocated space. There's your 2 SSD partitions, each for 200 GB (for 400GB in total).

 

This might be a dumb question, but what's the point in using the mSSD as a cache drive when the OS will be installed on your new SSD anyway?

 

You can set the msata to cache the mechanical drive, I believe.. Might help with the most commonly loaded games etc.

I would highly recommend looking into the Samsung 840 pro 512gb drive. You cant go wrong with intel, but the Samsung drives are proven, very fast and come with GREAT software tool box and a 5 year warranty. I personally am not to sure of the new EVO drives yet. they seem fast but use TLC chips. I do believe a good working drive TLC or MLC will outlast the machine its in. I use all Samsung 840 pros except for my msata drives. I am using plextor m5m drives right now in my 14 and 18 but debating switching them to pm841's...

 

The Samsung PM841s are TLC too. So, compare the performance of a comparable 840 (120-128, 250-256, 500-512GB) to see what the 841 will do. The M5M is the better drive in the same size class(no 512GB model).

 

I'd avoid the PM841. They are expensive, unsupported and perform worse than the M5Ms (when low que depth 4k speeds are compared).

FrozenSolid
If I had that machine, I would get a 512GB 840 Pro and leave one of the original HDDs as a storage volume and forget about the mSATA cache. Not worth it once you have everything on the primary SSD. Also selling the other HDD and the mSATA cache would leverage the price of the 840 Pro a bit
That's what I would have done

 

Thanks to all for their opinions.
I initially chose the Intel because of the reliability. I have had an SSD die on me once already and because I use the machine also for work I wanted the most reliable SSD on the market, even at the cost of a little speed. Is the 840 Pro as reliable?

I already have a 1TB drive in my current lappie and I was just going to move it into the new M17. I will put one of the 750 GB drives into my old machine as storage and the second one I will use as a backup drive. As for the mSATA it is already in there so rather than fossick around to dig it out I was just going to set it up to cache the D Drive. I certainly don't need it but as it is already there ..... and I am in the enviable position of not being too concerned about the price but thanks for the suggestion

 

Samsung appears to be one of if not the most reliable. Well its up there in the top 2 anyway

 

Well the decision was made for me. I was working on a limited timeframe and the Intel 520 drive was not in stock and would not arrive in time so I bought a Samsung 512GB 840 Pro and left 47GB unallocated. So far everything is humming along just fine.

I set the 64GB mSATA to cache the D drive and that went well also. Interestingly now when I look in my computer or Admin Tools / Computer Management the mSATA drive is not visible and does not have a drive letter next to it because it is obviously a part of an array for the D drive.

Anyway thanks to all.

 

Yes, it's not acting like a storage device.