Wave 128GB & 256GB mSATA SSD Review

Wave 128GB mSATA SSD Review (9 Aug 15)
Wave 256GB mSATA SSD Review (16 Sept 15)

 

Wave 128GB mSATA SSD Review

Hardware configuration:
HP 4740s for h2wtest,
Fujitsu T734 i5-4200M 8GB RAM for performance tests,
Generic mSATA to 2.5” adapter.

Software configuration:
Overprovisioning ~25% (90GB)
Windows 8.1 Pro x64 clean install with drivers;
Disabled pagefile, system restore, Windows update;

Drive is recognized as N5M-120G. Trim and NCQ are supported. Capacity available to user is 118GB.

Spoiler: Unboxing and h2wtest

h2wtest is used to determine real capacity of flash storage.

Spoiler: Performance tests

During the tests, drive remained cool, within 50C range.

Conclusion

Pros:
+ Price
+ Available worldwide with free shipping
+ Performance
+ Runs cool

Cons:
- None

Additional notes:
* 2 year warranty by seller

Drive sample provided by terryf50, now known as wavessd @ eBay. You can purchase Wave SSDs in different capacities from his shop. The reviewed drive will be put in real world machine for durability testing. I am also awaiting Wave 256 mSATA SSD sample for review, and will publish it in this thread.

 

Nice work! H2testw is a nice tool for USB drives as well.

 

Wave 256GB mSATA SSD Review

Hardware configuration:
Fujitsu T734 i5-4200M 8GB RAM,
Generic mSATA to 2.5” adapter.

Software configuration:
Overprovisioning ~25% (180GB)
Windows 8.1 Pro x64 clean install with drivers;
Disabled pagefile, system restore, Windows update;

Drive is recognized as Netac SSD 256GB. Trim and NCQ are supported. Capacity available to user is 235.88GB.

Spoiler: Unboxing and h2wtest

Packaging is the same as 128GB version.

h2wtest is used to determine real capacity of flash storage.

Spoiler: Performance tests

Drive performance is similar to 128GB version. Except for couple CrystalMark tests when temperature spiked up to 63C, drive remained cool, within 50C range.

Conclusion

Pros:
+ Price
+ Available worldwide with free shipping
+ Performance
+ Runs cool

Cons:
- None

Additional notes:
* 2 year warranty by seller

Drive sample provided by terryf50, now known as wavessd @ eBay. You can purchase Wave SSDs in different capacities from his shop. The reviewed drive will be put in real world machine for durability testing.

 

I am guessing the seller is no longer on ebay ?

 

@toughasnails he changed eBay id to wavessd. I corrected both posts. I also use 128GB SD card I bought from him.

 

hmm, no 1tb option?

 

@Mobius 1 sadly, no, at least from this seller. I tried to convince a number of Chinese brands to send some 1TB samples for review - alas, they didn't.

 

ah ok

it says samsung controller, same as 850 evo?

 

@Mobius 1 I can tell for sure that controller used is SM2246EN and the RAM buffer is Samsung, as shown in unboxing photos; seller claims these SSDs use Samsung MLC NAND - and even if not Samsung, it's definitely MLC. Bottom line, it's very different from 850 Evo.

 

Ah well

Is yours running ok until now? NO slowdowns like the 840 series?

 

@Mobius 1 yes, mine are running OK. I include CrystalDiskMark benchmark for 256GB drive. Mind you, I am running Bitlocker software encryption, so results are lower as expected.

 

Hi.

I found this guide on setting an mSATA as your boot drive, the EasyBCD it uses has a free version, though i have not tried it myself, the guide is worth a look.

Though my mSATA does not show as a boot device and only shows in the raid options, Win10 can boot from my HDD and then switch straight to my SSD my boot to win10 desktop only takes 35 seconds so there is no real slowdown.

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/install-msata-ssd-tutorial

John

 

LOL just found this thread and realized I already dropped the same 128GB SSD into a T410s a few days ago.

Bought one after comparing the price against 1.8" SATA HDD and SSD, screwed it on a "micro SATA to mSATA" adapter and used a few layers of double-side foam tapes to hold the adapter board firmly. Ghetto yeah, but it works.

Haven't fully tested its performance as the laptop has been lent to my friend to test (He may buy it from me, finger crossed!), but for the price I've paid (30 bucks including adapter) I really can't complain.

One thing for sure is it's much faster than the KingSpec I've put in my eee PC.

 

I have an 128gb and an 256gb mSATA SSD, I have in the Intel 128gb in an Mini PCIe mSATA SSD to 40pin ZIF adapter replacing an 1.8" HDD, held in with double sided sticky tape in an ancient Samsung Windows tablet (single core pre-atom cpu weak as water)

John.

 

May I hazard a guess, that tablet is a Samsung Q1 Ultra, the one with Intel A100 or A110?

P.S. A110 is actually better than Atom N2x0/Z5x0 in some areas.

 

CORRECT, I have the "Samsung Q1 Ultra" 800mhz cpu , it has 2 mSATA slots on either-side of the motherboard, but only the one under the motherboard works, even with the oem wifi card.

Do you like Anime, I am watching "ReZERO -Starting Life in Another World" at the moment

John.

 

Of course I do, but not as crazy as before due to lack of time. I'm currently following the Fairy Tail manga, Date A Live and Pretty Cure series.
I heard Re:Zero a few years back, didn't go deep into it, but the seiyuu cast for the anime seems good.

 

The A110 seems to be a loser.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/131/Intel_Atom_N270_vs_Intel_Pentium_M_A110.html

John.

 

SuperPI proved otherwise:
http://mobileai.net/2008/11/17/kohjinsha-同門大對決-sr-vs-sx-intel-a110-vs-intel-atom-z520/
http://www.pocketables.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3050

I gotta say the first one is a bit unfair though (2GB RAM on SR against 1GB on SX). Still, it's not very surprising, when you know A100 and A110 are basically low-power Dothan (lower TDP than the slowest Dothan, the Celeron M 353 630MHz in certain 7" EeePCs) while Atom is... well an Atom.

 

Hello buddy ! Please, I have 2 of these devices, and I see that there are spare pcie mini ports, does the mSATA SSD works in those ports ? for example instead the WIFI card ?

THANK YOU.

BTW also bought the WAVE SSD, 30 USD for 128GB, crazy

 

I dont think you can boot straight from an mSATA SSD in an pci-e slot even if it works, you have to set windows to boot from the hdd and then switch to the ssd where you install your OS this is done virtually automatically when you do a clean install of windows, but i have not tried this on the Q1, AS i bought an mSATA to 40 pin ZIF adapter, and replaced my 40GB ZIF HDD with an mSATA 128GB SSD

My wifi card was using the pci-e slot under the motherboard as it was not detected by the pci-e slot on the top of the motherboard, but i bought an pci-e to usb 2.0 adaptor and installed an usb wifi dongle in the top slot and it was detected, so i now have an empty pci-e slot under the motherboard.

I bought an broadcom HD video decoder board to go in there as the Q1 cpu does not hardware decode mp4 videos so the cpu has to do all the work.

I will fit the broadcom HD video decoder board tomorrow if i get a chance, and see if the mSATA SSD is detected by the top pci-e slot though i doubt it will.

John.

 

Thank you John, for quick reply
Exactly I am doing like you are doing, I have also Broadcom HD video decoder Broadcom BCM970015 like you have done, and I wanted to fit it the top PCIe slot (on the side with the DDR2 slot) but I read on some post that it is not functional, probably it is missing some key components in that area, or the slot is only designed for WLAN cards. Maybe we need hacked BIOS to get them unlocked.

But yes I was intrigued that the BIOS can actually BOOT OFF FROM the Wlan card installed in the slot, so it actually must have some connection to it as an bootable device



Why I wonder to test it out, you will not be then limited with the PATA interface speeds, and actually maybe the device will be even more quicker, but that needs to be tested, if it is that marginal difference

I have even bought some antennas to put the n draft card inside, with more wifi strength .

Was also searching for SD / MMC card connector to solder it in.

When the Microsoft Origami project was working, people have done it but the website was pulled down with all the nice info

Thanks buddy for all the tests you will made

 

I put my mSATA SSD in the back pci-e slot and it was not detected in the bios.

I will give the under the board pci-e slot a go while i have it apart.

John.

 

Thanks mate ! waiting !

 

My Intel 128GB mSATA SSD will not fit in the pci-e slot under the motherboard as it is too thick

I just remembered my cmos battery has been giving me an error, It appears to be an CR2025 i have a few knocking around, where my soldering iron.

John

 

aaaaaaaaaaah bummer thank you very much for your test buddy

 

Just bought the Wave msata 128 GB version off ebay for $30 including shipping which i think is a pretty sweet deal. The delivery period is a pain though, ordered it on 29th Dec 2016 and got it on 23rd of January.

Did a clean install of windows 8 and I think it configured itself to boot itself off the HDD first then switch to the SSD. If I remove the HDD from its bay, it refuses to boot so i think that confirms it. My computer is an HP Envy j048tx and the boot time to desktop is about 20 seconds. Switching from an HDD, I'm very pleased with the results as I usually use hibernate and that's around 15 seconds to shut down and 15 to boot and the general speed upgrades everywhere are amazing too.

The crystal disk Mark benchmarks check out as well, and I'm getting expected speeds. I am, However a little concerned about the wear and longevity of the drive because of its unknown manufacture origin. Can anyone comment on this, how often do they fail? Anyone here has used this drive for a while?

Thanks!

 

I've bought 3 128GB ones over the last year:

1. First one bought from official UK seller about 8 months ago, arrived within 3 days, went to a ThinkPad T410s with an adapter and sold to one of my friends.
2. Second one bought from official Chinese seller half a year ago, arrived within 2 weeks, went to my EliteBook 2740p with an adapter, still using it
3. Third one bought from official Chinese seller 3 months ago, arrived within 2 weeks, went to my Samsung Chromebook.

And right now I've not experienced any problem with them, nor I've heard from my friend complaining on his ThinkPad... should be quite reliable.

 

That helps a lot, Thanks!
Also is there anyway to tell if the SSD is running on AHCI or IDE mode? Just curious if I'm getting the best out of it.

 

All my Wave SSDs, as well SD card, are alive and well. Here is SMART data of Wave 256GB SSD from my main machine.

 

Just checked with my 2740p and found the SSD itself can run at SATA III speed:

However the speed may be limited by the chipset or BIOS. As an example the SATA port in my 2740p is capped at SATA II speed, due to chipset limitation. If you're using an mSATA to IDE adapter then it'll run in IDE mode, at maximum ATA-6 speed.

As for AHCI or IDE, it should be configurable in BIOS, as long as the machine has SATA port and isn't too new.

 

I see, that helps. So I think mine is running at SATA III speeds which I guess is pretty good.



My BIOS (Insyde h.68 or something) however is pretty stripped down, I didn't know when I bought it, HP (model - Envy j048tx) I never paid much attention to it, but now I checked it and there's no advanced mode in there. I surfed a bit and found out HP did it intentionally to stop consumers from fiddling with the BIOS which I think is a bummer. So the only thing I can do is enable/disable some settings, change the boot order and create a RAID volume, that's about it because there's no advanced mode. I cant even tell if I'm running on AHCI or IDE mode from in there. Its pretty stupid of HP to do something like this, in fact I just found out they do this with all their new models. Could be a deal breaker for many. I was considering modding my BIOS if I'm not on AHCI and if the speed benefit is considerable, but I don't know that either so I'm pretty confused right now lol,

 

@sarahparker your machine is almost certainly running AHCI, like 99.99%. I strongly suggest you perform a proper clean install with single storage device. To ensure 128GB SSD longevity and stellar performance, format it as 90-100GB instead of using whole capacity. Don't forget to install Intel RST driver to further improve drive's performance. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the input. I installed the RST drivers but I'm not sure how that might help. Also I already did a clean install on the SSD. Is it okay if shrink the drive by about 17GB, will that still count as over-provisioning? How much difference can over-provisioning make?

 

See:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10481/the-samsung-850-evo-4tb-ssd-review/2


Right out of the box, for the first Random Write Performance graph where you can select the 25% OP'ing, the consistency change is astounding for this drive... Even though the peak 'scores' drop from the 90K's to the 30K's - the drive is noticeably more responsive with 25% OP'ing (I recommend 33% for the best balance between capacity 'lost' to highest responsiveness...) - especially after sustained use of a few minutes (7 or 8) or so.

In the second graph; the Steady State Random Write, the 25% OP'ing brings the IOPS 'scores' from just around 8K to over 30K (an almost 375% increase in performance/responsiveness).

Keep in mind that OP'ing doesn't get you more performance than what the SSD is rated for... rather, it gets you as much of the performance as the drive is capable of providing*** (sustained, over time...).

***And that is usually around 1/3 to half of what the drive is marketed as... in any real world usage.

 

Okay, Thanks for that. So it does help. And does simply shrinking the drive by 25% do the job, will that count as over-provisioning? Or is there something else I must do? Thanks!

 

Also make sure that Trim function is enabled.