mSata III SSD vs Sata III SSD

Hey guys,

I just ordered a laptop without a hard drive, as I'll be purchasing the hard drive myself. Overall, I only need about 500 GB of space on my laptop. The laptop has both an mSata (3) Slot as well as a SATA 3 slot 2.5' HDD/SSD slot.

I heard mSata consumes more power than a Sata 3 ssd so would I be better off just getting a 2.5'' SSD? (Considering battery life is important to me)

I can get a 500 GB 2.5'' SSD for ~$300.

Since I would not like to overspend, would the best option for me be to:

1) just get a 2.5' SSD,(500 GB)
2) Get an MSATA SSD (120 GB) + 1TB 2.5" HDD

Thank you I really appreciate it. My PC right now has only 400 GB of space and I'm completely fine with it so space is not really an issue, its more the cost and battery performance for me.

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Also: If i wait around till august (late), do you guys think I'll be able to find a cheaper 2.5" 500GB SSD in Canada? Thank you

EDIT: Temperature, Battery Life, are REALLY important to me!

 

mSATA; better battery life; less performance.

Wait till late August - more deals coming.


As far as temperatures go; it depends on what other components are close to the drive...

 

I'd go for msata. You can always put msata SSD inside a 2.5" adapter. There even exist adapters that let you put 2x msata SSDs inside 2.5" case, split power between them, and have additional sata connector for second ssd data.

 

Thank you guys. mSata has a significant performance decrease than 2.5"? Also I have just looked at some threads complaining about temperatures of mSatas (Samsung EVO) to be very high. That is a concern for me

 

IIRC Samsung msata SSD are somehow discriminated against their 2.5" line, they miss some commands or something like that, thus it's a good idea to consider another vendor.

 

My Samsung EVO 840 120GB mSATA is fine.

It's about 55 to 50 degrees celclius as my boot drive on my Clevo. Never seen it any higher than that.

The official Samsung data sheet says that the operating temperature is 0°C to 70°C and that the non-operating temperature is -40°C to 85°C.

I'm very pleased with the performance of it.

 

Hmm Thank you so I guess I'll go 120 GB mSata SSD + A good 500gb/1tb slim hard drive. Seems like the best compromise.
What is a really good 500GB Hard drive that is quiet and low on power consumption?

 

Honestly, don't bother going with a 120GB mSATA SSD. Just save up and get a 240GB / 256GB mSATA SSD. Skip the mechanical hard drive for the moment, if you need the money.

The reason is because 120GB is not a lot of space for OS / apps / games. And the problem is that it is REALLY hard to upgrade mSATA storage. Once you buy a 120GB mSATA SSD, you're pretty much stuck with it. It's hard to resell as a used part, and it's hard to transfer to another system, because very few people are on the market to buy a used mSATA device.

When you can afford it, buy the largest 2.5" SATA 5400rpm mechanical HDD you can. They are pretty inexpensive. For $65, you can get 1TB. For about $140, you can get 2TB. You specifically want to stick with 5400rpm drives (not 7200rpm). In general, a 5400rpm drive will be cheaper, quieter, cooler, and drain less power than a comparable 7200rpm drive. And since you are using the 5400rpm HDD purely for bulk storage of media (photos, music, videos, etc), speed is irrelevant.

 

Wow thank you so much I was actually looking at 7200 rpm but quiet and cool is definitely a priority to me.

 

Bottom line is, with OP you have less than puny 1.3TB storage, and you paid a price of cheap notebook for it. =\

 

In terms of TEMPERATURES and QUIETNESS, ( I dont care about having the fastest speed in the world), what would be a better choice for my laptop?

240GB (Samsung EVO?) mSata SSD + 5400 RPM HDD OR 500GB (Samsung EVO?) 500GB SSD Sata 3?

My budget is around $250. Thank you

 

Technically, a single SSD will be quieter (and generate less heat) than an SSD + HDD combo.

In reality, temperature and heat are nearly irrelevant. Capacity and price are much more influential factors when buying storage devices like this.


First of all, a storage device uses a relatively small amount of the power draw on a laptop. (CPU and screen are the biggest power draws). So even if your storage device used zero power, generated zero heat, and made zero noise, you wouldn't notice it. The actual pact to battery life would be so small, that it would be within a margin of error.

On top of that, the HDD in an SSD + HDD combo will use even less power than a typical HDD. a 5400rpm mechanical HDD will stay parked / idle / sleeping most of the time, and will only be used when you are accessing data that you store on that HDD (photos, music, videos, movies, etc). So the amount of power draw and heat will be even smaller.

My suggestion is buy based on price and capacity. You're barking up the wrong tree by looking at heat and noise as factors.

 

Invention, given the budget, I'd bought a 512GB mSATA SSD... to accompany it with a 2TB HDD someday. =) Anyway, it's not wise to buy less than 1TB HDDs - price per GB is ridiculos.

 

Thank you guys mSata will be my first investment then, and I will hold on from buying the HDD till I get more money. Thank you for all the help again