mSATA FAQ: A Basic Primer

When? What retailers in the USA will be carrying them?

 

They are in stock here

mSATA Solid State Drives | My Digital Discount

Pricing has been changed as of around 1 hour ago.

32GB was $79.99 now $67.99, 64GB was $139.99 now $124.99, and the 128GB was $279.99 now $239.99.

Practically giving them away at these prices I hope someone posts it on slick deals. I just want them to take off. I know how solid of a product they are and I am not afraid to ship them to professionals for review. The manufacturing and performance of these drives is top quality.

FYI, as more retailers sign on I will be updating the list on www.MyDigitalSSD.com We just signed on a retailer in Japan yesterday. I have yet to update the site with the info but will do so soon. Talking to memoryc in the UK now as well. For all you UK people email memoryc and tell them to carry our SSD.

 

I guess I have good timing, I just bought a MyDigitalSSD 64Gig Msata at about midnight last night off Amazon (showed as last one in stock). I justed ordered a T420S a couple of days ago and look forward to trying out the pair together.

Ike

 

Wow, that's pretty good pricing. My Intel 310 80gb cost ~$190 and doesn't work in my x220. I'd pay the extra money for the 128gb if I knew it definitely would work. Do you know if the mSATA problems the x220 is having is related to the Intel drives specifically or if it's all mSATA?

 

Why is the Intel 310 not working in your x220? Anybody else having problems?

 

Is it true that you can't use mSATA SDD as the boot drive?

 

That is not true. You can use the Intel Series 310 mSATA drive as a boot drive.

 

More mSATA Drives are in route to MyDigitalDiscount. The 128GB will be out of stock very soon as well. If you want one shipped today you had better order it right now.

But more will be there for Monday/Tuesday time frame.

The MyDigitalSSD mSATA does work as a boot drive in the x220 and here is a review about it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol.../579322-mydigitalssd-msata-ssd-64gb-x220.html

Also see the tweaktown review posted earlier in this thread Chris from TT uses it in a Lenovo computer and states.

"We cloned the existing drive to our MDD Bullet Proof and the user experience went from miserable to mesmerizing. Anyone who is used to the SSD feel will have a difficult time going back to a spinner and users coming from spinners to SSDs are amazed at the performance offered and the enhanced user experience that comes with instant actions."

MyDigitalSSD Team

 

On another note: I personally don't think that any average to above average user is going to ever be able to notice a difference between a Renice, Intel or MyDigitalSSD during use in their notebook. I say this because you are going from a super slow spinner and will see an improvement of around 30X in 4K speeds and in my opinion you will not notice a diff between going 30X faster and 50X faster. The only place you would ever notice a diff is in sustained speeds when transferring very large files from a super high speed USB 3.0 Drive or the like but the MyDigitalSSD is not lacking in sustained speeds at all.

MyDigitalSSD Team

 

Huge thread about it here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/582887-x220-msata-not-possible-i7-usb3-0-a.html

And it's not limited to i7 with USB3. I've got an i5-2520. There's also a big thread on the Lenovo forum about it here:

X220 with USB3.0, no mSata SSD possible ? - Lenovo Community

 

Speed is only one facet. Have you sent a review unit to Anand Shimpi at AnandTech ?

Recommend you do if you haven't.

 

I never used an msata SSD before. Do we have any knowledge of how reliable or how long they last compared to traditional 2.5" SSDs?

 

My apologies for not seeing this sooner; I have sent you a PM.

 

They use similar MLC NAND flash memory. Reliability would be based primarily on the manufacturer of the memory itself, though the controller's wear-leveling algorithms might also come into play. Either way, they should be equally reliable; reliability would be based on manufacturer, not on form factor (i.e., mSATA vs. 2.5" SATA).

 

Thor, believe it or not I emailed him about the same time you posted that suggestion. Will check my email a little later after I put the kids down.

 

I have a report from a customer that their SSD is not being recognized.

"BIOS not detecting mSATA. one red and one green LED are on in the mSATA.
Windows 7 is not detecting hardware and after multiple boots
tried to insert in place of wifi card slot no change

specs are:
IBM Lenovo X220
CPU - i7-2720
Machine type - 4286CTO
BIOS 1.17"

I plugged one in and found that the only time the red and green lights are on at the same time is when the drive is active.

I will see if it is in fact defective once it gets back. If not then that means there is some sort of compatibility issue with that certain model variance.

 

People are experiencing this with Intel ssd's as well. It's far more likely some users' motherboards are defective.

 

I'm not ready to point the finger at Lenovo. Keep in mind there are some issues with the W520 and the Intel Series 510 drives. These issues could very well be in the SSD drive.

Until Intel and Lenovo start communicating or present a fix, it's hard to say. so far neither is happening and if you look at my posts at the Lenovo forums area, you'll see I'm getting upset about it.

Silence is unacceptable.

 

The notes I've read with the X-220 in the current thread here discussing the issue don't appear to just be Intel 310 related; at least one user has experienced the same issue with two Renice mSATA drives in a row.

It is hard to say what truly is happening, but I do hope the affected users start a thread on the Lenovo forums for JameZ to take a look at, and hopefully escalate to Engineering.

EDIT: I have added basic information to the FAQ stating the potential X-220 issue. I have also updated the mSATA SSD vendors to include MyDigitalSSD.

 

That thread exists here: X220 with USB3.0, no mSata SSD possible ? - Lenovo Community

But there's no response worth mentioning from Lenovo yet. "It's been escalated to Engineering."

 

I put a link to the thread in the FAQ already.

If it has been escalated, that's the first step. That means that JameZ or someone else was able to get enough information from a user (or more than one) to submit something concrete to Engineering. It doesn't always mean the answer would be as quick as one likes; I sold my T400 before Lenovo finally got their switchable graphics driver to the point users have really wanted it to be at. However, these are new systems, fairly early in the development cycle, so there is a lot more pressure to get issues like this resolved relatively quickly.

 

I'm not going to go through that entire thread, but it's worth noting that it doesn't seem to be limited to the i7, although most users in this forum have that model. There's been one i5-2410 or 2520 user who had the issue.

 

I agree that I doubt it's an i7 processor issue solely; I think that's a coincidence. It's just currently the forum thread for the issue.

 

I have updated the FAQ with additional information regarding the X220 mSATA issues, with linked information, and will continue to do so if I receive more.

 

I can confirm the MydigitalSSD MSATA 64GB card works in my T420s (i5 w/ Nvidia graphics), I added it last night and install (dual boot w/ linux on the SSD, media files and windows on the 7200 RPM 320 GB Hitachi) and operations seems to be perfect so far.

Ike

 

I'm moving from wanting to buy the X1 to wanting the E420s for the sole reason of supporting mSATA. I'd get a 80 gb drive and use the built-in hdd for storage. For some reason, the "search" feature on the forum isn't working for me - no matter what I input, I get "sorry, no thread matches your search" even when I search for, say, intel! So please forgive me if this has been rehashed to death on this forum. When I go through the customization process on lenovo's website, it says that "No WWAN support". I know that WWAN and mSATA share the same bay/connections - so does this mean that mSATA support is no longer present?

Thanks for help clearing this up!

 

If the "No WWAN support" version is anything like the X-220, it will still work, as the slot is still there in the X-220 (but without support for a WAN card, just mSATA). However, just to be sure, I'd post this question in Lenovo's forums to get an answer from someone with Lenovo.

ThinkPad Edge - Lenovo Community

Alternatively, you could look at a ThinkPad T420 or T420i.

 

The mini-PCIe/mSATA slot was there in my e220s, even without the WWAN option. I can't imagine the e420s would be different.

 

thetoast - sorry to clarify, but were you unable to order the e220s with WWAN, or did you chose not to? I guess I mean, did Lenovo say "WWAN not supported" or did you just not pay an upgrade components cost....?

 

There was an option for an e220s with WWAN card installed, but I decided against it. I knew I wanted to occupy that space with the Intel 310, and thankfully the slot was there.

 

Thor he never replied to my email I have since spoken with LoneWolf15 about doing a review here on this forum. Getting some answers for him right now. But would love it if Shimpi got back to me. I will send another email.

 

subj: minimum size of SSD capacity to boot & run OS+typ range of Apps.

I gather 40MB may not be sufficient to boot & run Win7 + typical range of Apps, and the next capacity cost point is either 64 or 80GB

I am aware there are number of factors to consider in calculating disk-space taken by Windows7, eg pagefile, restorepoints, hibernation, and that some Windows standard settings need to be changed, eg. disable Defrag, to best use a SSD.

Finally, I read unlike HDDs where formatted capacity is fixed slightly less than manufacturers stated capacity, for SSDs one also needs to reserve a further amount, to account for SSD 'wear-out', which may vary from one SSD model to another.

Is there a guide, that clarifies and quantifies above factors, recommends minimum SSD capacities for some typical user scenarios, and gives a guide on which Windows Settings to change ?

 

What does "typical range of apps" mean to you?

On my x220 I got the 80gb msata ssd and I have 30 gbs free after deleting hibernation files and also installing 4gb's of games and windows office and windows live email, 3gb music

On my desktop i have 40gb and it's alright, i run into some issues only when I'm installing a large game or something and it automatically uses my operating system drive as a temp cache of sorts - so I keep about a 10gb reserve - no games or music

 

My current X220 has 39 GB of its Intel X25-M 160 GB used.

It has the OS and a fair number of my apps. Likely a near full load. However I don't have my pictures, videos on music on it and won't until the Intel 310 is recognized as I will use that as the storage drive.

 

I can confirm it is working okay as a boot drive !

 

I found some SATA III msata ssds online... never heard of the company though, and they're quite pricey:

RunCore Pro V mSATA SATA III

 

I had a RunCore drive in my Sony Vaio P, and it was alright. But in regard to these SATA3 mSATA drives, keep in mind that our mSATA slots are not SATA3-compatible.

 

I actually didn't know that, thanks!

 

How do you know this? Sandy Bridge is compatible with SATA III and the mSata slot is not limited.....

 

Inside the Box SATA 3.0 600MB/s on ThinkPad Notebooks

Fourth paragraph. His explanation is a slight bit ambiguous though.

 

After the mSATA is installed, TRIM must be enabled with a SandForce drive SSD as Microsoft AHCI driver v6.1.7600 Rev.16385 currently shipping with Windows 7 does not support the DSMcap (maximum supported TRIM sectors) provided by an SSD.
This article explains how to change the Windows 7 System Registry, but it is not clear (to me) where to make the Registry change.

Has anyone had success in enabling TRIM in a SandForce driven SSD? Without making this change, the mSATA SSD may not operate at peak efficiency.

 

i've been digging ebay for the Intel 80GB one but couldn't find except one selling in the UK, for ~$260 , any other trusted places i can look at?

thanks

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/578095-where-get-intel-310-80gb.html

 

It's available on Amazon for the time being.

 

Has this been confirmed? The language in that blog post is indeed ambiguous. It almost reads to me like "the mSATA drive you get with a new ThinkPad isn't SATA 6Gb/s."

I'd like to get the RunCore T50 if the T420 does support SATA 6Gb/s in mSATA, otherwise I'd pick up the Renice X3, RunCore I50 or the Intel 310 ...

EDIT: Hmm, seems that the chipset only supports 2 SATA 6Gb/s ports, which must be the standard slot and the UltraBay. Guess I'll get one of the SATA 3.0Gb/s mSATA SSDs.

http://www.intel.com/products/notebook/chipsets/ec-qm67/ec-qm67-overview.htm

 

Interesting... that does raise a good question for those of us that only have a regular SATA slot, plus the mSATA... My Edge e220s use the HM65 chipset, and also has up to 2 SATAIII ports. That does leave the door open for machines like mine and the X220 to have a higher speed mSATA slot...

edit: Another possibility... It is at its heart a PCIe v2.0 x1 slot, which means it can communicate up to 500MB/s. Now hopefully the mechanism with which it can offer SATA signals doesn't limit it to 3GB/s; this is to say it's possible that a SATAIII mSATA drive will operate up to the PCIe x1 limit of 500MB/s. I don't think that too many users would be heartbroken to be limited to that.

 

Sure, if it's limited to 500MB/s, that's about the top speed of the RunCore T50, so I also doubt too many people would be upset.

I read a few reviews on the Renice X3 120GB, I think I'll be picking that one up, although I may wait for thessdreview.com to finish up their review before making the final decision. It'll be my first SSD.

EDIT: http://thessdreview.com/our-reviews...-ssd-review-smallest-and-fastest-ssd-to-date/

 

I just noticed the comment about X220 mSATA issues in the first post of this thread. Might be good to change that since the issue was fixed in 1.18 BIOS update

 

This is a terrific thread – many, many thanks!
I have a T520 and I'd like to go the MSATA-as-boot-disk route. I'd like to ask all my questions here – some have probably been answered, and I have RTFT, but I'd like to ask directly to receive confirmation from the wise folks here, as it would be the first time I've performed an operation quite like this.
I'm not worried about physically putting it in.
It's clear to me that I want to go the “convenience” route – I tend to make a lot of configuration changes and the fact that my machine is relatively new makes me only more aware of all the work I've just gone through to do that (services configurations, program configurations, etc., etc., etc.) - I really, really don't want to do it all again.
But, if I'm doing this, I want it done right. So my goals would be:
-To choose the right MSAT SSD. I'd rather have a bit more space, just in case; I don't mind spending a little bit more.
-To reproduce my current set-up on the new MSATA SSD, which I guess I'd be doing by restoring from a back-up. All advice about doing this, and doing it right (what equipment, what programs, what steps in what order, etc.) would be highly appreciated, I'm nervous about this particular step!
-To retain the Lenovo system where the “install back-up” of the OS is actually on the computer for installing or removing from the active OS various elements. But I'd want the active OS on the MSATA SSD but move the “install back-up OS” back to the SATA HDD. Note that the SATA HDD will be partitioned for this – a partition for OS-related stuff and a partition for files, etc.
-I might want to set the MSATA SSD to back up to the SATA HDD, too, at least while I'm traveling; that's in addition to, and not instead of, a regular back-up when I'm home.
-I'll then use the guides provided here to determine what goes to the MSATA and what to the HDD.
Again, thanks to everyone!

 

I have now posted a review of the MyDigitalSSD 128GB mSATA drive. The review can be found here, in the SSD section:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...let-proof-128gb-msata-review.html#post7767088