x230 mSATA: Is it SATA 2 or 3?

I installed a MyDigitalSSD 256GB Smart Series SATA III but I only seem to be getting SATA 2 speeds.

Lenovo sales rep said that the x230 is SATA 3 for the mSATA slot, and CrystalDiskInfo seems to confirm this as it reports Transfer Mode as SATA/600.

Here are the results I get:

Seq -- 265 Read 194 Write
512k -- 250 Read 191 Write
4k -- 30 Read 51 Write

Benchmarks from reviews look like this:



Am I missing some settings? Do I need to change something in the bios?

thanks

 

Looks like sata 2 to me. 250 is still good for an ssd.

 

HD Tune reports it as SATA 2.

 

That's what it is then

 

That sure looks like SATA II. On the one hand, they're great speeds for mSATA, slightly faster than my SATAII Intel 320 SSD. On the other hand, you're paying a big premium for that mSATA III, so I'd be annoyed if I couldn't use the full capabilities after being led to believe otherwise.

 

But Lenovo said the mSATA slot is SATA 3, and CrystalDiskInfo reports it as SATA 3.

 

It could be a Bios bug, similar to the one of the X220 that caused some mSATA drives not to be recognised at all.

 

I think I saw somewhere it was SATA II, but I could be wrong. Again, for most uses SATA II or III matters very little as it's the seek times that give the SSD its speed. They don't change going from SATA II to III. The throughput, which is often used a benchmark for SSDs, matters very little as most tasks don't put a heavy load on the controller, which would give SATA III an advantage unless you copy and paste files all day.

 

I'm getting slightly better speeds on a Mushkin Atlas mSATA3 drive. I would complain about the sata2 thing, but the system is lightning fast and boots in 20 seconds, so i'm not sure what there is to complain about.

 

Yes, it's confirmed... It's SATA 2...

references:

Mushkin Atlas mSATA drive?

x230 mSATA working at SATA 2 speeds - Lenovo Community

 

the QM77 chipset in the X230 only has two SATA 6 Gb/s channels and one is routed to the main drive bay, the other to the ultrabay.   on the X230 this would be routed to the ultrabase series 3.   mSATA and eSATA (if so equipped) are then left with SATA 3 Gb/s channels.   this holds true across the lineup.

 

Although I do believe SATA2 will be fast enough for me, that's just stupid. They have an mSATA port that Lenovo (not just us) will be putting SSDs into, and a laptop without an ultrabay. There is no good reason to give it to the base instead, because unless you're putting an SSD into the base no other peripherals can use the speed. Not to mention maybe 5% of users have an ultrabase in the first place, and only the x230 series will even have a SATA3 line going to the baes. Bad engineering, all around.

 

There's only two channels. At some point Lenovo had to make a choice. I doubt you could ever tell a difference, so there's no reason to care.

 

you went against your word and complained, despite already having proven to yourself that SATA III doesn't matter.

 

Sorry, you're right. It doesn't matter, I just get annoyed by bad engineering decisions. It runs really fast. Not to mention, its reading my cursive right now.

 

That's a bummer. I ordered a X230T and was looking for SSD upgrades. Now I'll maybe just replace the main 7mm 500GB HDD with a 7mm 256GB SSD. If msata were SATA3, I would have just added a 128GB msata drive and keep the HDD too. I know SATA2 and 3 doesn't matter that much, but still, users want to get what they paid for. I would have been happier if my X61T wasn't capped at SATA1 speed when I had intel X25-m in it (later I got the community bios update). I too think it is a bad decision to reserve the other SATA3 for the Ultrabay.