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    Chronos 7 mSATA swap or Hard Drive swap?

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by L1qu1d, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. L1qu1d

    L1qu1d Notebook Evangelist

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    I can get a 64 GB mSATA for 100$ or a 750 GIG Momentus XT for 130+ tax.

    I currently have the 5200 rpm hdd and the stock 8 gig mSATA.

    Can I install my windows on the mSata card?

    Would getting a 64 gig mSATA + 750 Momentus XT yield good results or is it just pointless?

    Thank You!
     
    L1qu1d, Sep 5, 2012
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  2. Jocelyn84

    Jocelyn84 Notebook Consultant

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    You cannot replace the 8GB msata, as it's soldered to the motherboard, nor can you install Windows on it. My advice would be to buy a 128GB SSD (Plextor, Samsung, Crucial, etc.) along with a caddy (~$10), and replace the optical drive with with the caddy + HDD. If you need more room on the main drive, save a little more cash and go for a 256GB. I've seen plenty of deals on the SSDs I listed for ~$85-100 for 128GB and $150-$160 for 256GB.

    Edit: Because you have a 15", you will probably want a 7mm SSD as there's only 9.3mm of room.
     
    Jocelyn84, Sep 5, 2012
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  3. L1qu1d

    L1qu1d Notebook Evangelist

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    I only need to worry about the height of the SSD if I'm doing the optical drive swap right?
     
    L1qu1d, Sep 5, 2012
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  4. Ephelant

    Ephelant Notebook Consultant

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    A 9.5mm SSD will work fine for the optical bay in a caddy. If you're swapping the existing HDD for an SDD, you'll need to get a 7mm. I just received my 9.5mm Crucial M4 256gb today and tried to replace the HDD - it's definitely too thick. I wasn't able to close the case. I'll be swapping out the optical drive instead once my caddy is delivered, leave the existing HDD where it is, and just change the boot order in the bios once I install the OS or clone the HDD (whichever is easier).

    Others have suggested removing the plastic case from the SSD to save a couple of mm, but I'm not prepared to do that as it voids the warranty.

    Edit: I decided to RMA my 9.5mm M4 and ordered a 7mm version of the same drive instead. As others have pointed out, if you put the SSD in the optical disk bay, you will only get SATA II speeds. The HDD bay reportedly has the only SATA III controller in this laptop.
     
    Ephelant, Sep 5, 2012
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