Series 9 Owners: Third party mSATA upgrades

Hi,

Has anyone tried installing one of these.....Samsung PM830 PM841 MSATA 512GB....and if so how does it compare?

 

One came in my new X4C (bought in July but actually made in January).



Read here if you want results for the Crucial m4 and the Sandisk U100 for comparison. It may not have the fastest sequential write performance but the 4k results are among the best.

I believe the Samsung SSD is also quite frugal on power.

John

 

Thanks John,

I'm trying to fgure out whether to get one of these (I appreciate they are not generally available but can source one) or a Crucial M500 480Gb to upgrade my X3B....are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?

Regards

Phil

 

Either will work fine. I had been planning to get the 480GB M500 which has been listed on Amazon UK since April but, so far, has never come into stock. I had used the 256GB m4 for a year without problems including 2 or 3 firmware upgrades (it's a rare event for Samsung to issue an SSD firmware upgrade but maybe there's nothing to fix). I needed more space and, with the M500 not showing up, when I came across an Indian X4C with the 512GB SSD and in i7 CPU I grabbed it.

So your choice is the Samsung 512GB now or the 480GB M500 at sometime in the future (maybe next week, maybe next month - you can phone them up and ask). The M500 will be better value when it does show up (Amazon UK has just dropped their price).

John

 

I wonder if this is pure bollocks, but some German sites allegedly expect next shipments of the M500 480GB quite soon, e.g. Crucial M500 - Solid-State-Disk - 480 GB - SATA-600 | HDD SSD | HDD Festplatte | Komponenten | PC&Server | KLARSICHT IT GmbH
I'd wait a week or two if I were you

 

Just started recovery via bios for cloning my 1TB disk to Crucial M500 960GB fingers crossed )

Still wish samsung recovery performed faster though 17MB/s -66MB/s for SATA and SSD disks that can perform much faster

edit: with samsung recovery looks like i can only adjust new disk free disk space if i copying from factory image, if i select from current settings, it's clone whole disk without adjustable free disk space it seems.

Recovery reports original 1tb disk as 906GB and Crucial M500 as 894GB total size. Doh recovery complaining disk size is too small needing 908.3GB heh if i use current settings cloning.

 

I just upgraded my NP900X3C with a 512GB Samsung PM841 mSATA. No dramas so far, but I have not done any performance testing. These guys did some testing Samsung PM841 512GB mSATA SSD Review - Performance and Capacity in a Client SSD | The SSD Review

Biggest trouble is supply... but if you live in Australia Ramcity
have started carrying them and are good to deal with.

If you can get your hands on one it seems like the best upgrade option so far.

 

You should be able to get the M500 for ~$100 less now: Crucial SSD M500 mSATA 480GB (Art.-Nr. 90505321) - Solid State Drives (SSD) - computeruniverse

Have you tried enabling hardware encryption?

Edit: or perhaps I was wrong.. M500 mSATA 480GB still not available and retailers keep pushing the date of availability further -- but it somehow feels closer

Seems there's a new player in town -- a pricey one and no word on encryption: Amazon.com: VisionTek mSATA SSD 480GB SATA III 6.0Bb/s Solid State Drive (900613): Computers & Accessories

 

Hi

I'm looking to upgrade the ssd on my np900x4c, can someone show me where to buy either 512gb or 256gb in the uk.

Many thanks

 

240GB Crucial M500 is slightly cheaper than the older 256GB Crucial M4. They both have the same capacity but the newer one has some set aside for over-provisioning.

The 480GB Crucial M500 might show up any time. The 512GB Samsung mSATA is hard to find in the UK but can be ordered from Germany.

John

 

^ And there's the Plextor M5M, which has performed pretty well for me over the last few months.

 

Thanks John I'll look out for the 480gb crucial m500

 

I can second nracrawford. I ordered a PM841 from RamCity. Nice to deal with, and everything has been fine for the last two months.

I would buy from these folks again. I don't think they ship overseas though.

 

The Crucial 480GB mSATA is finally available in the US. Europe shouldn't be too far behind.

John

PS: And Amazon UK has dropped their price to £265.76.

 

Having just picked up a brand new, albeit no longer made, NP900X4D for under 700 quid I'm looking to upgrade the SSD to the Crucial 480Gb.

Any particular points I should look out for regarding this, also for the reinstall of the OS, any points I should be aware of? I assume I just download it from the site first bot what is best, making a USB bootable? or DVD?

appreciate your comments

regards

TS

 

It's available in Germany as well, prices starting EUR 300 (incl. resellers @ Amazon.de).

Have you actually gone through the posts in this thread?

 

PS I ordered the Crucial M500 480GB from epitdistri via Amazon.de on Saturday, hasn't shipped yet.

 

Nice. Post some benchmarks, when you get it.

 

Apparently I won't be getting it. That's reseller's reply after 4 days of silence:
"Hello, we are fairly new at Amazon, I ask only once to apologize for the late reply. We have our last Friday Store at Amazon released with the default 10 articles a week to sell. What we did not expect is that we have received several 100 orders to date, and this is outside our entire frame. Today we get a new program by the order flow quickly to work, as this was not possible with our accounting program. I hope that we have processed all applicable orders through Friday. Sincerely H.Pohl"

...so I said I understood but asked for a refund in case they're not able to send my order on Friday. After two hours I got a cancellation e-mail without even a word from them. Very professional. I'm buying the PM841 during my visit to Australia next week (which will be maybe 70 EUR more), so I'll be able to post some benchmarks after 10/10.

Edit: RAMCITY.com.au says 'out of stock', perfect.. however, it is interesting to note there is a new model: PM851. The only difference versus the previous model seems to be the advertised seq. R/W speed: 540/380 (PM851) vs 530/310 (PM841).

 

That has some similarities to an Amazon UK marketplace seller who, every week or two for several months, had shown they had a few available then, after a few days, became no longer available. I looked at their feedback and saw that often they weren't able to fulfill the orders.

I think the underlying problem is that Crucial have often indicated that they were about to distribute some stock, then didn't. Any sellers who then said "in stock" weren't able to honour the orders.

John

 

Hi Guys, having lusted after series 9, I finally bought a NPX900X4C-A01UK win7 128gb drive, so I thought it time to upgrade and found this thread...after spending my evenings reading the last 47 pages my brain is well and truly frazzled and I hope there are some kind members on here that will forgive me my dumb questions and and point me in the right direction.

So far I understand that retaining a working F4 recovery on the new drive is a little complicated with SRS5 (which my machine has) and is probably beyond my skill set, so I am looking to install windows and ideally transfer over the installed programs, keeping the old drive as is, in case of future problems/warranty claims etc.

So here come the questions

Is the Samsung PM841 mSATA drive a compatible choice?

mSATA... is that mini or micro as I am unsure which adapter I need to connect to the laptop to clone the drive

I have downloaded the Samsung software for data migration, is this better than other cloning software or should I use something like Acronis

I also have Samsung magician to apply the update released in March, which I understand should be done before cloning, but is installation of the update recommended?

Can anyone recommend either an mSATA to SATA adapter that i can use in a sata caddy, or can iI get a USB to mSATA cable and plug the drive in directly?

Is it a simple process of connect the drive to laptop, run cloning software, open machine, plug in new drive, boot up and job done/

Thanks in advance

 

Hi triplefan,

I'll leave it to others to recommend mSATA drives for your machine.

But on the subjects of cloning and Recovery, you are right: Unfortunately SRS5 doesn't provide the convenient features for backup and cloning that the newer SRS6 does. The thread linked here (which you may have already studied) describes that difference AND contains links to a procedure on how you CAN backup SRS5 with a little effort. But even if you DO create such an SRS5 backup, it doesn't have a simple feature to re-install Windows on a new disk: You have to first restore the Recovery on the new disk, then F4 boot the newly created Recovery and perform a factory restore from there.

I think your decision is the right one: Keep your original mSATA safe, in case you ever need to send the laptop in for service or decide to sell it. You can either use tools that (probably) come with your new mSATA to clone your Windows installation; OR you can clean install Win7 on the new SSD once it's installed in the laptop, which may give you a more trimmed installation, but will require you re-install your apps.

If you choose the latter, this Win7 install guide provides fairly detailed steps for Win7 installation.

 

Hi Dannemand

Many thanks for your reply and the link you posted, I am certainly up for a clean install however I have no windows disc, is there a way to do this without one?

 

Samsung used to provide Win7 DVDs with its laptops, but stopped sometime last summer/fall. And for Win8 they never did provide it.

Fortunately ISOs for Win7 are available for legal download. Please check this post for details. I thought I already had that in the Win7 install guide, but it doesn't look like it

 

I know that Acronis TrueImage is capable of cloning the Win 7 X4C because I've done it but maybe not including the recovery partition (I keep the old SSD should I need the recovery). The Samsung cloning software will probably also work with Win 7. You may need to resize the partition(s) afterwards depending on whether the cloning software allows resizing during the cloning. The latest Samsung Recovery Solution (V6) includes a disk copy option but the Win 7 X4C might have an older version of SRS.

Regarding SSDs I would point you towards the Crucial M500. The 240GB is available while the 480GB is long overdue (phone Crucial to find out the latest eta). Crucial have a much better track record of issuing firmware updates than Samsung. The Samsung mSATA SSDs are not officially released to the retail chain so getting support is more difficult.

For cloning, the neatest way to attach the mSATA SSD is by using one of these. You could ask MemoryC when they expect more stock. Alternatively, I can confirm that this Renice mSATA to 2.5" adapter works. Use a USB 3.0 2.5" enclosure for faster speed.

John

 

Great stuff!!! downloaded the necessary and just waiting for the drive to arrive, Thanks

 

Thanks John, after posting the first query I decided to go for the Samsung, so I might just give the Samsung software a go and see how I get on, I will post back on any success or failure.

I already had my eye on the Renice, so with your input that sealed the deal and that is ordered too.

Hopefully the next post will be to report a success and share some benchmarks.

 

I've heard the rumor that the latest models of the X4D and X4C do not have the crappy Sandisk U100 SSD any longer. Can any owner comfirm/deny this?
I emailed Samsung but they did not want to give me a definite answer ("we use different SSD models for the same notebooks" was all I could get out of them).

 

There have been few reports of the U100 for several months. However, when was your "latest model" actually made. I bought an X4C in July that had January on the bottom!

John

 

PM851 512GB is available at RamCity in Australia. If everything goes well, I should be able to say how it performs in two weeks from now.

 

I'll be interested to see how it compares to mine (results in this post) which must be one of the first of the 512GB mSATAs since it came in an X4C manufactured in January 2013.

John

 

For those in UK who would like the 480GB Crucial M500 mSATA and can live with the uncertain availability, it's currently on offer at Amazon UK for £220.39.

*** Edit*** Now down to £206.69 on 5th October. At that price it's worth putting in an mSATA - 2.5" adapter and using as a 2.5" SSD.

John

 

So has anyone been able to actually get it from Amazon UK?
It appears I won't get my PM851 in Down Under, as their shipment got 1-week delayed. The support at RamCity told me they can ship intl. in a week from now for $50 though, might be worth having in mind in case someone here would be interested (ca. 600 AUD total). They don't mention that on their webpage / in the order form.

 

1. I've never noticed Amazon UK having the 480GB M500 mSATA in stock.

2. You can also the the 512GB Samsung mSATA from Germany but Australia seems to be slightly cheaper.

John

 

Where in Australia is it cheaper? What store was it from?

 

RamCity

It's probably best to just get the M500 from the States though.

 

This sounds like an easy option

However I can only see "backup" or "restore" as options in SRS5, is cloning only offered in SRS 6 only or have I missed something?

 

I believe the cloning is a new option in SRS 6. If your Windows doesn't have a UEFI installation then other cloning programs will probably work fine. (I've used Acronis TrueImage).

John

 

Thanks John

OK, another dumb question, will SRS6 run on a Win7 OS? Is it available from SWupdate if you choose an appropriate model?

 

I don't know. It's not something I have tried.

It depends on whether it checks for compatible hardware / OS or other clues such as the recovery partition arrangement. SRS won't install if it discovers that the recovery partition(s) have been deleted.

John

 

Even if you were to manually download SRS6 (from the list of Win8 drivers and software in SW Update) and successfully installed it in Win7 (and as John said, it may not even install or run), it would not provide any Recovery features, since those depend on the Recovery partition, which is still SRS5 on a Win7 machine.

An interesting question, though, is whether some of the other SRS6 features (general backup etc) might still be available. Again, assuming the SRS6 Windows app will even run, when it cannot locate an SRS6 Recovery partition. Come to think of it, I have to try that. Thanks for asking

 

480GB Crucial M500 mSATA now offered by Amazon UK at £159.29. It's still shown as 1-2 months away. Anyway, at that price I've ordered one and will think about what to do with it should it ever show up.

John

 

Well, felt too good to be true..

"Hello

We’re writing to let you know that the price for the following item(s) was displayed incorrectly when you placed your order:

'Crucial CT480M500SSD3 480GB M500 mSATA 6Gb/s Internal SSD including Screws' (ASIN: B00BQ8RHMO)

Despite our best efforts, with the millions of items available on our website, pricing errors can occasionally occur.

In our Conditions of Use and Sale (see Amazon.co.uk Help: Conditions of Use & Sale), we state that where an item's correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at our discretion, cancel the order and notify you of that cancellation.

Your order has now been cancelled. If you still want to purchase this item, please place a new order which will be charged at the correct price, when we dispatch it to you.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused and hope to see you again soon.

Warmest regards

Customer Service Department
Amazon.co.uk"

 

I received the same Amazon email. It was worth a try!

They seem to have made a new listing and more than doubled the price so they are now more expensive than Crucial. Also keep an eye on the price / availability at More Computers.

John

 

Hi,
Did you receive the PM851? Any initial comments?

 

Just wanted to thank everyone that contributed to this thread. After I read through all 50 pages I finally got up the nerve to replace the POS Sandisk in my NP900X3C with the Plextor M5M 256GB. After taking out the 10 screws, there wasn't any prying necessary (at least on my NP900X3C). Just needed to gently lift up and wiggle a bit on the card reader slot and the back cover separated easily. My Series 9 came with a Samsung branded Windows 7 SP1 cd, so I just used that to do a clean install. I can't believe I tolerated the constantly locking up for 10-20 seconds for almost a year because I was worried about opening up the machine.

 

This thread indicates that the Crucial M500 mSATA runs somewhat warm (= more power consumption). Measurements by Toms Hardware show that the power consumption increases with capacity so the elusive 480GB mSATA could get a little toasty. Perhaps Crucial have been trying to develop a better fix than throttling, which might explain the delayed arrival.

John

 

Unfortunately not, see my other post.

Would you say the problem is not there with the 512GB mSATA SSDs by Samsung?

Edit: Also, have a look at PM841 from Israel: http://www.ebay.pl/itm/Samsung-PM84...512GB-SATA-III-MLC-Internal-SSD-/111158629343 (duty free for the UK, probably so for most of the EU, + 20% VAT) -- their links actualy point to RamCity...

 

My Samsung PM841 512GB mSATA is fine. Running Crystal DiskMark twice can get the SSD temperature up to 60C. At the moment, under light usage, it is at 31C although the computer has been on for 3 hours. That's a good indicator of low power consumption.

I would feel more comfortable ordering one from Germany than through ebay (note that your link is to a 2.5" drive, not mSATA - I think you meant this). However, this one on ebay is from Excaliber PC who are quite reputable.

John

 

I have one at home, as soon as it is in I will post benchmarks and give my impressions