Series 9 Owners: Third party mSATA upgrades

I use Amazon.com: Micro SATA Cables - mSATA to SATA Adapter: Computers & Accessories

and

BYTECC Model USATA-136 - Newegg.com

 

Thanks.

Based on how it looks the MSATA to SATA is the same as I have but just a different brand?
Amazon.com: Syba mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch SATA Adapter (SY-ADA40050): Computers & Accessories

I will purchase the cable. Just one more question: It says it's USB/Esata? Will the cable go directly into my USB port?

Thanks again!

 

No. The tip is eSATA. Technically is it eSATAp.

See eSATAp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Pardon my beginner question then, but how did you connect it to the Laptop?

 

I have several ThinkPads with eSATAp ports.

 

For theose without eSATA, one of these mSATA to SATA adapters plus a 2.5" USB (preferably USB 3.0) enclosure will work.

John

 

Got my replacement. Again exactly the same issue. This time it says 2000 or so GB in the disk manager and I again get the cycle error.

Is this an indicator that the connection is wrong?

I just don't get why the U100 connected fine.

This is crazy.

 

I have to wonder if the mSATA to SATA adapter has an allergy to larger capacity SSDs although I can't think of a good reason why - the electronics should be simple. However, the first adapter I bought wouldn't work for me.

John

 

Thanks.

Just to pose a very noob question: A defect mSATA to SATA adapter can't destroy the mSATA right?

Anyway I bought a new SATA to USB 3.0.

That's going to be the first I will try and then replace my mSATA to SATA too if necessary.

 

Very unlikely, IMO. It would probably have to provide excessive voltage that the adapter itself couldn't handle.

John

 

Tried it with a new SATA to USB 3.0 cable. Still nothing. (An external 2.5 SATA SSD that I had worked fine).

John, which MSATA to SATA card do you have?

I bought the
Amazon.com: Syba mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch SATA Adapter (SY-ADA40050): Computers & Accessories
card.

Christian

 

The one that works for me is the Renice adapter. It looks very similar to your Syba.

John

 

Christian, what are you trying to accomplish? There are probably several ways to clone your disk that don't involve using both mSATA drives at the same time.

 

Trying to accomplish exactly what you said . Cloning the drive. I'm okay with Windows 8 and only bought a crucial for more capacity and speed.

Right now the only ways I can think of to clone it is to connect the msata to the Laptop (the only computer I have that has an MSATA slot - and that slot is taken by the U100).

I tried putting in the crucial and running the recovery on it (saved on bootable external USB HD) but that didn't work because of the MBR/G** error.

The only thing I can think of right now is to create a bootable Acronis True Image disk.



Please let me know if you have any other idea.

 

I think we've already gone over this but I'll describe my process. It is a bit old school. I use an external DVD drive and an external 2.5" HDD enclosure.

I boot Acronis on DVD and backup to the 1TB enclosure.
I swap the mSATA drives.
I boot Acronis again and restore to the new mSATA drive.
Done.

The ONLY reason I bought the mSATA adapter (sled) is for a precautionary measure. I have never used it for cloning purposes.

 

Does anyone know whether the NP900X3E-A02US slated for release soon in the USA with 128GB SSD is likely to continue to come with the Sandisk U100?
I was hoping that we might finally see a better SSD model in these new S9's.

 

Greetings all, Ken from Alberta Canada here. I have recently purchased a NP900X3C with Win 7 and ordered a Crucial msata 256 ssd. I have been trying to figure out how to do the swap, but I have been out of the loop for a couple years, and while a simple hardware swap and install is simple, it seems configuring these little beasts may be beyond me. I see that I am going to have to buy an adapter to clone the drive, which I have never done before, and portioning the drive is over my head to utilize all available space.

If someone had the time to write up instructions for me, I would gladly send them a paypal 'gift' for their trouble.

I am at present doing a complete backup onto flash drive on the 900, but it looks like 52 gb and that is ridiculous.

Samsung is not any great help, loading dozens of files would take forever.

Anyone interested in helping out? I have been reading, am certainly not lazy, but I want to do this right the first time.

I am not worried about cloning actually, I will keep the data on a USB 64 if possible, and free up as much room as possible on the new 256?

Reply 282 seems to be about the most complete for my needs so far, but still questions, so many questions....lol

 

The m256 got here today, now I'm all twitchy wanting to start turning screws.

One problem, is I want to take the 128 out of the Samsung, put it in the new dell 2710 so I have to format it too.

Is here anyone that would help?

 

I swapped the drives, set bios to boot from USB using the 50+ gb backup I copied from the samsung, tried every setting, recovery, the USB would light up but did nothing. Put the oem msata back in, recovery started.got out of that, computer works fine but the new drive is not installed.

I'm out geeked.

 

Did you disable the Samsung Fast Boot in the BIOS (otherwise it skips looking for bootable devices other than the main drive)? And, if you have Windows 8 pre-installed, then you may need to disable UEFI and Secure Boot (I'm sure of the details with Windows 8 because i have avoided it so far but it creates extra hoops to jump through).

Otherwise, see this thread about how to do a clean installation. You will not have the recovery partition but that is not a great loss in everyday usage provided you keep the original SSD with it on. The steps in that thread may also help you debug the procedure you are using.

John

 

Yes I did, and I only have 7.
I am going to format the oem one, and put it in another computer.
The recovery did not work. I am looking at the thread you mentioned now, thank you.

Edit- do you have the steps to do this with win 7?

 

Win 7 should be easy - no need to worry about Secure Boot and UEFI. I wonder whether either you encountered the Fast Boot trap (you can turn it off in Easy Settings without having to go into the BIOS setup and hit F10 at the BIOS screen to get a one-time boot device menu) or were trying to boot off the USB 3.0 port (blue tab) when the software doesn't support USB 3.0.

And keep a good backup image of the original SSD. You will need to put it back in if you ever need service since the warranty covers the hardware supplied by Samsung.

John

 

I had fast boot turned off, and was trying to load off the left port, which is 2.0 (not blue).
I have to figure out how to do a good backup without an adapter, not sure yet if my 51gb backup to USB worked or not.

I will try again, thanks for your patience

Didn't work, tried every setting, no difference

Another thought- there are several items on the flash drive, what will the recovery be looking for? Should it be at the root or in a folder? If anyone has done it, is there any way you could put up a pic of your flash drive? Even a pic by cell phone would work, don't need a screensave for this.

 

You didn't indicate what backup / restore software you are using. If it is Samsung Recovery solution then you are probably pushing it beyond its capabilities. I think it will only restore back unto the disc from which the image was made.

I use Acronis TrueImage which works fine with Windows 7 and created a bootable flash drive which includes USB 3.0 support so I can write / read images on a USB 3.0 HDD.

John

 

It is the Samsung recovery solution. I will try downloading the ISO file and going that route today.
Should have bought an adapter apparently.
Thanks again

 

Most of the executable code for SRS is in the recovery partition, which won't exist unless you created it. The method described here might work.

John

 

Well I feel a little less useless, took it to futureshop and the tech could not make it work either.

He did not have an adapter so he could not format the drive, and recovery would not do it either.

So I am still stuck.

He used a full version of windows 7 to no avail, said he needs the drivers for the hdd?

 

Update

It's all moot now, got home with the computer and it's dead. Black screen. Tried to run recovery, nothing. Remounted the drive, nothing. I can get into bios, but not past.

Warranty is a wonderful thing, I am glad the tech did it.

Hopefully when they get it working, likely with a replacement DVD they can do the new hdd at the same time.

 

Future shop was able to clean install win 7 on the big hard drive, it's all working now.
They are going to get the original DVD for the system so I can restore it back to stock configuration.

I am going to attempt to install the 128 in my dell one 2710 and run windows off it.

Staples had a Kingston 120gb ssd package deal on, came with eternal enclosure, cables, everything for $70.00. I installed it in my work computer and performance so far is excellent.

 

Secure boot and UEFI is really not that difficult if you follow this thread which works as I have used it. The biggest mistake people make is thinking they can format the USB in something other than FAT32. It also means you will need to use a USB that is not to large to format as FAT32..that may be the tricky part, I was lucky enough to still have a 4GB drive laying around.

UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

 

Yesterday I bought a 15" Samsung Series 9. (NP900X4C-A01US) I've read all the posts in this thread, but still have a few questions. I'm completely new to the SSD world.

I have the Crucial 256gb SSD coming in the mail tomorrow. I've read all the stuff about cloning, etc etc in this thread, but I don't really understand a lot of that completely.

Right now I was thinking that it would be easiest to just pop in the new SSD, and do a fresh clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium. Is there any reason not to do this since I have a fresh clean new computer with nothing loaded on it, I haven't used it at all yet besides look at it basically, lol. I don't have any files on there to lose or anything by not cloning.

Ok, so say I go the Win7 fresh install route. My questions are:

1. Is there anything special I need to do first? Bios settings (do I need to do the fast bootup disabled thing in BIOS)? Series 9 Driver backups from 128gb SSD (if that is even possible)? Anything special to be aware of?

2. I downloaded an ISO of Win 7 Premium 64 bit with SP1. I have used the Microsoft utility to make both a bootable USB and DVD. I figured I would start by trying the DVD, as I have read on this forum that it's easier to go that route than USB. Is there anything I need to be aware of to get Windows 7 to load like it normally does? I don't know a ton about partitions, etc, and I know nothing about SSDs. I've been a bit confused in this thread when people talk about partitions, Samsung Recovery partitions, etc etc.

Is there any walk through that I've overlooked in doing a fresh install of Windows 7 on the new Crucial SSD in the Samsung Series 9?

 

Anyone tried the Plextor M5M 256GB msata ssd yet? I have their m5 pro in my desktop and absolutely love it, so I decided to buck the Crucial M4 trend and go Plextor.
If I'm the first, I'll post some results, just let me know what you all would like to see!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

Some suggestions:
1. Before removing the original SSD use Samsung Recovery Solution to make a backup of the original drivers and software. Also make a set of the latest drivers and software using the Export option in SW Update. See this thread about getting V2 of Easy Settings and update the BIOS.
2. If you feel a need to have Samsung Recovery Solution running on your new SSD then you will have to Google for "site: Samsung Notebook Forum USB admin tool" to find out how to make the tool that creates the Recovery partition. However, provided you keep and don't wipe the original SSD then there's no real need to have SRS running on the new installation (I don't). If you need service then put back the original SSD.
3. Installation from DVD seems to be more trouble-free than from USB although the main problems with the latter occur on machines with ExpressCache (which the Series 9 doesn't have).
4. You will need to disable Samsung Fast Boot in either Easy Settings or the BIOS before you can boot the DVD. You can use F10 at the BIOS screen to get a one-time boot device menu.
5. Once you have swapped the SSD and installed Windows you can use the set of drivers / software you created in step 1 or run SW Update and hope that Samsung's server is working.
6. Install version 2 of Intel Rapid Start Technology (link in this thread).
7. Run Easy Settings to enable Samsung Fast Start and the Battery Life Extender (unless you need the full battery capacity).

John

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to write and answer this!! Much appreciated. I've made some comments below to the different steps.

Ok, I made a backup to a USB Memory Stick from Samsung Recovery Solution. I think it was around 4gb.
I looked all over but did not find anything called SW Update on my computer, or any sort of Samsung Update program. I googled, and found Samsung Update Plus, so I downloaded that. It appears that when I opened this program, it then triggered another download of SW Update... so now I have SW Update. When you say to make a set of the latest drivers and software using Export option in SW Update, you're saying to find my model number, have it search for things I need, and then save all that stuff? (I haven't downloaded or installed any new or updated drivers yet). Would it be faster just to download them once I get the new 256GB SSD installed? Less steps? Sorry if that's confusing, I'm just not exactly sure what you were telling to do with the SW Update Export thing.

I downloaded the setup file for V2 of Easy Settings... do I need to install that now, or after I pop in the new SSD? For now I've just backed V2 up to my USB Stick.

Also, I downloaded the Bios Updater exe file that you suggested... When I double click on it, it just tells me "Cannot Update." So for kicks I tried updating the BIOS from SW Update, and it looks like it was successful (no errors). From what I can tell, it updated it to: Bios version P06ACC

I'll skip having Samsung Recovery Solution running on the new SSD, thanks for the info.

It appears that my laptop never came with Fast Boot turned on. When I look in Easy Settings, it says Disabled, so I guess that should already be set how I need it for my SSD swap.

I'm assuming you want me to install Easy Settings V2 that I have saved to my USB Stick, and run that?

 

The updates are confusing. Is backing up my drivers, etc in Samsung Recovery the same thing as Saving stuff to a file in SW Update?

In SW Update when I search for files by giving it my model#.... is that long list of files stuff that I already have loaded on my Laptop, or is it stuff I don't have installed, and need to update?

What did you mean in Step1 above when you said:

 

Also, when swapping out the SSD.... does one need to somehow disconnect the laptop battery? If so how? Is this an issue at all?

 

1. Save the new Easy Settings for installation on your new Windows.
2. The driver/software backup made by SRS is of whatever was installed at the factory, not the latest. It's a useful set to have around if you have problems.
3. I recommend exporting a set of the new drivers / software before installing Windows because the SW Update server has been known to have connectivity problems, which is frustrating if you have just installed your new Windows and want to get the computer fully working. Whatever SW Update exports is the latest off the server. Having the files ready in advance also means that you can get your news Windows installation better patched before you connect it to the internet.
4. If you read the user guide then you will discover that there is a battery disconnect switch. (Hint: poke an unbent paperclip or similar through the hole in the back of the computer next to a little rectangle with a cross).

John

PS: Please use the post edit facility rather than making multiple consecutive posts.

 

What is the correct way to Export Files in SW Update? I don't understand the difference between the Save Setup Files button, and the Find Device button. Also, does Export mean downloading from Samsung's server's again? (aren't these setup files loaded on the laptop now?) I've installed all the updates available through SW Update. I'm just confused about the whole Export thing.

 

Ok, I swapped in the Crucial M4 256gb SSD..... so far, so good.... Right now I am waiting for Windows 7 Home Premium to install. Windows install said my available space was something around 238gb, so it appears it's reading the new 256gb good.

 

One of our members has spotted that more higher capacity (ie <256GB) mSATA SSDs are starting to be listed.

The two SSDs are the 512GB Samsung PM841 (which is probably what Samsung are putting in the 512GB version of the X3E) and the 480 GB Crucial M500 (part number MTFDDAT480MAV). There is more info about the M500 range here. Lower power consumption appears to be taking precedence over class-leading performance.

John

 

PM841 is apparently the mSATA version of The 840 Pro. From my initial check on the SSD a few weeks ago, it seems it's only available to OEMs like the PM830 before it.

 

Today I received my 900X3C and tomorrow I'll receive my Crucial mSATA drive tot replace the U100. I'm going for the clean install of Windows 8. However, I'm having some difficulties backing up the system software. When I start Samsung Recovery the option "System Software" is missing. Below is a screenshot. I'm sorry it's in dutch, but let me explain what is what. When I press F4 during boot I get the exact same picture with one exception: the button on the left just above the button "Help" is then the "System Software" option. However, when press it, I get the message that I need to boot into Windows to use this option. But as you can see, in Windows the option is replaced with something that has to do with backup-server. Pressing it only gives me a code and a message that the server is closed. I'm lost.... how do I get the option for backing up the system software?

 

My advice is to move on and not worry about it at the moment. You are going to remove the drive anyway and start over on a completely different drive without using the restore. So why bother?

Might as well get moving on the clean install from scratch.

Have I mentioned recently how much I detest the Samsung backup/recovery software?
I use Acronis True Image Home 2013 instead.

 

Thanks. Will I be able to get all drivers using SW Update? Samsung's website only provides drivers for Win7 and XP.

 

See SAMSUNG PC Windows 8 Upgrade

Everything you need is already built into the OS or provided at that site.

 

Thanks again.

 

Welcome. For the record, I would prefer to see the downloads on the support site outside of the software update tool.

 

Agreed. But, even with SWUpdate everything went fine and I now have a nice and clean W8 install

 

Welcome to the clean club.

 

It's worthwhile making a link to this thread about an mSATA - USB 3.0 enclosure which had been in the Samsung forum but I've moved it to the SSD forum.

John