mSATA 32gb + 128gb SSD 2.5" (please help)

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h20wakebum

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Apr 24, 2013
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Hi there,

I just bought a dell XPS 14 that came with a 32gb mSATA and a 500gb 2.5" 5400rpm HDD.

I bought a 128gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD that I plan to replace my 500gb 5400 rpm drive.

Will I benefit from the 32gb mSATA?

I've been reading and am confused as to whether there is any benefit to using the 32gb mSATA for caching when I also have a SSD drive...

Thanks for the clarification.

RR
 
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h20wakebum

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Apr 24, 2013
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Would it have?

I'm not putting any games on the machine... just browsing the web, office, quicken, netflix etc...

Is an mSATA faster than a 2.5" SSD?

I was also under the impression the mSATA was used for the intel RST... If I took it out would i still get the benefits of RST?

I don't want to slow down my system at all!!
 
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ericjohn004

ericjohn004

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Oct 26, 2012
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If you installed an SSD where your HDD is right now, then your mSATA SSD can only be used for 32GB of storage. So now you'll have an addition 32GB of fast storage. If you took it out, it would not slow you down at all. I would have instead bought a 128GB mSATA, replaced your mSATA SSD and used that for your OS and programs, then used the 500GB for data and games. You would have had a whole lot more storage than you would have by putting a 128GB SSD in place of it. Now your only going to have the 128GB plus the 32GB, which is only 160GB. I have a 256GB m4 and that's becoming filled.

No mSATA is normally the same speed as 2.5 SSD. mSATA can be used for intel RST but it can also be used as regular storage. If you install this 128GB SSD then your mSATA shouldn't be used with Intel RST. Intel RST should figure this out on it's own.

If possible, I would reture this SSD, buy a 128GB mSATA and install your OS and programs on it, this way you still have your 500GB hard drive for data and games.
 
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h20wakebum

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Apr 24, 2013
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I appreciate the feedback.

Can i give you some background? I had a work laptop but wanted a personal laptop so I could use it and not worry about work... I only plan on installing quicken/rosetta stone/office and using this for browsing the web/internet/netflix.

If I'm hearing you correctly, you're saying I should not use the mSATA 32gb for RST. Is that because the 128gb SSD will be plenty fast and I won't get much benefit?

Would i simply want to format the 32gb SSD as a viewable drive? Basically have 32gb for music/pics etc?

I read somewhere that someone turned their 32gb into 8 gb hibernation and then 20 gb file storage...

I was reading some reviews that said for SSD optimization you should disable hibernation mode in windows (as the HDD is "always on").

Again, thanks so much for your feedback and tips.

Just trying to make my best the fastest!!!


 
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h20wakebum

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Apr 24, 2013
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Sorry for the double post... I did just see this:

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-128GB-mSATA-Internal-CT128M4SSD3/dp/B0085J17KA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366912137&sr=8-2&keywords=mSATA+SSD

Are these mSATA as fast as the full 2.5" SSD?

I bought the samsung 840 pro 128gb SSD... do the mSATA last as long?

I was under the impression mSATA was not as fast as 2.5" SSD due to not being able to fit as many flash "things" onto the chips?

Also, If I got the mSATA, put the O/S on it... and had the 500gb 5400 RPM drive... would it utilize the RST technology (do i even need this RST as I have the 128gb SSD)?

thanks,
 
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popatim

popatim

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The 840 pro is one of the fastest SSD's currently made. I highly doubt your current msata ssd comes close. msata ssd's are just ssd's with a special connector and no 2.5 case wrapped around them.

Caching means the file/data really comes off the masata drive and the cache program controls what gets "cached". You would slow yourself up since the msata is slower than the 840pro but I doubt you would notice it.

So I hope you see now that you do not need RST at all, it cant speed you up since your other drive is a fast SSD too.

If you get the 128gb msata you can either use it as the boot drive, use it as the cache drive, or partition it to use as a cache and (non-booting) data drive (64gb cache/64gb data). Again the caching ssd would/should only be used with a regular (slow) hard drive, not with another SSD.
 
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h20wakebum

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Apr 24, 2013
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Got it... sounds like I just just format the 32gb mSATA SSD to act as 32gb of storage space (maybe put my music/pictures/movies on it).

Is there any trick to formatting it? I recall people mentioning it doesn't show up as a drive and you had to change something in the bios.

-Thanks,
RR
 
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