ADATA SX300 on Dell m4600 mSATA

Hello,

I'm about to buy ADATA SX300 128GB mSATA SSD but I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to make it bootable (and to make it work as C: drive). I've talked with Dell Support and they say that mSATA can only work as cache disk for the main HDD. I need it to instal Win7 PRO x64 on it.

At this point I've probably went through all the related posts on this forum and I still can't find firm answer - some people have no problems with mSATA, others do have (a lot).
I know I could just buy a regular SSD and put HDD in the optical drive caddy, but I'd rather like to have an ODD onboard.

I can also buy OCZ Nocti NOC-MSATA-120G 120GB mSATA if it's somehow more compatible with m4600.

Please help - I need to buy an SSD quickly and I need it to work stable. (and I'm a little desperate :\ )

 

It's possible that they don't have the proper connections for mSATA to be bootable, it's been posted quite a bit in the forums that it is this way (Vostro 3450/60 and others).

 

So is it possible in my Precision m4600?

If it's not or if mSATA is going to cause problems like occasional bluesceens, not booting up once in a while or other, I'll have to buy regular 2.5" SSD (probably Kingston 120GB HyperX 3K) and 2nd drive caddy.

My setup is:
i7 2720qm
chipset QM67
8GB 1333 RAM
Quadro1000M
No WWAN installed

 

It sounds possible, some threads for you to peruse

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...on-m4600-msata-need-postive-users-please.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/655347-msata-into-m4600-problems.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...orage/638264-adding-msata-ssd-dell-m4600.html

 

@goofball
I've read all these threads and I've also read this:http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/601603-cant-get-windows-use-msata-boot-partition-m4600-3.html

And it seems like in some cases it's working fine and in other cases not so fine at all. The problem is I can't get to know what really causes the trouble - does it depends on the mSATA controller, BIOS rev or someting else?
Looks like everyone in these posts just use trial and error method :-|

 

It's likely that it's similar to the Vostros and some thinkpads that mSATA drives are not in the boot order menu. The workaround is to place the bootloader onto a bootable disk, like the HDD, and have it boot the mSATA driver. This would unfortunately mean you always need an HDD.

The mSATA just uses a regular SATA controller, so as long as its visible in BIOS (which is must be for caching to work) then you can boot off of it, albeit it'll be tricker since you have to manage the bootloader yourself.

 

Is there a way to check if my bios etc. is compatible with mSATA?
Also I've read this on wikipedia about mSATA :
The connector is similar in appearance to a PCI Express Mini Card interface,[30] and is electrically compatible; however, the data signals (TX±/RX± SATA, PETn0 PETp0 PERn0 PERp0 PCI-express) need connection to the SATA host controller instead of the PCI-express host controller.

So now I wonder if this WWAN PCI E slot is connected to the SATA...

Edit: I just want it to work well, stable and if it requires instant fiddling around with hardware maybe it's better to get regular SSD?

 

On the M4600 there should be an option in the BIOS to switch the mode of operation of that port between regular mPCIe and mSATA.

 

@Aaron
I've found this in my BIOS A13:

So there is MiniCard SSD Device option...

Which of these should I check? "Enable Media Card only" or "Media Card and 1394" ?

In the "Wireless Device Enable" tab is option to turn on WWAN - I guess it should be ticked on when mSATA is onboard?