Precision M4600 Owners Lounge

Ahh...

Thanks for the clarification.

I guess out of all the laptops the HP 2560p is the only one that has the ODD connected to a SATA III port...

 

I would not be too sure about this statement. The QM67 Chipset offers up to six Sata Ports and two of them are SATA III (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/performance-chipsets/mobile-chipset-qm67.html). So to my knowledge the mSata port in the Precision is SATA II and the eSata uses also SATA II leaving the ODD and HDD to use the SATA III ports. This is as far as I know things work but correct me if I am wrong.

Keep in mind that the current HP Elitebooks and the Dell Precisions and the Lenovo W520s all use the QM67 Chipset.

Hope it helps...

 

Yes, I do know, but somehow manufacturers have deliberately connected the ODD to a SATA II port for some time now.

I don't know if it is a cost thing, but it is indeed sad news. I hope in the next gen laptops, dell will use a SATA III port for the ODD to allow some expansion via the optical caddy.


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Hmm, well I might have some time next week to hook up a drive in the optical bay and run some throughput tests vs. the HDD bay and see, but it will have to be later next week due to work constraints.

I had read somewhere it was SATA II, but maybe I was confusing it with the mSATA port or something.

 

Thanks for the help.

But I think the Intel RST toolbar tells you which port the ODD is connected to without you having to connect a drive and all.

Could you check for me in the Intel RST icon and let me know which port it is connected to?

 

Hello,
I just checked the information in the Intel RST with my Precision M4600:

Internal HDD 466GB:
port: 0
Adress: internal
...
Model:Toshiba MK5061GSY
...
SATA transfer mode: Generation 3 Gb/s

Internal system HDD 119GB:
port: 1
Adress: internal
...
Model:Samsung SSD PM810 mSATA 128GB
...
SATA transfer mode: Generation 3 Gb/s

Internal ATAPI device:
port: 3
Adress: internal
...
Model:TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW TS-U633J
...
SATA transfer mode: Generation 1.5 Gb/s

So definitely the internal HDD and the mSATA connector (for the SSD) are SATA III and the optical disc bay is only SATA II.

Regards
Nordlicht

 

Thanks I appreciate it.

It comes as a bit of a surprise that the mSATA is SATA III.

 

Mhh, I think i need to correct you there. Keep in mind:

SATA III = SATA 6Gb/s and SATA II = SATA 3Gb/s and SATA I = 1.5 Gb/s

And because the QM 67 Chipset does not have any SATA I (1.5 Gb/s) ports I think that the RST-Tool displays the supported speed of the connected device or the maximum speed of the of the port, whichever one is lower.

So I did some research on the Chipset. Look it up here (takes a while to load as it is 6 MBs):

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/datasheet/6-chipset-c200-chipset-datasheet.pdf

On Page 53 it states that th chipset has

"SATA 6 Gb/s support on port 0 and port 1. SATA ports 0 and 1 also support 3 Gb/s and 1.5 Gb/s."

So it would be interesting to know if the RST-tool would actually display the right ports because that would indeed mean that the mSata is SATA III. Intels statement also leaves me puzzled about the compatibility issues of the Runcore PRO V SSD.

Interesting anyway...

 

Yup, the port number is the physical connection to the actual port, so the port information is accurate. The link speed shows the bottlenecking interface, in this case the port for ODD is indeed at SATA II but the optical drive seems to only support SATA I.

I would love to try out a SATA III mSATA, but they are way too expensive for my liking. I'll wait around when they come down in price.

 

Can anyone download the A08 BIOS? The server said yesterday and today: "File not found"...

Has Dell taken it down again due to issues?