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    PCI-E SSD - possible?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by xtravbx, May 23, 2011.

  1. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    xtravbx, May 23, 2011
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  2. ijustwantfamous

    ijustwantfamous Notebook Enthusiast

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    1234567890
     
    ijustwantfamous, May 23, 2011
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  3. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    Well that answers that.

    Does it run @ usb 3.0 speeds at least for the R3?
     
    xtravbx, May 23, 2011
    #3
  4. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    Not like it matters - it can't be detected as a boot drive anyways, right?
     
    xtravbx, May 23, 2011
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  5. bigun08

    bigun08 Notebook Consultant

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    Is it still usable as a drive to store data I would love more storage
     
    bigun08, May 23, 2011
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  6. ijustwantfamous

    ijustwantfamous Notebook Enthusiast

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    nope unfortunately, its usable as a 3g/wwan connecter for mobile internet (if u dont wanna tether, or dont like usb's sticking out the side) or for a gps card (again in most phones today) so its kinda like putting in a new tape player in a new car......

    correct, not detected sorry. But u can boot from an sd card if thats of any interest to u...
     
    ijustwantfamous, May 23, 2011
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  7. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks and repped.

    Total bummer, because that would be a great feature.

    Maybe I'll try one of those hybrid drives.
     
    xtravbx, May 23, 2011
    #7
  8. simplewizard

    simplewizard Notebook Enthusiast

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    yeah, what he said ;)
     
    simplewizard, May 24, 2011
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  9. tonkatrain

    tonkatrain Notebook Consultant

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    I can confirm that it doesn't work having tried this. No matter what i did i could not get the system to see it the drive.
     
    tonkatrain, May 25, 2011
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  10. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    I've been wondering this for ALL laptops why that mPCIe slot is never fully functional. I know the answer is usually cost, but it could be a nice versatile slot for many functions, and an mPCIe SSD would be a great addition. There are some pretty decent performing mPCIe SSD's in the SSD section of this site that would be a good match for this machine.

    Yeah, let's hope the next revision of M11x (M12x?) gets one. I'll most likely go with the next revision if it's reasonably priced.
     
    HTWingNut, May 25, 2011
    #10
  11. patchseven

    patchseven Notebook Guru

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    patchseven, May 26, 2011
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  12. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    If it helps, your vision is coming. Intel is doing a few things:

    1) They released the Intel 310 SSD drive, which is an Intel-speed SSD drive that fits in a mSATA port. The problem with most other mSATA drives is that they are SLOW (think 1st generation J-Micron slow). Intel 310 SSD solves that.

    2) Intel also debuted its build-your-own hybrid technology with the Z68 desktop chipset. You combine an SSD and a mechanical hard drive through the BIOS config, and the Intel chipset will use the SSD as a large disk cache.


    And since Intel makes laptop chipsets, I would not be surprised if you start seeing this technology appear in future notebooks. It wouldn't happen anytime soon (my guess is 2+ years out). But it's coming...
     
    kent1146, May 26, 2011
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  13. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the post - I don't see that helping with overall speed of the system though. Usually r/w speeds to an SD card are nothing great.
     
    xtravbx, May 26, 2011
    #13
  14. thegh0sts

    thegh0sts Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    sorry to necro this thread but does anyone have a screen shot of it actually running? a screenshot of it being detected in device manager would suffice.
     
    thegh0sts, Jul 18, 2011
    #14
  15. aioka

    aioka Newbie

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    I have a m11x - R1 with 160G Intel SSD main drive with a 16G SD card modified to be flush mount in the card reader but wanted more space for simple storage! Soooo... I just recived this and tested it working:


    I ordered this from this site and it took about a week to deliver:
    MR15 (Dual Micro SDXC/SDHC/SD Cards to mPCIe Adapter)

    I also ordered the optional Metal Baffle for full height and screws.

    For testing i just used a 2G MicroSd sandisk card i had laying around but now plan to order 2 - 32G cards.

    Here is the On Computer Shot
    Here is the inside Computer Shot

    Any questions let me know and ill try to answer them!
    -Branden
     
    aioka, Jul 18, 2011
    #15
  16. rockmonkey

    rockmonkey Notebook Enthusiast

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    rockmonkey, Jul 18, 2011
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  17. aioka

    aioka Newbie

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    Theoretically that should work being that it lists it as a "USB Device" but i have not tested that specific one to know 100%.

    Yea on the SD card i found one that has a single chip in the casing that sits horizontally then carefully cut about 60% of the plastic away, then used some black electrical tape to make the end look better. Most people cant even tell that i have a card in there till i tell them or show them.
     
    aioka, Jul 18, 2011
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  18. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    Between a micro sd and a full size sd. Does not full size SD have higher transfer rates? Which also would draw less power? 2 micro or one fullsize?

    Edit: And to make sure going back to original post, these wont work correct because the wan in bios? Or windows will still see. The transfers speeds are around usb 2,0 so there wouldn't be much loss versus buying a expensive higher rate ssd with its rate killed by the usb.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/KingSpec-IDE-PA...A%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=21&pmod=250722761402&ps=54
     
    potentiality, Jul 18, 2011
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  19. rockmonkey

    rockmonkey Notebook Enthusiast

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    The speed all depends on the class of the card. However as a general rule of thumb a full sized sd card of the same class will more than likely have faster write speeds and almost certainly have faster read speeds. The reader wont run at really fast speeds though as in my experience card readers wont transfer data faster than say 20-25 mbps and i cant imagine this one will be much different. Also even a super quick sdhc card such as a sandsik extreme pro will only read and write at 45mbps and they are really very expensive. A decent class 10 should read at 20 mbps and write at a minimum of 10.

    The main use of this will be as an internal static storage area for data. Basically very handy if you have a smallish say 64gb or 128gb ssd drive already installed and just want a little bit more.
     
    rockmonkey, Jul 18, 2011
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  20. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    How is the power consumption though? Going back to the original post.

    1. We dont need the bios seeing it. We just need windows.

    2. As long as you get a slower speed SSD like example given thats around the usb 2 transfer. You wouldn't be wasting your money.

    3. Will a SD, micro card or a SSD pcie.
    -A: Which will get hotter first
    -B: Which is more efficient.

    I think these need to be determined. Wont do much good to have a micro or other inside that power wise sucking the battery and heating up the system even more.
     
    potentiality, Jul 19, 2011
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  21. thegh0sts

    thegh0sts Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    i believe the speeds all depend on the SD(HC/XC) card that you get.
     
    thegh0sts, Jul 19, 2011
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  22. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    THat still leaves which has the less wattage use and heat.

    A
    SSD
    SD
    micro

    Im sure there are differences between brands, but we need a baseline. Im still wondering if a SSD would be alright if you got a lower end one with slower read/write below USB 2.0 speeds (like I posted earlier). I have a suspicion with my experience with SD cards the SSD will at least run cooler if not have less wattage use.
     
    potentiality, Jul 19, 2011
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  23. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    "All SD card families must power-up at 3.3 volt and use 3.3 volt logic electrical interface, though SDHC and SDXC family cards can step down to 1.8 volt after receiving specific command"

    Secure Digital - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    ". CF devices operate at 3.3 volts or 5 volts, and can be swapped from system to system. "
    CompactFlash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Power Consumption 16gb mini pcie ssd
    http://gb.suntekstore.com/KingSpec-16GB-Mini-PCI__e-SATA-SSD.html?&utm_source=gbus&utm_campaign=gbus


    Micro SD:
    3.3 volt initialization
    1.8 volt idle

    Compact Flash
    5? 3? Volts? Have to ask manufacturer of adapter.

    SSD
    Input Voltage 3.3V
    Idle 0.5W max
    Active 1.5W max

    So as I thought, if your after battery life, the ssd is still your best bet.
     
    potentiality, Jul 20, 2011
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  24. hammadurb

    hammadurb Notebook Guru

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    hammadurb, Jul 21, 2011
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  25. thegh0sts

    thegh0sts Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    what we need is a mini pcie card that has nand flash chips on it but interfaces with USB so even though it is slow it's compatible.
     
    thegh0sts, Jul 22, 2011
    #25
  26. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    ejohnson, Jul 22, 2011
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  27. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    What about some sort of internal USB 3.0 hub.

    Then you could use a USB 3.0 stick, for much faster speeds than any of the current discussed solutions?
     
    xtravbx, Jul 22, 2011
    #27
  28. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    Wouldnt do anything. The wwan mini pci slot is not a true pci slot, but rather a USB 2.0 port shaped like a mini pci slot
     
    ejohnson, Jul 22, 2011
    #28
  29. xtravbx

    xtravbx Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm talking about a USB 3.0 hub off the USB 3.0 connection for the R3 M11X
     
    xtravbx, Jul 22, 2011
    #29
  30. thegh0sts

    thegh0sts Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    even if the adapter was USB 2.0 it looks like it won't even fit into the allocated area as you only can fit adapters that are 3cm x 5cm (you can calc that into inches) and there's no place to actually plug in the 1.8 inch hdd anyways.

    EDIT: what we need is USB controlled nand flash of at least 128gb to make it worth while...up to 3.0 as it still covers 2.0
     
    thegh0sts, Jul 22, 2011
    #30