Adding SSD to P35K, some spec questions

I'm getting a P35K-CF1 and want to add a SSD to it. I started my research on what to buy thinking that I would buy two SSD's and Raid them, but then read the popular article saying that small size Raid 0 provides no real world performance advantages over a single SSD. However, there were two questions that I couldn't get answered:

1) The P35K-CF1 has 2 mSATA and 2 2.5" bays (a 2.5" bay comes used, the other is hot swappable with the optical drive, the 2 mSATAs are empty). Do any/all of the P35K's bays support 6gb/s SSDs?

2) I was thinking if there's no real difference except form factor, I would get the SSD in mSATA format rather than 2.5", just for lower weight and so that I could keep the hot swappable 2.5" bay free. However, I'm wondering if someone could give me a basic rundown of mSATA vs 2.5" pros/cons for SSDs. Are 2.5" cheaper for the same storage size? Do they perform better than mSATA? Someone had said mSATA are generally higher quality because theres less manufacturers making them, so they're more "premium"-ish, although that seems speculative.

Thanks for any help.

 

I just purchased my P35K and was faced with the same questions.
mSATA aren't going to be higher quality than 2.5" drives. The problem with mSATA is that there is a much more limited selection. There are very few "premium" mSATA drives. Until recently mSATA was targeted at OEMs. OEMs care about price more than minute changes in performance.

The setup that I chose to go with is a 2.5" SSD and 2.5" HDD. I put the SSD internal and moved the HDD to the hot swappable bay. I am booting from the SSD so if I really need the optical drive(essentially never) then I can easily swap out the HDD for the DVD.
In terms of weight, my 2.5" SSD is considerably lighter than the optical drive. While mSATA will likely be even lighter, the 2.5" SSD already feels like a feather so I'm not terribly concerned.

 

Dalingrin, that exact setup was what I opted to go for shortly after my initial post! I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro 2.5" 256GB for $176.00, and am planning to swap it for the internal hard drive and move the 750GB to the hot swappable bay.

Through a few hours of research and questions on forums, I came to the same conclusions:

1) Outside of benchmark tests (i.e. in the real world), Raid 0 has no great benefit for SSD.
2) mSATA is not at the level of their 2.5" counterparts, and although they are progressing, they will not get to the level of 2.5" SSDs before M.2 form factor arrives.

 

My Plextor M5M's beat most SSD's

Yes Raid 0 is pretty much pointless

 

Problem with the Plextor M5M is that isn't so much that it is middle of the crowd in terms of performance but that it has high power consumption. It is one of the faster mSATA but like I said, you can get better performance and power consumption by getting a 2.5" drive.

That said, you can't really go wrong with either...any mSATA is still a dramatic improvement compared to an HDD.

 

Thanks guys. So any info on whether or not either of the bays (2.5" or mSATA) on the P35K are SATA3, or are all SATA3?

 

all are sata3