mSATA or SDD

Hey guys,

Which would you guys prefer and why?

Option 1:
128GB mSATA + 750GB HDD + DVD Drive.

Option 2:
128GB SSD + 750GB HDD (no DVD drive)

I don't use the DVD drive often, but it would be useful for installing windows from scratch and any manufacture drivers.I heard that having the SSD in the main drive is faster then the equivalent mSATA. Is this difference noticeable?

Thanks,
Josh

 

Honestly, not having an optical drive isn't really noticeable. I don't have an mSATA in my Alienware so I can't attest to the speed. I know the mSATA port in most laptops only run at SATA II whereas many laptops can run a full sized SSD at SATA III. So the question is whether or not your notebook can run a full size SSD at SATA III?

 

It's very unlikely you'd notice a difference between SATA II and III for most uses. I guess I'd vote for option one because then you can keep your optical or add a third drive if needed.

 

You have a third option:

128GB mSata and 128GB SSD in a RAID 0 configuration, with the 750GB HDD in the optical bay.

You can also use higher volume drives (i.e. 256GB mSata + 256GB SSD).

 

I have a question. I just bought hp envy6-1100ee i5 3rd gen 500gb -8gb ram windows 8. no msata drive present. I installed 64gb msata drive and installed windows 8 on it. I formatted the 500gb drive. if I remove the cable from the 500gb drive from inside, I can boot on the msata drive. However if the I put back the cable of the 500gb inside and I boot it tells me boot drive not found. how can you make msata drive boot first while the second drive is present.

 

Enter the system BIOS and change the boot options.

 

That option is a bit too expensive for me. :-(

 

Option one then. You will spend less time on getting an mSATA setup than having to transplant all the drives around to accommodate a full sized SSD.

 

I mostly agree as the Random Read performance between most midrange SATA III and high-end SATA II drives are the same, thus snappiness and system boot times are mostly untouched.
Strangely, there is a massive difference between SATA II and SATA III on Windows 8. Fastboot can get the system going in about 5-7 seconds faster on SATA III SSDs, especially if formatted with UEFI. I think this is to do with the massive sequential read advantage of SATA III drives playing a role in reading the massive fast boot hibernation file.

mSATA have slightly better power consumption due to having less NAND cells on the PCB but sacrificing some performance (mostly high queue depth and sequential transfers). There are precious few Laptops that have SATAIII mSATA ports so you have to triple check this before purchasing. The issue is not so prevalent with 2.5inch bays (most being SATAIII).