Boot from mini pcie ssd! Let's figue this out!

Alright, so the idea has come up lately of whether this is possible and how fast it could be compared to regular old HDD. Well everyone I am ready to be your guinea pig! But i'll need some help from everyone to get this to work.

I'm planning to buy in early May either GX640 or 740.

First few questions to kick it off:
-Do we know that there is a free slot on the motherboard to do this?
-Do we know if mini pcie is a valid boot device?

EDIT: WOW typo in the thread name...off to a good start.

 

Aye, this thread i'm interested in because the 1722 chasis, and the 725 etc etc has a space PCI slot for sure,

Question is, do people know if this is doable or not, i'm hoping the barebone builders have some info on this .

 

Yeah, I was asking about that last year, but no one knew is it possible ... I was going to buy one to test it, but after I spend the money on something else So now if you do it starcraft boy (NotEnoughMinerals) it would be nice to know it is possible and I should save some money again But until May it is very possible to have one before you

 

I think the mini SSD needs to have a controller built on to the ssd to make it work.
I have heard this in other forums.

 

Interesting, Mark, can you quote some more info?

 

Well if you decide to give it a shot, let us know. Can someone who already has a MSI go snoop aaround in the BIOS to see if the option is available?

 

Aye haha, we need to find that SSD with the onboard controller then, thats what we should look for, surely it'l work!

 

Get one from a netbook .. hope the pins are the same.

 

Well then thats next step of our investigation.
-check BIOS for eligible boot devices
-inspect a "typical" motherboard for pins and open slot
-look for a SSD used for netbook boots

Cata or Dead, would you mind taking a look inside your machines?

 

Aye, anytime ya wan't, i believe there is one under the upper heat pipe, and i think theres one under the keyboard, although that can be alittle hard to access, and we have wifi in one ofc and i think bluetooth is independant.

 

Anyone want to venture underneath the keyboard ?

 

It's not going to work. mPCIe SSDs expect sata pins on the mPCIe slot. Notebook mPCIe slots have pci-e pins.

You can still do it if you're prepared to solder say an IDE cable to the the e-sata pins internally. See mPCIe SSD pinout. The datasheet uses PER/PET notation, but that should be SATA-RX/SATA-TX. You'd forgo using the e-sata port externally if doing that.

Only systems I know that accept netbook style mPCIe SSDs are netbooks AND the Lenovo U150 CULV system.
EDIT: And Dell Precision M6500.

 

+ Dell Precision M6500.

 

booooo, looks like the dream dies

thanks for the info nando

 

The question of using mPCie SSDs on notebooks gets asked often and indeed if it was possible many systems would be running mPCIE SSDS + HDDs. Can still do a hybrid setup by using an optical bay caddy if you don't have a second HDD bay, or as mentioned, attach wires directly to the e-sata port internally, threading to your mPCie SSD tucked away in a free spot.

 

Well ... soldering some cables in my machine is not a problem and it's not going to be the first time that I do that
The thing is that it's not worth it. I use an external 2TB drive attached to my eSATA port and risking it to, say 1-5 seconds, faster boot? Definitely not!!!
Much appreciated nando for the info and for saving me around 220 USD for 64Gb mPCI SSD.
I see you have enough Rep. Power, but +1 from me

 

Thank you. Could add a US$20 flush-type e-sata expresscard card AND do the soldering to attach the mPCIe SSD. That way would get the SSD's faster bootup time and app response, lower power consumption, have your internal 2.5" HDD for storage AND could attach your 2TB drive externally. Choices..

I'm just waiting for someone to take the plunge and document the process. I'm sure someone will do it.

 

Seems like a waste of time and not worth the risk damaging the laptop. Just pull the cd drive and get a hdd caddy to put in a real ssd.

 

Will try it at one point on my ageing dell , it's complicated .. But I'm interested in things like this.

Will even give nando's DIY Vidock a shot in the very near future.

Should be fun

 

It's a fun project to try and make work

 

Right not being funny or out, but the technology mini pci is there to be exploited, which means surely someone in this world is aware of the conversion problem, and should also means surely someone has designed a SATA free interface for say an SSD?

It would make sense if they did, its rare to find such areas in the market to be completely clear if thats the case, (Mind you people started making DIY vdocks lol.)