x220 Windows dual boot - msata?

[dr_st]

@dr_st: how do you monitor the temperature of your mSATA?

CrystalDiskInfo shows this information.

[booysen]

Thanks @dr_st, I'm going to check it out!

[booysen]

I just installed CrystalDiskInfo on my Win 10 mSATA
Don't know if any additional setup is required, but at idle it reports the mSATA temp. at around 23-25 degrees C, which seems nice.
The main bay Samsung 860 SSD, though, is fixed at 35 degrees.

When I run a Norton scan on the mSATA, the temp goes up to about 39/40 degrees; of course, the CPU temp also spikes up from about 38 to 69, 70 degrees.
I'll install it on the main SSD as well and monitor what happens when I do some light work, scan or watch a video.

[mikemex]

Keep in mind that not all drives consume the same power. Or are as tolerant to heat.

The drive that failed in my T420 was Samsung 128GB PM830 (I think). I must have it somewhere... but online pictures show its peak consumption rated at 3.3v as 1.5A. For comparison, the Samsung 64GB 1.8" SLC drive that came with the X300/1 (MCCOE64G8MPP-0VA, PS410 series) is rated at 3.3v as 0.32A. And it's not just bluffing: I've actually done some tests on my X301 to confirm how little power it sips. I recently upgraded the drive with a 400GB S3610 and minimum idle power rose from 6.8W to about 8.4W. So it may be dog slow, but the little drive surely helped with battery life... not to mention that 1.8" drives were premium products for the most part and used metal cases for heat dissipation.

Oh... the glory days of Thinkpads as super premium products...

Anyway, I used that drive as secondary and had the swap file on it. So it must have seen intensive use at times. Specially considering that back in the early 201x (before I gave the T420 to my dad) I probably didn't have that much physical memory. I probably ran it with 4GB or 6GB at most.

Now that I think about it, an early generation 128GB drive life probably wasn't great to begin with, so a newer and more efficient drive likely has a better chance. But since I've read such comments about heat from more than one manufacturer, you can be sure that there is some (bad) field experience behind.

You can always attach a small heatsink, if space allows it...

[booysen]

Good info, @mikemex!
and interesting heatsink idea too

I checked my mSATA's spec sheet, but info is sparse... it gives the operating voltage as 3.3V, some info about operating temperatures etc. but no power consumption figures.
For the Transcend MSA370 & MSA370I, the power consumption at idle is reported as 0.4W, and 2.64W in operation. I'm not sure if these are the predecessors to my (MSA)370S, they're reported to be of the same flash type (MLC NAND), though these have a wider temperature rating than mine: -40 to 85 degrees (mine's 0-70). Perhaps these were/are a higher performance line?

I'll keep developments posted here, and would love to hear of more mSATA experiences!

[booysen]

Quick update: I installed CrystalDiskInfo on my main bay SSD this morning.
While in use, running a scan and other light routine activities, the main SSD temperature goes up somewhat, from low 30s - 35 degrees C at idle, to higher 30s.
Remarkably (to me), the mSATA (not in use) is reported to be at 16-18 degrees C! way below current room temp?