mSata for W530

[indicium]

What's the general consensus on brands for a mSata SSD for the W530. I will be using it for Express Cache, paging files and most likely temporary internet files. I'm looking at 120 or 128 GB.

thanks

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

I don't think there is any general consensus.

My personal consensus is:
1) avoid anything and everything Samsung.
2) Slightly biggers SSD's are faster and cheaper per GB, so just get 256 / 512 GB and use it as main drive for OS and programs. Use HDD for bulk storage. Don't bother with separate caching drive.

[ajkula66]

Don't bother with separate caching drive.

+ 1.

[indicium]

What's wrong with Samsung SSD's?

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

That they are made by Samsung, d'uh. As far as I can see Samsung uses the cheapest stuff they can get away with. Their monitors had huge inputlag, their HDD's sucked at everything but sequential read, their videocard RAM seems to fail a whole lot more often, etc. etc.

[jonashendrickx]

Separate caching drive is barely going to make a difference. The mSATA slot is limited to SATAII speeds.

Don't waste the money and grab a Samsung 840 Evo of 500GB. Even at the current usage levels, my Samsung 840 Evo will outlive me.

For SSD brands I only trust Intel (which is slightly slower but most reliable) and Samsung. Crucial is good too, but the write speeds are quite bad. But they don't cost a lot.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Write speed doesn't matter nearly as much as read speeds. Also: you can buffer and wait w/o problems with lower write speeds.

[indicium]

I installed a mSata, setup Express Cache and added 16 GB (2x8) Ram and reduced the boot time from 42 seconds to 27 seconds and application loading and run to 12 seconds or less. I also added a 2nd HGST 1 TB HDD and am happy with this configuration. I intend to add another 16 GB Ram in the next couple of weeks, I do a lot of VM work.

[oeuvre]

Bit late, but I have a Crucial M4 128GB mSATA in my W530 and it was still faster than an HD. I replaced the 500GB HD with a 256GB 840 Evo and installed Windows on that drive, used mSATA as a data drive. Smoking fast; there's noticeable difference with the M4 and Evo (not even sure if it's cause of SATA II vs III or just the Evo is a faster drive than the M4).