mSATA or M.2 SSD for the ROG G751JY?

[shameers_i]

Hi guys,
I'm planning to purchase a SSD for my G752JY coz it came with two 1TB drives. My intention is to replace one HDD with a SSD. As I was searching for one, I found that there are two types of SSDs on the market. M.2 and the mSATA. What do you guys recommend? The M.2 is the newer and faster version as I understand. But it is a bit more expensive. Is it worth the money? Is the speed that different?

P.S : I did try googling and didn't get a straight answer. As there are many people that say that it depends on the brand and the laptop.

 

[Sakkura]

You need to check which connector(s) the laptop has. They are not compatible with each other.

As for speed, many M.2 SSDs are actually running SATA mode, which means it's no different than mSATA in terms of speed. But M.2 can allow significantly higher speed if the SSD runs PCIe mode, optionally with support for NVMe as well.

 

[Mr Kagouris]

There's M.2, mSATA, and regular 2.5" SSDs. The difference is that 2.5" and mSATA (most 2.5" anyway) use the SATA interface and thus are limited in speed (usually they have read/write speeds of around 500 MB/s), while M.2 often use PCIe coupled with NVMe, resulting in extreme speeds and much better responsiveness. If you don't plan to put much on the SSD and have an appropriate M.2 slot available, a 256GB Samsung 950 Pro would be awesome. If you don't have an M.2 slot available or want more storage space, you can get an mSATA SSD (if you have an mSATA slot) or a 2.5" one.

 

[Dulith1118]

i think there is no m.2 ssd slot in ur laptop..Not sure though
So if theres not better to stick with 2.5" ssd

 

[shameers_i]

You need to check which connector(s) the laptop has. They are not compatible with each other.

As for speed, many M.2 SSDs are actually running SATA mode, which means it's no different than mSATA in terms of speed. But M.2 can allow significantly higher speed if the SSD runs PCIe mode, optionally with support for NVMe as well.

Hi thanks for your input. I'm sure that it has both the connectors. When you install the M.2 however, one of the HDD/SDD bays is taken. Because of some weird design reason.
And as I found out just now, it says "M.2 slot is PCIE 3.0 x4". Does it mean that the speed is much better than the mSATA?

 

[shameers_i]

i think there is no m.2 ssd slot in ur laptop..Not sure though
So if theres not better to stick with 2.5" ssd

There is a M.2 slot and a mSATA slot on the laptop. The thing is when the M.2 is installed one of the HDD/SDD bays are taken.

 

[shameers_i]

There's M.2, mSATA, and regular 2.5" SSDs. The difference is that 2.5" and mSATA (most 2.5" anyway) use the SATA interface and thus are limited in speed (usually they have read/write speeds of around 500 MB/s), while M.2 often use PCIe coupled with NVMe, resulting in extreme speeds and much better responsiveness. If you don't plan to put much on the SSD and have an appropriate M.2 slot available, a 256GB Samsung 950 Pro would be awesome. If you don't have an M.2 slot available or want more storage space, you can get an mSATA SSD (if you have an mSATA slot) or a 2.5" one.

There are 2 2.5" bays on my laptop. Both support mSATA SSDs and HDDs. One of the bays has the M.2 slot. So if I install a M.2 one of the HDD/SDD bays are completely taken out.
Thanks for your reply. I will try the Samsung SSD.

 

[shameers_i]

It deactivates the sata ports and use them to increase the bandwidth I found a solution for some people in hear

http/www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3034775/nvme-benchmark-2gb-bandwidth.html#17833620

but it can't be done with a laptop and when you do this you gain more speed and you don't lose a satta port but your graphics card is working x8, they share the same bandwidth.

So you are saying that I can't install a M.2 on my laptop? Or that it wouldn't make a difference than a mSATA?

 

[Sakkura]

Hi thanks for your input. I'm sure that it has both the connectors. When you install the M.2 however, one of the HDD/SDD bays is taken. Because of some weird design reason.
And as I found out just now, it says "M.2 slot is PCIE 3.0 x4". Does it mean that the speed is much better than the mSATA?

Yes, that means the M.2 slot allows for speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 4 GB/s, where mSATA is capped at 0.6 GB/s. You still have to check what the M.2 SSD you buy is capable of (and none are really approaching 4 GB/s yet).

 

[shameers_i]

Hi thanks for your input. I'm sure that it has both the connectors. When you install the M.2 however, one of the HDD/SDD bays is taken. Because of some weird design reason.
And as I found out just now, it says "M.2 slot is PCIE 3.0 x4". Does it mean that the speed is much better than the mSATA?

Yes, that means the M.2 slot allows for speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 4 GB/s, where mSATA is capped at 0.6 GB/s. You still have to check what the M.2 SSD you buy is capable of (and none are really approaching 4 GB/s yet).

Thanks! That answers my question.

 

[Mr Kagouris]

If you're willing to sacrifice other storage devices you can't go better than a 512GB 950 Pro. It would offer transfer speeds up to 2 GB/s and have absolutely amazing responsiveness. If you only have an HDD installed, what you can do is get an external USB enclosure for 2.5" drives and put it in there, then use it as an external drive. Just make sure the M.2 slot also supports the required size (2280) if you want to get one.

 

[Mr Kagouris]

What in the blazes are you talking about? M.2 slots capable of utilizing the PCIe interface use PCIe x4, and the lanes utilized are NOT from the CPU, they are from the chipset, so it does not affect the graphics card (even if it did, x8 does not bottleneck any card on the market and even a modicum of research would've shown you that). Finally, those "dips" you refer to only realistically show up in benchmarks. Can you please even look up what you're talking about before saying "You are all wrong"?

 

[Mr Kagouris]

The M.2 is connected to the Southbridge and it doesn’t use the pci-e bus that is connected with the Northbridge that exists inside the CPU i already gave a link and explain why they don't lose a satta connection if they use the card i gave them. I did tired to give explanations again and again.

I don't know what your problem is but you need to start being coherent. You linked a document on SSD defragmentation and one of your own posts for an entirely different scenario. You also wrote this:

you don't lose a satta port but your graphics card is working x8, they share the same bandwidth.

which directly contradicts this:

The M.2 is connected to the Southbridge and it doesn’t use the pci-e bus that is connected with the Northbridge

According to OP the M.2 slot he has does support PCIe x4, meaning that using it with something like a 950 Pro would not affect the GPU or the SATA ports.

 

[Sakkura]

The M.2 is connected to the Southbridge and it doesn’t use the pci-e bus that is connected with the Northbridge that exists inside the CPU i already gave a link and explain why they don't lose a satta connection if they use the card i gave them. I did tired to give explanations again and again.

The "card" you linked is for a desktop computer. OP has a laptop. It's not compatible.

Besides, there is no need for such an adapter, since the laptop already offers a PCIe 3.0 x4 connection through the M.2 slot. It won't affect any SATA connectivity since that's separate on the chipset.