# SSD for Dell Precision M6700



## guillefix (Jul 21, 2014)

Hi! I have decided to buy an SSD (after learning the importance of HD speed the hard way, I have lived for over a year with a 5400rpm drive only )

I've decided to go for RAID0 for performance. First, I want to know if these are the right kinds of drives to look for:
SSD 850 PRO 2.5â€￾ SATA III MZ-7KE512BW | Memory & Storage
OCZ Vector (EOL) SSD 2.5" SATA 3 6Gb/s
And SSD 840 EVO mSATA 120GB MZ-MTE120BW | Samsung Solid State Drives for the mSATA

I have a few quiestions:
-Is there a good tutorial for installing them and set up RAID0 between the ssd and the msata?
-Is it good to install the SSD in the secondary drive and leave the old one in the primary drive (the one on the right side)?
-Which would you advise the Samsung PRO or the OCZ VECTOR? I have read the Samsung as being the best option, but the OCZ has slightly better write-speed in their website.
-From experience, is 500Gb necessary or is 250Gb+120GbmSATA enough?

Thanks beforehand!


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## seamon (Jul 22, 2014)

guillefix said:


> Hi! I have decided to buy an SSD (after learning the importance of HD speed the hard way, I have lived for over a year with a 5400rpm drive only )
> 
> I've decided to go for RAID0 for performance. First, I want to know if these are the right kinds of drives to look for:
> SSD 850 PRO 2.5â€￾ SATA III MZ-7KE512BW | Memory & Storage
> ...



I don't think Raid 0 between mSATA and SATA is even possible. You need 2 exactly same drives(even capacity must be exactly same) for Raid 0. Besides, it provides no real world benefits unless you do some really heavy file transfers. Chances are you will never NEED Raid 0 performance.
HDDs are great for storing data such as games,movies etc. This is because you get a better GB/price ratio.
SSDs are great booting devices.
Just keep your 5400 RPM drive for storing stuff and buy a mSATA SSD for Windows in which case even a 128 GB is sufficient. Get a 256 GB drive if you can.

For mSATA, I would not look at any other company except these 4=
Intel 525.
Crucial m4(not recommended)/m500.
Plextor M5M/M6M.
Samsung Evo mSATA.

The thing the performance difference between these drives is almost negligible and insignificant in real world usage so you should get the cheapest one amongst them.
A msata SSD is highly recommended. The performance of my laptop completely changed after I started using a msata SSD(128 GB). I use in conjunction with a 1 TB 5400 RPM drive.
BTW what is your laptop's config?


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## guillefix (Jul 22, 2014)

seamon said:


> I don't think Raid 0 between mSATA and SATA is even possible. You need 2 exactly same drives(even capacity must be exactly same) for Raid 0. Besides, it provides no real world benefits unless you do some really heavy file transfers. Chances are you will never NEED Raid 0 performance.
> HDDs are great for storing data such as games,movies etc. This is because you get a better GB/price ratio.
> SSDs are great booting devices.
> Just keep your 5400 RPM drive for storing stuff and buy a mSATA SSD for Windows in which case even a 128 GB is sufficient. Get a 256 GB drive if you can.
> ...



I have decided to go for the Samsung one. I think SATA III is better than mSATA. Also the Samsung has RAPID mode, and is quite more reliable due to its 3D NAND technology. It's only about about 50 euros more expensive that the OCZ and the RAPID mode really tips the balance for me.

My current specs: *dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11321139/specs.PNG


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## seamon (Jul 22, 2014)

guillefix said:


> I have decided to go for the Samsung one. I think SATA III is better than mSATA. Also the Samsung has RAPID mode, and is quite more reliable due to its 3D NAND technology. It's only about about 50 euros more expensive that the OCZ and the RAPID mode really tips the balance for me.



It's a false assumption that SATA 3.0 is better than msata just because the port is larger.(By this logic, M.2(smallest SSD slot) should be the worst performer but instead it often provides 1000+MBps read and write on a single drive which is double of SATA 3.)

mSATA and SATA 3.0 have the same 6Gbps bandwidth. You will often find mSATAs OUTPERFORMING SATA 3.0 drives in R/W speeds. Endurance is not even an issue in modern mSATA SSDs. Your laptop will long be obsolete before you even exhaust 1/10 of your NAND cells' storing capacity.

I am not saying that Samsung one is a bad SSD or something. It is one of the best but it is much better to have 1 SSD+ 1 HDD inside the laptop. This is the reason why Dell gave you a mSATA slot in the first place.

BTW, I would not look at anything but Samsung for SATA 3.0 drives.
Also, nice laptop! Only a tad weaker than mine in gaming performance.


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## guillefix (Jul 22, 2014)

No! I won't take off my HDD, Dell is generous and offers me up to 4 storage locations (including the optic bay), so I have an extra SATA one empty.

And yeah, nice laptop you have too! Is there a significant improvement between the 3rd and 4th gen i7?


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## seamon (Jul 22, 2014)

guillefix said:


> No! I won't take off my HDD, Dell is generous and offers me up to 4 storage locations (including the optic bay), so I have an extra SATA one empty.
> 
> And yeah, nice laptop you have too! Is there a significant improvement between the 3rd and 4th gen i7?



Yeah then you can go for Samsung Evo 850 and another mSATA if you like. You can Raid 0 both SATA slots(if your BIOS supports) but it won't be a good idea.

Difference between similar processors of 3rd and 4th gen is 15-20% in benchmarks and NO difference in real world usage. This is because core i7 quads never get pushed above 50-60% usage as far as gaming is concerned.


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