M.2 and SATA Express questions

[Hawkstream]

Hi,

I just got a Gigabyte Z97-HD3P MB and I am confused by this statement - "SATA Express connector & M.2 slot can only be enabled one at a time".

2 questions -

• Can I use both a M.2 and SATA Express drive at the same time?
• Can I use 2 Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (1 M.2 and 1 SATA Express) in RAID 0?

Thanks

 

[Shou Miko]

on this Gigabyte u can only use the M.2. slot or the Sata express u have to choose...

 

[Hawkstream]

Are you sure about this?

 

[dorsetknob]

You already have the answer in your original post

"SATA Express connector & M.2 slot can only be enabled one at a time".

Translate = one OR the other not both

 

[Hawkstream]

Looks like I need to return the m.2... At least its unopened and I bought it from Amazon.

Thanks guys.

Can the EVO 850 utilize the speed of SATA Express or will it be just as fast on SATA 3?

 

[dorsetknob]

SATA III (revision 3.x) interface, formally known as SATA 6Gb/s, is a third generation SATA interface running at 6.0Gb/s. The bandwidth throughput, which is supported by the interface, is up to 600MB/s. This interface is backwards compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s interface.

SATA Express (abbreviated from Serial ATA Express and sometimes unofficially shortened to SATAe) is a computer bus interface that supports both Serial ATA (SATA) and PCI Express (PCIe) storage devices, initially standardized in the SATA 3.2 specification.[1] The SATA Express connector used on the host side is backward compatible with the standard 3.5-inch SATA data connector,[2] while it also provides multiple PCI Express lanes as a pure PCI Express connection to the storage device.

Instead of continuing with the SATA interface's usual approach of doubling its native speed with each major version, SATA 3.2 specification included the PCI Express bus for achieving data transfer speeds greater than the SATA 3.0 speed limit of 6 Gbit/s. It was concluded by the designers of SATA interface that doubling the native SATA speed would take too much time to catch up with the advancements in solid-state drive (SSD) technology,[3] too many changes would be required to the SATA standard, and a much greater power consumption would be required when compared to the existing PCI Express bus.[4][5] As a widely adopted computer bus, PCI Express provides sufficient bandwidth while allowing easy scaling via using faster or additional lanes.

 

[Hawkstream]

Thanks for that... I guess. Can you please answer my question? Can the Samsung Evo 850 utilize the speed of SATA Express or will it be the same speed on SATA 3 (SATA 6Gb/s).

Thanks

 

[sneekypeet]

Thanks for that... I guess. Can you please answer my question? Can the Samsung Evo 850 utilize the speed of SATA Express or will it be the same speed on SATA 3 (SATA 6Gb/s).

Thanks

Rated speeds for that drive are under 600MB/s, so no.

 

[Hawkstream]

Thanks.

So I should be able to use the M.2 Evo 850 in its slot and the SATA Evo 850 on SATA 3 in RAID 0?

 

[sneekypeet]

Thanks.

So I should be able to use the M.2 Evo 850 in its slot and the SATA Evo 850 on SATA 3 in RAID 0?

That seems logical as you are not using the SATAe then, just SATA and the M.2

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Can the Samsung Evo 850 utilize the speed of SATA Express

There aren't any SSD's with a SATA Express interface, are there?
So, the answer is no. As for running RAID on two different interfaces, I'd think that would be problematic, if not impossible.

 

[dorsetknob]

originally culled from wilki and repeated from above

The SATA Express connector used on the host side is backward compatible with the standard 3.5-inch SATA data connector

 

[newtekie1]

AFAIK, the 850 EVO is a SATA drive, NOT a SATA-Express drive. Even if you plug it into one of the SATA-Express SATA ports, it will still just be a SATA connection. In fact, the two SATA ports that make up the SATA-Express port are just standard SATA ports, it isn't until something is plugged into both SATA ports and that other little funky port at the same time that SATA-Express is activated.

Also, the M.2 850 EVO is also a SATA based drive. So to the system it just shows up as another SATA drive. You can then RAID the M.2 drive with the SATA drive, because as far as the system knows they are both SATA drives.

 

[Hawkstream]

Great info guys. I have learned a lot in a short period of time. I'm going to try setting up RAID 0 tonight when I do the build. Thanks again... interesting stuff!

 

[Hawkstream]

I just wanted to let everyone know this did work. The BIOS see's them as just 2 SSDs. The M.2 seems to make no difference. I have them in RAID 0 and am getting read speeds of 920 Mb/s!! Pretty awesome! Thanks for your help.

 

[Hawkstream]

Here is a very interesting article about SSDs, and M.2 -
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2921412/ssds-have-a-problem-theyre-getting-too-fast-too-soon.html

 

[RCoon]

Here is a very interesting article about SSDs, and M.2 -
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2921412/ssds-have-a-problem-theyre-getting-too-fast-too-soon.html

The "human beings" in that comment section make me hate this world. If we listened to people talking like that, there'd be half as much innovation in tech.

I Do Not Trust Any Non Moving Storage Devices, Period.

What a fool.

 

[Hawkstream]

He probably works at Seagate! Here is an article about how they and WD are becoming obsolete. Can you say Kodak??!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatsp...where-do-seagate-and-western-digital-stand-2/

 

[dorsetknob]

I Do Not Trust Any Non Moving Storage Devices, Period.

What a fool.

then he does not trust his organic/chemical storage unit fitted between his ears

 

[newtekie1]

What a fool.

He's not a fool, he's smart.

You shouldn't trust any storage device, moving parts or not. I've seen far too many controller failures to trust non-moving storage devices. And retrieving data from a flash based device is much harder than a mechanical drive. Back-up your data people!

 

[Hawkstream]

He's not a fool, he's smart.

You shouldn't trust any storage device, moving parts or not. I've seen far too many controller failures to trust non-moving storage devices. And retrieving data from a flash based device is much harder than a mechanical drive. Back-up your data people!

What is "trust" anyway? Honestly my PC's drives could fail at any time and it would just be a nuisance. With all the cloud storage available everywhere who keeps anything important on a local drive anymore anyway? Thats why I am running RAID 0 on my PC. I really don't care if it fails. I wont lose anything.

 

[newtekie1]

What is "trust" anyway? Honestly my PC's drives could fail at any time and it would just be a nuisance. With all the cloud storage available everywhere who keeps anything important on a local drive anymore anyway? Thats why I am running RAID 0 on my PC. I really don't care if it fails. I wont lose anything.

To me, it would be to put data in one place only. You have to trust that one place to always work. That is trust.

 

[sneekypeet]

To me, it would be to put data in one place only. You have to trust that one place to always work. That is trust.

Or three places in my instance Better safe than sorry!

 

[dorsetknob]

3 generation back up
grandfather
Father
son

one on site 2 on separate off sites ( secure )