M.2 drive in mSATA socket?

Count_Zero99uk · 23 Jan 2019 at 10:49

From what i have read the M.2 is an upgrade to mSATA but i can find how much of a difference in performance there is.

I need to upgrade my SSD and was looking at potentially using that socket. Would it be worth it?

Looking at getting a 500Gb drive to replace a Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5"

My Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H

On another not whether i go for a plain SSD or a M.2 is there someway of copying the drive over to the new drive so i dont need to reinstall the OS?

Many thanks.

bimbleuk · 23 Jan 2019 at 11:11

mSATA and SATA are similar in performance the main difference is the physical format. I would stick to a 2.5" SSD (more common place) and the easiest why to go would be another Samsung SSD and use their own util to transfer the OS between drives.

Not that you can't do the same with another SSD make and use Macrium Reflect or EaseUS ToDo for example it's just I've found the Samsung tool to be easy to use for a one time transfer as will only work with a Samsung drive as the target.

M.2 with a PCI-E 3.0 x4 interface can be several times faster than either an mSATA or SATA drive but in practical terms you won't see a great difference. Personally I've used mSATA or M.2 drives purely for the small form factor and no need for power and data cables.

Count_Zero99uk · 23 Jan 2019 at 11:14

Thanks for that the prices have really come down on SSDs, getting the 1tb EVO 860.

sovietspybob · 23 Jan 2019 at 15:33

the NVMe M.2 drives are a LOT faster than normal SATA drives, like 4 or 5 times faster so well worth it imo.

You would need to get a PCIe adaptor card though as your mobo won't have the right slot so might not be worth it to you as the NVMe drives are more expensive plus the cost of the card.