SSD Types?

B

black.hat

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 10, 2012
Messages
66
Can someone show me how the below SSD drives look like in term of "appearance"? Maybe a picture of each or something.

  • SATA Flash Solid State Drive
  • Flash Solid State Drive
  • PCIe Flash Solid State Drive

The reason i am asking is because i want to know which one is the mSATA (the small type of SSD) and which one is the regular large SSD (like samsung 850) not sure about the third...

Thanks a bunch!
 
Just look on newegg or something, they'll have images of each drive.

http://www.newegg.com/SSDs/Category/ID-119

There ya go. If you look on that page, about halfway down it says "Shop SSDs by Form Factor" and has a picture of each type along with the name. 2.5" SATA are the "regular" SSDs, like the 850/850evo/etc. I'm guessing by "Flash Solid State Drive" you mean something like a USB flash drive (thumb drive)?? I think most, if not all SSDs on the market use some form of flash. Early SSDs (very unlikely to be what you're thinking of) used RAM with backup power, but those are very uncommon for consumer use nowadays.
 
Oniigumo said:
Just look on newegg or something, they'll have images of each drive.

http://www.newegg.com/SSDs/Category/ID-119

There ya go. If you look on that page, about halfway down it says "Shop SSDs by Form Factor" and has a picture of each type along with the name. 2.5" SATA are the "regular" SSDs, like the 850/850evo/etc. I'm guessing by "Flash Solid State Drive" you mean something like a USB flash drive (thumb drive)?? I think most, if not all SSDs on the market use some form of flash. Early SSDs (very unlikely to be what you're thinking of) used RAM with backup power, but those are very uncommon for consumer use nowadays.
Click to expand...

Well the thing is, i am trying to buy a laptop, in the manufacture site they have 3 upgrade options for the SSD, which are the ones i mentioned above.

I just wanted to make i am choosing the correct one, as i need mSATA type ssd. i am still unsure which one of those 3 is mSATA.
 
They have pictures of each type on the site? Without them saying mSATA specifically, I wouldn't assume any would be mSATA.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100008120 600456322&IsNodeId=1

Those are all mSATA drives. Just a heads up though, M.2 are the smallest SSD type availible. I wouldn't get worked up over the size of the drive so long as your laptop supports whatever form factor you choose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M.2_and_mSATA_SSDs_comparison.jpg

EDIT: More specifically, and to the point of your original question, I would assume as follows:
SATA Flash Solid State Drive = 2.5" SSD (like the 850)

Flash Solid State Drive = without context, I would assume a USB drive. In this case, I can't say for certain.

PCIe Flash Solid State Drive = Revodrive or something similar.
 
Last edited:
Nope they dont have pictures, all they listed is this:

128GB SATA Flash Solid State Drive
256GB Flash Solid State Drive
512GB PCIe Flash Solid State Drive

I do know that size doesn't make speed difference, but i needed it to be mSATA so i can upgrade it with an mSATA i have at home. if none of these are mSATA, then whats really the difference between PCIe and Flash and SATA SSDs? I am totally lost here :D
 
Well if that's the case (that you're just going to add your own mSATA drive to the laptop), I'd just look up the motherboard within the laptop to see if it supports mSATA. Can usually find that by digging through online manuals / spec sheets for whatever given model you're planning on buying.

And to your last question, only difference is interface (how it plugs into your computer). "Flash" is the odd one out, as that's the storage medium. Sata SSDs, PCIe SSDs, etc etc are all "Flash" SSDs except under very rare circumstances, so hearing "Flash Solid State Drive" could mean anything as far as interface is concerned.
 
1. google for a tear down or review of laptop
2. wait and open it up and use speccy to see what ports it has.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top