Increase Your Laptop's Performance with mSATA 128 GB Solid State Drives
The improvements in data storage drives in terms of reduced size but increased capacities and speeds have led to the increased performance of some mobile computers, such as netbooks, ultrabooks, and laptops. The typical configuration involves a mSATA SSD, which acts as the cache drive for storing frequently-used data so that it becomes faster to launch the apps you always use. The result is a significant performance increase in both boot times and app loading times. You can also use 128 GB solid state drives for mass storage but you may find that it easily fills up with data unless you use cloud-based storage services for your files and media.
What Are the Advantages of mSATA SSDs?
- Smaller size: The mSATA interface is also one of the smaller form factors for solid state drives, which use NAND flash memory to eliminate the moving parts in bulkier HDDs. This design allows for smaller netbooks to remain viable in terms of performance while remaining compact and portable.
- Value: The performance increase brought by using an SSD as a cache drive is a value in and of itself. Something like a 128 GB mSATA disk is an inexpensive way to augment your system without spending as much as you would for a larger capacity SSD or hard drive for use as the main storage device.
- SSD Caching: MLC solid state drives are viable for use as cache disks. You can even upgrade a lower capacity 60 GB mSATA disk that is already installed into your netbook and swap it with a 128 GB one or higher.
- Similar Performance: SATA and mSATA are essentially the same interfaces or connections, the only difference being their sizes. This means that you can use a mSATA drive as your mass storage device if you can find an adapter for it.
What Are the Disadvantages of mSATA SSDs?
- Low Capacity: Most mSATA drives are meant to be used as cache drives that act as an additional level of cache data stored in the system. Because of this, many of the accessible mSATA drives feature a low capacity than conventional SATA drives and hence are not ideal for use as mass storage drives like you would a bigger capacity SSD or HDD. Large capacity mSATA drives are available, however, but at a vastly larger price than conventional 128 GB mSATA drives.
- Narrow Applicability of Caching: One other downside to using these disks as cache drives is the narrow applicability because this functionality is only available in processors that support it. Motherboards that support cache disks actually have dedicated mSATA slots for the drives. So in desktop setups, you may want to opt for a faster interface like M.2 and get higher data capacity drives if your budget permits.