2TB mSATA? (no, I don't want a m.2

[jn77]

My laptop has an mSATA port on the motherboard, but is old enough that there is no m.2 port.

I have an EVO 850 1TB installed and have been looking for a 2TB mSATA solution.... nothing.... Do we know if there will be 2TB mSATA's? is it that there just isn't enough room on the mSATA form factor to put 2TB of chips on it?

 

[hang-the-9]

Right now looks like 1TB is as big as you will get with an mSATA drive. If there will be a larger drive in that form is a guess.

 

[Geewhizgc]

There is a solution for the 2TB mSATA. A 2TB mSATA drive is inside the Samsung 2TB T3 USB drive. Clone your drive onto the USB attached drive and then open up the T3 and install the mSATA into your ultrabook, taking out your existing 1TB mSATA drive.

One word of caution: The USB drive has a security software which will enable you to encrypt the removable drive when it is used as a USB attached external drive. DO NOT ENABLE THE SECURITY SOFTWARE if you use the drive as your primary mSATA boot drive inside your ultrabook. The system will not be able to boot prior to unlocking the drive, if the security software is enabled.

 

[jn77]

There is a solution for the 2TB mSATA. A 2TB mSATA drive is inside the Samsung 2TB T3 USB drive. Clone your drive onto the USB attached drive and then open up the T3 and install the mSATA into your ultrabook, taking out your existing 1TB mSATA drive.

One word of caution: The USB drive has a security software which will enable you to encrypt the removable drive when it is used as a USB attached external drive. DO NOT ENABLE THE SECURITY SOFTWARE if you use the drive as your primary mSATA boot drive inside your ultrabook. The system will not be able to boot prior to unlocking the drive, if the security software is enabled.

That is really interesting, I am looking at photo's of a T3 tear down now and yep it is an mSATA..... that might open the possibility for a 4TB mSATA also. I will keep this in mind. The T3 2TB is about $750 right now, we will see what happens when it comes down in price.

 

[Geewhizgc]

There is a solution for the 2TB mSATA. A 2TB mSATA drive is inside the Samsung 2TB T3 USB drive. Clone your drive onto the USB attached drive and then open up the T3 and install the mSATA into your ultrabook, taking out your existing 1TB mSATA drive.

One word of caution: The USB drive has a security software which will enable you to encrypt the removable drive when it is used as a USB attached external drive. DO NOT ENABLE THE SECURITY SOFTWARE if you use the drive as your primary mSATA boot drive inside your ultrabook. The system will not be able to boot prior to unlocking the drive, if the security software is enabled.

That is really interesting, I am looking at photo's of a T3 tear down now and yep it is an mSATA..... that might open the possibility for a 4TB mSATA also. I will keep this in mind. The T3 2TB is about $750 right now, we will see what happens when it comes down in price.

 

[Geewhizgc]

ajhah is the name of a seller on EBay who was selling the mSATA insides for about $560.

 

[jwp72]

I also had the same problem, looking for a 2TB mSATA for an older laptop without an m.2 slot.

I purchased a Samsung T5 Portable SSD - 2TB - USB 3.1 External SSD (MU-PA2T0B/AM) from Amazon ($400 in Nov 2018), installed it in my laptop, and it works for me as a Windows 7 boot device.

Removing the mSATA from the Samsung T5 was fairly straightforward: I cut the plastic covering off both ends of the enclosure to expose the tiny Philips-head screws, opened up the enclosure, pulled some sticky adhesive stickers off the mSATA, and stuck it into my laptop, then did a fresh install of Windows onto it. Works fine.