[SOLVED] Fastest Boot Drive - M.2 / Sata3?

[1Reality1]

What is the fastest type of drive to boot, an M.2 or Sata3?

 

[drbones8472]

M.2 = Up to around 3.5GB/s give or take what drive you buy.
Sata3 = Under 600MB/s again depending on what drive you buy.

Answer to your question = M.2

 

[velocityg4]

What is the fastest type of drive to boot, an M.2 or Sata3?

The M.2 drive must be NVMe. Non-NVMe models just connect via SATA III using the M.2 slot. Their speed is roughly identical to their 2.5" SATA counterparts.

 

[why_wolf]

To be clear M.2 is a connector that can operate via SATA III or direct PCIe connection. This depends entirely on what specific M.2 drive you buy. If it's a SATA III M.2 then its no faster than a traditional 2.5" SSD. If it's a PCIe most commonly called a NVMe then it can run significantly faster.

However that all said in terms of boot up speed there is virtually no difference between the two.

 

[USAFRet]

"m.2" = the physical connection. Not the type of drive it is.

M.2 can either be SATA drive or NVMe.
A m.2 SATA drive is exactly the same speed as a standard 2.5" SATA III SSD. Such as an 850 EVO.

And if all you're looking for is 3 seconds faster boot time, you are wasting money.

 

[jr9]

It would be more cost effective to simply buy a SATA based Samsung SSD. You won't see amazing differences in going from SATA SSD to PCIe M.2 and none going from SATA 3 SSD to SATA-based M.2 SSD if all you want is quicker boot times. If you want the fastest load times possible and do not care about costs then get a Samsung 960 EVO. Most normal users don't do anything that really takes advantage of a PCIe based SSD.

 

[1Reality1]

I see now my question was faulty in the way that it was asked. The drive in question is a Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2.
I do want the fastest boot time I can reasonably get. However, the other reason for my going this route is organizational. It's not wasting anything, it's preferential.

Thanks to all you guys for the input.