Comparison: ebay versus newmodeus 9.5mm sata-to-pata and pata caddy
Linked from INFO: Using a optical bay caddy to install a 2.5" SATA or PATA SSD/HDD
REF also
Uli's comparison for a second opinion.
I've acquired both the ebay and newmodeus caddies to compare performance with a 500GB HDD, appearance, build quality and overall function below. Included too are some other 2510P owner's benchmark results with both a sata SSD and a PATA HDD. The latter useful to those trying to decide whether the more power efficient pata caddy is for them. Both ebay and newmodeus offer pata equivalent caddies with identical chassis appearance to those shown below.
Update: ebay vendor notebookelite has revised caddy with stronger metal chassis and faceplate to one pictured and commented on below. Click linked review to see photos.
Top=newmodeus
Bottom=ebay |     |
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newmodeus caddy (linked review)
sata-to-pata bridge chip: Sunplus SATALink
Pros
- great faceplate: contoured, tapered and textured
- stronger chassis build quality
- screws ssd/hdd securely to chassis bottom
- does the job out of the box without mods
- delivery takes days
Pros [only for sata-to-pata]
- has slave jumper, works with a master 1.8" ssd/hdd
- 0.2W lower ACTIVE power consumption
Cons
- almost twice the price of ebay caddy
Cons [only for sata-to-pata]
- SSDs with win7 require trim disabled, explained here
- 30s bios hang with bios F.0E, see solution
- more details on these cons are here | ebay_caddy (linked review+mods)
sata-to-pata bridge chip: Marvell 88SA8040
Pros
- a third of the price of the newmodeus caddy
- OEM looking faceplate, though not tapered&contoured
- 0.7W lower IDLE power consumption since the bridge chip
implements SATA slumber mode.
Cons
- underside gap (pro: useful latch point for hotswap)
- pins, rather than screws, hdd down via mounting tabs
- faceplate flex unsuitable for hotswap [mod fixes this]
- delivery takes weeks
Cons [only for sata-to-pata]
- can't get it to function as slave with a 1.8" master. Though can do
the slave_mod & which works with the topda branded ebay caddy.
- hdd activity LED only on faceplate [mod fixes this]
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Performance
The UDMA5/ATA100 interface will cap reads to 100MB/s and writes to 88.9MB/s, which in real life appear to be around 88/67 as seen by the OCZ Vertex benchmarks. In order, from fastest to slowest:
SSDs
^1 requires TRIM disabled in Win7 with "fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 1" otherwise doesn't work
^2 causes 30s boot hang requiring F.0A bios as a workaround or run it as slave
HDDs
^2 causes 30s boot hang requiring F.0A bios as a workaround or run it as slave
The Marvell-based ebay caddy shows atto/performancetest results with slightly faster maximum sequential read speed and otherwise is on par or performs slightly better overall than the newmodeus caddy.
Lack of AHCI's Native Command Queueing (NCQ) on the 2510P's PATA interface means the same SATA HDD has lower random read/write performance in a sata-to-pata caddy as those read/writes are not grouped to minimise seeks as they are on AHCI sata. Eg: Changing the Vostros native SATA AHCI to legacy IDE (SATA) mode saw PerformanceTest's result drop from 623 to 393.
From the newmodeus or ebay caddy, which would I recommend?
newmodeus' sata-to-pata or pata caddy has the better build chassis quality and contoured faceplate so it's virtually a clone replacement of the optical drive.
Recommended hassle-free solution if your budget allows for it. Note: Win7 + sata SSD trim issue con above.
The ebay caddy also looks OEM. It just doesn't taper on the bottom right corner nor is it contoured. It's build quality is certainly satisfactory for the task when the fit & faceplate modifications is applied. It is the budget recommended choice for all instances except when running the 2.5" sata SSD/HDD as slave which it cannot accomodate.
So overall
value-for-money recommendation is:
- standalone 2.5" sata or pata SSD/HDD: ebay caddy
- 1.8" SSD^1/HDD^2 (slave) + 2.5" sata or pata SSD/HDD (master): ebay caddy
- 1.8" SSD (master) + 2.5" pata HDD (slave): ebay caddy
- 1.8" SSD (master) + 2.5" sata HDD (slave): newmodeus caddy as has slave jumper
^1 Runcore ProIV ZIF SSD can run as master (default) or slave as set by resistor at position R49. Empty=Master, 10kΩ=Slave. Pls refer to Runcore Tech Support.
^2 Supplied Toshiba MK8009GAH ZIF HDD can be made slave by bridging pin1+pin2 as shown here.
If the ebay sata-to-pata caddy could be made to work as slave then it would be the overall bargain hunter's choice. The capability does exist.