*OFFICIAL* M18x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread

[Zero989]

Yeh guys, to confirm as above, the middle HDD slot is SATA 2 only, it specifically excludes SATA 3 on the cage and the manual specifies it as 2 sata 3 and 1 sata 2.

Dont know the reason for this, however, the top two (primary HDD and secondary SATA 2) appear to come off of the same cable, whereas the bottom slot comes of a slightly seperate cable. Perhaps the top connection in some way can only take 9gb/s?

I don't want an M18x R2 anymore (no reason to upgrade -- nothing wrong with m18x r2) ...

[BlueW01f]

Aye its a weird one, had to put my ssd on primary and split the storage across the sata 2/3. Not ideal but meh, they're just storage anyway. Only an issue if you want 3 ssd's.

[BlackStar2012]

What a wierd setup to have 2 sata 3s and 1 sata 2 and a sata 3 msata o.o
Totally random...

[unityole]

would it be possible to still tripple drive raid 0, technically still three sata 3 port. msata, and two of the 9.5mm. if i recall both msata 256gb for samsung AND crucial 256gb are similar/same speed of its 2.5" 256gb SSD. that means we could still triple ssd raid right? then for the 7mm, put in a 512gb ssd sata2 or something for storage =)

[BlackStar2012]

would it be possible to still tripple drive raid 0, technically still three sata 3 port. msata, and two of the 9.5mm. if i recall both msata 256gb for samsung AND crucial 256gb are similar/same speed of its 2.5" 256gb SSD. that means we could still triple ssd raid right? then for the 7mm, put in a 512gb ssd sata2 or something for storage =)

I dont see what that wouldn't work
Good sir your logic seems perfectly fine to me

[Mr. Fox]

For anyone planning to put 2 SSDs in RAID0 on using the two SATA-3 ports and have a larger capacity HDD on the SATA-2 port for storage, this is seems pretty irrelevant. Most HDDs are only SATA-2 anyhow. It would only stink for 3 SSD drives in RAID0 to be crippled with the SATA-2 speeds of the slowest in the array.

[unityole]

For anyone planning to put 2 SSDs in RAID0 on using the two SATA-3 ports and have a larger capacity HDD on the SATA-2 port for storage, this is seems pretty irrelevant. Most HDDs are only SATA-2 anyhow. It would only stink for 3 SSD drives in RAID0 to be crippled with the SATA-2 speeds of the slowest in the array.

i second that. i recall someone said the sata II port is only for a 7mm, that will eliminates the possibility of a HDD since hdd are 9.5mm for 2.5" factor.

that aside i could always take out the optical drive, so for a maxium of 4 2.5" drives, and a msata =D

[DanXbix]

Let's hope the m18xR2 doesn't have the sata3 6/3gbs drop like some R1's
It seems crazy that dell didn't just offer all sata3 but maybe a chipset limitation. I assume the optical drive is sata1.5 and esata in sata2?


Sent from my iPad3 using Tapatalk HD

[Mr. Fox]

i second that. i recall someone said the sata II port is only for a 7mm, that will eliminates the possibility of a HDD since hdd are 9.5mm for 2.5" factor.

that aside i could always take out the optical drive, so for a maxium of 4 2.5" drives, and a msata =D

Yes, you certainly could do that; and, add an inexpensive (128GB) 7mm SSD in the slower middle port to store a drive image for recovery purposes (or for booting Linux at SATA-2 speed). This would actually be a desirable setup to have.

Let's hope the m18xR2 doesn't have the sata3 6/3gbs drop like some R1's
It seems crazy that dell didn't just offer all sata3 but maybe a chipset limitation. I assume the optical drive is sata1.5 and esata in sata2?

Unless something changed on the M18x R2, the port for the optical drive is SATA-2 3GB/s (see attached image). That's fine for data. I hope that there are not random issues with dropped speeds on the R2 motherboard as well. Fortunately, that seems to have not affected a large group of customers as far as we know.

[unityole]

well, this means my dream of having 3 SSD in raid 0 is gone unless i raid the duo 2.5" with the msata. personally i dont really mind having to use samsung 256gb msata and its 2.5 drive, but it isnt the best =/

the plextor m3 pro is just that much better lol, for only 80 dollars more =), imo the 4k que 1 at 36mb/s is that much worth it, obviously writes at 430mb/s+ =D

also.. does anyone have duo boot window 7 and window 7 lol. i need it for rare reason and things to do with games =/