Noob AW config question

[Vipor]

So, I just recieved my M17 today. It came with this storage:

9P7RH 1 MODULE,HARD DRIVE,1T,5.4,P11,4K,AQU-B
RY98H 1 Module,Solid State Drive,64,MCARD,PM830,ISRT
2MGWR 1 Module,Hard Drive,1T,5.4,P11,4K,#2,AQU-B

I was expecting the 64GB mSATA to be containing the OS and for the system to be booting off of it. Apparently, it is not. System is booting off of 1TB HDD "0", and both 1TB HDD "1" and 64GB mSATA are empty. In my opinion, using an SSD for basic storage would be a waste of the technology. I would have preferred for it to be the boot device. Am I wrong?

Would it be wise to make the switch from Boot drive "0" to boot drive mSATA? Would that be a difficult task to do? I've already created a Respawn Restore Thumbdrive.

 

[Xyon]

As far as I know...
You can choose the boot order from the BIOS. Of course the boot drive has to have an OS thats bootable...but I'm sure you know that though.

I have only two drives myself, but I chose one channel over the other for booting. Installed the OS (on a new SSD) through the same flash drive as I believe you have made, and have had no issues thus far.

Hope this helps.

 

[Vipor]

Thanks Xyon. If I understand you correctly, you say you have two drives (bay 0 has SSD and bay 1 has HDD). You are booting off of bay 0 which contains an SSD.

Mine has bay 0 HDD, bay 1 HDD, and mSATA port has SSD. I'd like to know if there is any issue with booting off of the mSATA port containing an SSD. If there is no technical reason why booting should not be possible, then I'd like to upgrade that 64GB SSD to a 128GB or 256GB and load the OS on that mSATA SSD and boot off of that. If that is just not possible, then I'll stick with booting off bay 0 HDD. That would mean I have an SSD on my mSATA part that I will be using for basic storage.

 

[Tseng]

No, you can boot from mSATA.
And you are right, 64G is not enough, you need at least 128G, prefer 180G.

 

[Xyon]

@Vipor
Sorry for the delayed response.

Yes, you got it right. Thats exactly how I have it setup.
Although the mSATA setup I'm unsure of myself. If you have all blank drives, you could probably just see what works without worry about losing any current configuration.

 

[Commy1]

I would put the OS on the mSata drive myself, that's one of the best ways to use an SSD to it's highest potential. The way I would do it, is format all drives, select in the boot order USB and, it's been along time... but I think when you run the boot drive it will recognize the harddrives in the system and you proceed by choosing one to install to.
As mentioned above, that 64GB won't be enough, I'm running Windows 7 off a 90GB SSD with several several programs installed along side on the same SSD. I have no idea, and don't plan on knowing, anything about Windows 8, is it that much different? Assuming that this is the OS in question.

 

[Vipor]

Thanks guys for the input.

Commy, I am running Win7. I work in R&D for a PC company and had a chance to see Win8 in the early days of dev and was not too thrilled with it. I now own a desktop that I picked up due to such a good deal for the specs and it has Win8 on it. Keeping it as-is just to have a Win8 box in the house.

Tseng, yes I am hoping to updrage that mSATA to a higher capacity. Was just hoping to get confirmation from you fellow Alien owners that there is no technical reason why I cannot use that mSATA for booting. Sounds like I can. So, plan now is to pick up a new SSD to replace that mSATA. My box should be blazing fast after that.

 

[shankc]

You are better off buying a good solid state drive as it is very hard to get to the msata drive. You have to disassemble right down to bare bones and it still won't be as good as a ssd and use your 64gb msata as a caching drive to speed up your regular Harddrive. That's my opinion anyway