Here is my PC situation. The motherboard is an ASUS Prime B450M-A II. The storage posts are one M.2 socket 3 and four  SATA 6Gb/s ports provided by the B450 chipset. On the motherboard, there are SATA6G 5/6 ports, but they share bandwidth with the M.2 slot.

So, I installed Samsung 970 EVO Plus on the M.2 slot for the OS and system. Then, I can use only four SATA ports for my Blueray Bunner, two WD HDDs, and one Crucial SDD.

I still have a Crucial SDD I want to install on my PC.

I am looking at the chance of converting PCIe to SATA. I know there are some products that work on it.

I ordered on AliExpress. It took about ten days to my front door.

$10.99.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the motherboard has one PCIe3 x16 and two PCIe2x1. It limited my choice to hunting the SATA adapter. I have to look for the PCIe2.0x1 to SATA adapter.

I open the PC case. Insert it into the PCIe 2.0×1 slot. Connect the SATA data cable. Connect the power cable.

 The next picture includes all the drives in the PC.

I believe that the adapter is powered by the Asmedia ASM1061 chip.

When I power on the PC, I don’t need to install anything.  Windows 11 finds the driver automatically.

The SSD connected to the SATA adapter is Crucial MX100 256GB, which I bought ten years ago. Let me run an AS SSD Benchmark test.

I tested another Crucial SSD which connects to the motherboard directly. Crucial BX200 240GB, which I bought eight years ago.

The score is very close.

I am happy with this eleven-dollar upgrade. It gives me an option to use my old computer parts.

The post PCIe to SATA adapter appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

I have an HDD, which has a lot of game files. I want to move it to an SSD with a SATA connection.

Look, it is about 140MB/s. Higher 150MB/s, lower 110MB/s.

Based on the information I collected.

A standard HDD will read and write at typically 80MB/s to 160MB/s,

SATA SSDs typically peak around 500MB/s to 600MB/s. 

So forget what exactly the type or module of the drivers are, the max speed I can get is 160MB/s theoretically.

I launched the Xbox app and changed the driver of Fallout 76(PC).

The speed of moving is 2.5Gbps. Converted to MB/s is 312.5MB/s

This speed is to move a game from SSD A to SSD B.

Then, I copied a folder with mp4 files from SSD A to SSD B.

Both SSDs are in SATA format. The speed is acceptable.

So in the future. HDD can only be used for the data not read and write often, just like an archive drive. I named it cold-data.

The post Coping files Speed appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Open the box and have a look.

The soft sleeve and two cables are the best. From type C to type C; Type C to Type A.

The enclosure is made of metal, or aluminum.   Good for heat.

The included silicone thermal pad is also great for dissipating heat.

I installed the Samsung 970 EVO Plus into it.  Plugged the C to A cable. C to the enclosure, A to my desktop PC.

I tested the speed by copying a file from the Desktop internal SSD to the UGreen Enclosure SSD on a USB port.

I am OK with the speed. How about you?

Oh, I made another test from an internal HDD to the USB Enclosure.

It is about 320MB/s. I am always happy with the speed.

From the description of the product page. The transfer speed is up to 10Gbps. It is 1GB/s with the USB 3.2 Gen 2.

The post UGREEN M.2 NVMe Hard Drive Enclosure appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

The highlight part of the back is 5 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY. I like it.

It looks the same as the 250GB one I bought 5 years ago.

Here are a few features of the SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2 2280 1TB.

• PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4, NVMe 1.3 (My PC interface is PCIe Gen 3.)
  
• Cache: Samsung 1GB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM
• Garbage Collection: Auto Garbage Collection Algorithm
• Warranty: 5-Year Limited Warrantyor 600 TBW Limited Warranty

And the performance is announced as below:

Sequential Read
Up to 3,500 MB/s
Sequential Write
Up to 3,300 MB/s
Random Read (4KB, QD32)
Up to 600,000 IOPS
Random Write (4KB, QD32)
Up to 550,000 IOPS
Random Read (4KB, QD1)
Up to 19,000 IOPS
Random Write (4KB, QD1)
Up to 60,000 IOPS

I just did a test with AS SSD software.

The result is based on Windows 11 Pro 23H2, and Samsung SSD Driver.

Another test is based on CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4c.

This result looks more match to the official performance info.

I will have another post about how to replace the M.2 SSD on a single M.2 slot motherboard without reinstalling the OS.

The post Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

The error code of the problem most of the time is 0X80831002. I did at least three times of hard resets last year.

So, here is my new SSD. It is CA$53.00 plus tax on Amazon.ca. Silicon Power 1TB SSD 3D NAND A58 Performance Boost SATA III 2.5″ 7mm SU001TBSS3A58A25C. The original HDD in the Xbox One S is 1TB, so I choose the same storage size.

How to upgrade the Xbox One S HDD to SSD?

The first step is the Xbox One S disassembly.

There are a lot of videos that teach you how to do it. I watched two videos. I also bought a set of tools when I order the SSD.

The iFixit guide is very detailed. You can follow it too. I just put some pictures during my work.

Then I put everything back.

The next step is to install the OS.

• I have a 64GB USB disk. Format it in NTFS format.
• Download the offline system update package from the Microsoft Xbox official support site. I chose OSU1. (if you failed to do it, try OSU2 or OSU3)
• OSU1.zip file is 6.35GB. Unzip it.
• Copy the $SystemUpdate folder into the USB disk.
• Turn on the Xbox One S console, the Troubleshoot screen will be popped up automatically because the SSD is blank.
• Plug the USB disk into a USB port on my Xbox Console. The Offline system update option on the Xbox Screen becomes active.
• Use the D-pad and A buttons on my controller to select Offline system update.

It took about 10 minutes to complete the update or installation. Then the console will restart and return to the Home screen.

Now, it looks like a brand-new system.

After the upgrade, I set up my account and install the games. Played for more than ten hours, and it is no more problems.

Conclusion.

I believe the problem with the Xbox One S came from the HDD failure.

The power-up time is almost the same as before. But the game loading time of Forza Horizon 3 is reduced from 1min 25 sec to 30 seconds.

It is not just fix the Xbox problem,  it also improves the performance of my gaming experience.

The post Fix the Xbox by upgrading the HDD to SSD appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Please be noticed that it is a 1TB NVMe SSD. I need it for my Proxmox VE machine. Before the upgrade, I am using one 240GB Crucial SATA SSD for the system, and a WD 1TB 2.5″ HDD for images and backups. I want to replace them with this 1TB WD Blue SN570 1TB NVMe SSD.

Let’s have a look at it from the box to the inside.

It shows clearly on the box, M.2 2280, NVMe SSD, and 5 years warranty, 3500MB/s read.

Look at the back of the box. Not much to say, the model is WDS100T3B0C.

The front view of this SN570 clearly only has one memory chip. The back is nothing on it. It is made in Malaysia.

• Sequential Read Performance: 3300MB/s, Sequential Write Performance: 1200MB/s
• Remarkable reliability features to help protect your content
• Slim M.2 2280 form factor, compatible with PCIe
• Save on space with a single-sided M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD
• ¹As used for storage capacity, 1GB=1,000,000,000 bytes and 1TB=1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Actual user capacity may be less depending on operating environment
• ²As used for transfer speed, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software components and configurations
• One-month Adobe Creative Cloud trial³. Enjoy the collection of creative desktop and mobile tools for your creative projects— photography, graphic design, video editing, UX design, social media, and more.
• 3Individual subscription, Internet connection and Adobe ID required. Not available in all countries. Limited to 1 per purchase, up to 5 per Adobe account, subject to applicable Terms of Use, and redemption by October 31, 2023.

I do not use it offer. Because a one-month adobe member is nothing for me. Not worth installing it for trial.

See it is installed inside of my Proxmox VE system. The 2.5Gbe PCIe adapter is also in the picture.

The post Use WD Blue SN570 for my Proxmox VE appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

I replaced the original WD WD10SPZX 1TB 2.5″ HDD, which is way too slow when booting or using it on Windows 11. OK let me show you how the Crucial P2 NVMe 500GB SSD.

The price is US$39.99 on Amazon.com.

• Capacity: Up to 2TB with sequential reads or writes up to 2400MB/s/1900MB/s
• NVMe PCIe interface, marking the next step in storage innovation
• Includes SSD management software for performance optimization, data security, and firmware updates
• Backed by a limited 5-year warranty or up to the max endurance rating of 150 TBW

The above description is copied from the Amazon product listing page.

Here are what I received and pictured.

Open the box and took inside out.

Let me show you the empty slot which Dell reserved for upgrading.

Installed the SSD into the slot.

After installing the new SSD and removing the old HDD. I made a fresh installation of Windows 11 on it. Then, I did the SSD performance test.

Actually, I did two rounds of tests. The first round used Microsoft’s generic Windows 11 in-box NVMe driver, stornvme.sys. The second round is to use Micron NVMe PCIe Controller driver, Micron is the mother company of Crucial. The driver is mtinvme.sys.

These two tests have very close test results. I think the generic driver is good enough.

The overall score is 2733.

The overall score is 2983.

Please be noticed that the reading speed is 1630MB/s. But the product description page said “sequential reads or writes up to 2400MB/s/1900MB/s“.

Why?

I did a lot of searches and found some posts on the computer hardware forums. They said the Dell Inspiron 15 has the limitation of the NVMe port. The maximum is 1800MB/s. Someone said because the laptop is running in GT2(I don’t understand it).

Anyway, there is no place to config or change the settings to make the NVMe get the Full Speed.

Now I would like to post more pictures of the installation and tests.

The post Crucial P2 NVMe M.2 SSD 500GB appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

I installed it on my desktop yesterday.

Look at what I got.

Quite easy. there is the place on the motherboard.

Then download the programs from Samsung official site.

• Data Migration Tool
• Magician Software

After installing the software, Data Migration Tool. I can clone the whole disk to Samsung 970 EVO Plus. My old system is installed on a Crucial SSD. Similar size. 250GB.

It took a while to complete the data migration.

Then I remove the old OS disk or Crucial MX100. Boot the PC and enter into the BIOS settings to change the boot device to 970 EVO Plus.

I booted the computer from Samsung 970 EVO Plus. All good. Just like nothing change. Even the boot time is not a big difference, compared with my old SSD.

Later, I installed the Samsung Magician Software v 5.3. It can be used to check the status of SSD and also do some testing and diagnose.

I would like to see big performance improvement from a SATA SSD to an NVME SSD. So far, I did not see it. I will do more finetune and test later.

I may forget to mention the specification of the new staff.

Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD, 250GB

Interface: PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4, NVMe 1.3

Storage Memory: Samsung V-NAND 3-bit MLC

Capacity: 250GB

Form Factor M.2(2280)

Dimension(WxHxD): 80.15 x 22.15 x 2.38(mm)

Controller: Samsung Phoenix Controller

Cache Memory: Samsung 512MB Low Power DDR4 SDRAM

Support:

• TRIM
• S.M.A.R.T
• Auto Garbage Collection Algorithm
• Device sleep mode
• AES 256-bit Encryption (class 0) TCG/Opal IEEE1667 (Encrypted drive)

Performance:

Sequential Read: 3,500MB/s

Sequential Write: 2,300 MB/s

Random Read(4KB, QD32): 250,000 IOPS

Random Write (4KB, QD32): 550,000 IOPS

Random Read (4KB, QD1): 17,000 IOPS

Random Write (4KB, QD1): 60,000 IOPS

Warranty:

5 Year Limited Warranty or 150TBW limited Warranty

The post Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 V-NAND SSD appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

There are three items. All are running on my desktop now.

• Kingston Hyper X  KHX 1600C9D3K2/8GB  (RAM)
• Western Digitial Caviar Blue 1TB (HDD)
• AMD A8-3870K Black APU Quad Core Processor and MSI A55M-P33 mATX FM! Motherboard (MoBo CPU bundle)

Later I bought a Crucial SDD for Windows system.

Here are some pictures.

I work on this PC for more than 6 years. Windows 10. Sometimes it powers off without notice. Now it is time to do some upgrade. Wait for the new computer parts from Amazon.

The post Desktop PC I am using for six years appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Now it is time to change HDD to SSD. I want to keep the system, data, everything on the HDD.

The original HDD on XPS 15 is Hard Drive 750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive.

The very first step is to clean my laptop.

Remove some useless programs and movies. Move one of the users’ data to NAS. Delete this user. Just keep one user, which is my daughter.  The purpose of this step is to reduce the data to less than 240GB.

The second step. Install SSD into Nexstar External Enclosure.

The third step. Clone the HDD to SSD.

I connect the enclosure to my laptop through USB cable. Install the cloning software, or migration software, which is shipping with SSD.

Acronis TrueImage.

When the cloning process finished, turn off the laptop. disconnect all cable and power.

The forth step, swap HDD with SSD.

I do not describe the details of how to disassemble the laptop, DELL XPS 15. I learn it from insidemylaptop.com

I took four screenshots of this web guide, which is required for HDD.

Look at my picture of my HDD.

Took out the HDD, put SSD in. Assemble the laptop. Put everything in order.

Las Step, Boot the laptop with SSD.

It is much fast than before.

After that all, I put HDD into the Enclosure and use it as a 750GB external drive.

The post DELL XPS 15 (L502X) Change HDD to SSD appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Model number  NST-200S3-BK

There are so many different models on market. It is hard to find which one is the best. I just pick up it based on the following features.

• Aluminum casing. Cools down hard driver fast.
• Support 2.5-inch SATA hard drive and SSD
• Maximum transfer rates up to 5 Gbps with USB 3.0
• Maximum transfer rates up to 480 Mbps with USB 2.0
• Backwards compatible with USB 2.0 or USB 1.1
• Hi-quality shielded USB 3.0 cable ensures data integrity and speed
• Attractive blue LED indicates Power and HDD activity

Open the box, there are USB 3.0 cable, quick installation guide, installation screws, and an enclosure itself.

Take a closer look at the enclosure:

It is a good product. I touch it and can feel the quality.

The post NexStar CX Super Speed 2.5-inch SATA to USB 3.0 External Enclosure appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

I have not found time to post what I did on it. Now I would like to record it here for future reference.  My elder daughter, Grace use a  laptop which is almost five years old. DELL XPS L502X.

To upgrade it and make it faster, I thought it is best to replace the old HDD with SSD.

Crucial BX200 240GB.

The Box Contains:

1. 2.5-inch 7mm SSD SATA 6GB/s
2. 7mm to 9.5mm spacer
3. Data migration software key.

This is the SSD itself.

Based on the official site Crucial BX200 SSD Specs

Capacity 240GB

Part Number CT240BX200SSD1

Sequential Read 540MB/s

Sequential Write 490MB/s

Random Read 66k IOPS

Random Write 78k IOPS

The total I paid is $95.19, including tax, and free shipping. I remember it took about two days to my home.

The post Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5-inch SSD appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

Crucial MX300 275GB is the smallest SSD in MX300 series.  There are also 525GB, 1TB, and 2TB.

The price on 275GB SSD box is US$75.95. Actually, it is on a sale of Back to School. The price after discount is $65.95. Sale tax is 8.75% in California. Total is US$71.72.

Let me check the price at NCIX.com.  Regular price is $109.99. It is CAD$99.99 now. Sale tax is 12% in BC. Total is CAD$111.99.

Do a calculation. 1 US Dollar equals to 1.28 Canadian Dollar. So US$71.72 = CAD$91.80. I saved 19% on it.(91.80/111.99 = 81.97%)

Look outside and inside of Crucial MX300 275GB SSD.

The items inside are one 2.5 inch SSD, one 7mm to 9.5mm spacer, Acronis True Image HD certificate.

Crucial MX300 SSD 275GB has following features:

• Capacity: 275GB
• Part Number: CT275MX300SSD1
• Sequential Read MB/s: 530
• Sequential Write MB/s: 500
• Random Read IOPS: 55k
• Random Write IOPS: 83k
• Dynamic Write Acceleration: Support.

( From Crucial website.)

The post Crucial MX300 275GB SSD appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

The testing tool is AS SSD Benchmark 1.9.5986.35387. It is latest one when I download it from the official site.

The result is not as good as I thought. I will check it later and see if it is any way can improve the performance.

The post AS SSD Benchmark Test on Crucial MX300 275GB appeared first on David Yin's Blog.

The original test I did in 2014 shown as below:

AS SSD Benchmark test Result on Crucial BX100 256GB SSD with MU02 Firmware

The new test I did ten minutes ago.

All test results are better than before. Same PC, Same SATA driver. Just different firmware.

Check the details of the benchmark report.

AS SSD Benchmark 1.7.4739.38088
——————————
Name: Crucial_CT256MX100SSD1 ATA Device
Firmware: MU02
Controller: msahci
Offset: 103424 K – OK
Size: 238.47 GB
Date: 5/18/2016 1:58:33 AM
——————————
Sequential:
——————————
Read: 367.06 MB/s
Write: 324.98 MB/s
——————————
4K:
——————————
Read: 25.48 MB/s
Write: 61.36 MB/s
——————————
4K-64Threads:
——————————
Read: 234.00 MB/s
Write: 174.37 MB/s
——————————
Access Times:
——————————
Read: 0.100 ms
Write: 0.069 ms
——————————
Score:
——————————
Read: 296
Write: 268
Total: 723
——————————

I will give the credit to the new firmware. Let’s look at the release notes of this firmware.

Release Date: 04/14/2015

Firmware for the BX100 (all form factors) is being updated from version MU01 to MU02. The BX100 is updateable to this new firmware starting from previous versions using tools provided by Micron.

This update will be mandatory cut-in for new product built in Micron factories, and is an OPTIONAL update for any drive in the field. For end users, it is recommended if the user is experiencing or wishes to prevent an issue related to the following items.

Version MU02 includes the following changes:

• Improved Device Sleep and Slumber transitions.

• Corrected SMART attribute threshold values.

• Improved general reliability and stability.

When I do the firmware upgrade, it provides two optional methods.

The first one, which I used, is to use Crucial Storage Executive.

I just download this Crucial software, and installed it on my Windows 7. Run it and use Live update. Then reboot.  All done.

The second one is to download an ISO file.

It takes time to download a ISO file; Burn it to a CD or USB drive; Boot the PC with this bootable media; upgrade automatically; reboot.

It worth to do it.

The post Upgrade Curcial BX100 SSD Firmware appeared first on David Yin's Blog.