What to Buy to Recover Data from mSATA Drive from Laptop

After the overwhelming help for my last post, I'm hoping to pick the brains of the ozbargain community again. Once I dismantle my dead laptop and get the mSATA drive out, what do I need to actually get the data out? I've tried googling and whirlpool but still haven't worked it out = (

It's a 256 GB mSATA SSD that's the primary (only) drive on the computer. I found https://www.howtogeek.com/182452/how-to-get-data-off-an-old-… but the linked items (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DQJME7Y/) appears to be only for 2.5inch SSDs and not mSATAs? Am I better off just getting the cheapest external enclosure from ebay? Given it has an OS installed into it, will I have to do anything special in order to access the files on the disc?

Comments

  • +1

    Any of these https://staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=msata+usb&spos… as long as the drive is working.
    You won't need anything special even if it has an OS on it. But plug it in after you have booted your computer otherwise you might boot the mSATA drive.
    It'll just appear as another drive on your machine.

  • thanks, just made the purchase on the cheapie I posted on my ebay link. Will update by the end of the week whether everything went smoothly.

    • I am sure it will work fine, looks like a decent piece of hardware. The process is easy (unless the drive is faulty). If you are stuck with anything, try here or on Whirlpool forum, I am sure that someone will help :)

  • cheers for that, first time asking for help here and the community seems a lot more helpful than whirlpool!

    • +1

      Trolls, trolls, trolls… there are everywhere. I am yet to experience a forum without them. Only recently I experienced a series of shallow, elliptical pseudo-arguments disrupting normal on-topic discussion and devoid of any logic, yet stubbornly continued by a troll for his amusement… I think that it is impossible to say which forum community is more helpful: Whirlpool, OzBargain, Overclockers Australia? If there are some good people, they make good forum. Ignore trolls - without audience they get bored, go, or just fade away.

  • hi everyone, so unfortunately the enclosure I bought doesn't seem to fit the drive.

    I've now dismantled my laptop and the model is an ADATA AXNS381E0256GM-B
    It looks the same as the below link:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/762214-001-Hp-13-J020CA-AXNS381E-256…

    I measured it and it's around 8cm long which isn't one of the standard sizes? or am I measuring it wrong.

    thanks!

    • You have an M.2 drive and not an mSata hence why it won't fit.

  • Urggh so annoyed that on the HP site and all descriptions of the drive it just says mSSD drive.
    Any enclosures people will recommend for a m2 - usb?

    • m2 to pci to usb, it is something really great. Can be used without cable as well.

  • m2 to pci-or-m/SATAIII to usb, you could do it without cables too

  • You could try this:
    http://www.msy.com.au/wa/balcatta/peripherals/18174-unitek-y…

    Specs page:
    http://www.unitek-products.com/search?view=product&id=180

    Or this:
    http://www.msy.com.au/wa/balcatta/peripherals/18175-simpleco…

    note: Both enclosures above are for M.2 SSD's (3 prongs, 2 gaps) and not the NVMe M.2 (2 prongs, 1 gap)

  • by the way, if you're talking about nvme ssd's, the quickest way to differentiate is:

    do I have 2 gaps where I plug in the ssd or 1?
    2: you're on m2 sata
    1: you're on nvme pcie

    there's not many general domestic market builds that use the u form factor

    edit: this(above) info is probably old now, I was in the pcie ssd market 2 years ago, so the standards may have changed

    https://rog.asus.com/articles/hands-on/easy-guide-to-ssds-sa…

    • I don't think that's quite accurate.
      M.2 and mini PCI-e are physical connectors, while NVME and SATA are the protocols which describe how the bits flow across the wire.
      M.2 devices can come in SATA (eg Samsung 850 Evo) and can come in NVME (eg Samsung 960 Evo).
      A mini PCI-e socket may (but not always) have the capability to host an mSATA device.

  • I had to dig this up from the Asus forum from early last year… use this if you want inspiration for backyard job.
    https://rog.asus.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=57768…

    that is a 950 and 850 pro.
    I got my inspiration from another user who used Jesus Tape as filler.

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