Latitude E6420 and E6430 mSATA SSD compatibility and BIOS issue

Hi Otto89,

Latitude E6420 and E6430 are not designed to install the mSATA drive on the system. The slot provided is for WWAN cards. Therefore, I am afraid there will be no BIOS update released to customize the mSATA drive.

Please reply for any queries.

Hello.

Is it still valid regarding DELL 6430? I have just seen this ppt where is mentioned mobility SATA support up to 256GB.

Is it possible to install it to WWAN port now?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=dell%20e6430%20msata%20in%20wwan&source=web&cd=24&ved=0CD4QFjADOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpartnerdirect.dell.com%2Fsites%2Fchannel%2FDocuments%2FLatitude-E4-Technical-Guidebook.pptx&ei=hvXdUPTIE-Oo4gS58oHwCA&usg=AFQjCNHgr6xx3GhTtEw0LJnDZ5g02fJZXQ&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.bGE

Thank you in advance for your answer

Patrik

Tes mSATA and mPCI  use the same port, but to be able to support mSATA the port need to have a SATA controler contected to it, the latitude does not have it, but the the Precision do, so it is able to use both types. I have a E6430 to, so it would have been nice if it were supported.

There are actually not many laptops that support this dual function. The newer Dell Vostro and Presition do and all newer lenovo thinkpads does as well, no HP support it as far as I know.

I had my 6420 apart a couple of months ago and I clearly remember seeing TWO mini-PCIe slots.  One labeled WWAN and one labeled mSATA.  The WWAN slot was 90 degrees from the mSATA slot.  It appeared that the mSATA only had enough room to accommodate the mini-mSATA sized card while the WWAN slot could accommodate the full sized mini-PCIe card.

Also you could only use one card (WWAN or mSATA) as the same space inside the cabinet was being used.

I should add I have the E6420-ATG.  I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Cornstick is exactly correct. I have a many of the M and E series Dells here and the M4400 and M4500 can accept the full length (2" long) msata cards. The E6420 and such use what is called msata-mini or half which are 1" in length. One installed it shows up in the bios as a boot option. I have a M4500 here with the CD/DVD bay exchanged to a second hard drive bay. It runs essentially three hard drives, msata, and two 2tb hard drives. The dual 2tb drives are 2.5" samsungs at 9mm thickness.

These laptops DO have a port listed as WWAN which as someone else stated, is a pci path and corresponding bus but it is not a path to a sata controller. There are a few laptop models in which the WWAN labled slot can function as both a pci path and a sata path, but this is listed in the bios as such. The M series and E series mentioned in this post are NOT dual option on that WWAN port.

So basically you need a Dell model that has specifically provided a msata port AND you need to know if the port you have requires a 1 inch (25mm) or 2 inch (50mm) msata card.

Dell M4300 - Has WLAN, WWAN/FCM. The FCM is a Flash Card Module. NOT dual eSata option.

Dell M4400 - Has WLAN, WWAN and mSATA ports. The mSATA port takes 50mm (full card)

Dell M4500 - Has WLAN, WWAN and mSATA ports. The mSATA port takes 50mm (full card)

On the Dell E6420 when you flip it upside down with the battery away from you and remove the cover the WWAN and mSATA ports are to the extreme left, and furthest away from you. The WWAN port inserts to the left and the mSATA inserts away from you. They overlap each other and mSATA is deeper into the machine (the WWAN would lock into place over the mSATA)

The M6420 mSATA port is labeled "mini mylar" on the five units I have here. The computer will run WLAN, WWAN and mSATA at the same time. The WLAN must be 25mm (short). The WWAN must be 50mm (long) and the mSATA must be 25mm (short).

Dell E6520 - Has WLAN, WWAN, and mSATA ports. The mSATA port takes 25mm (half card) and you can runn all three devices at the same time.

Dell XT3 - Has WLAN, WWAN and mSATA ports. The mSATA port takes 25mm (half card)

> Dell E6420 - Has WLAN, WWAN and mSATA ports. The mSATA port takes

> 25mm (half card) and you can only run either the WWAN or the mSATA

Can you clarify if this means that I can use WiFi to connect to my home network and also have a mSATA SSD at the same time?

On the Dell E6420 when you flip it upside down with the battery away from you and remove the cover the WWAN and mSATA ports are to the extreme left, and furthest away from you. The WWAN port inserts to the left and the mSATA inserts away from you. They overlap each other and mSATA is deeper into the machine (the WWAN would lock into place over the mSATA)

The M6420 mSATA port is labeled "mini mylar" on the five units I have here. The computer will run WLAN, WWAN and mSATA at the same time. The WLAN must be 25mm (short). The WWAN must be 50mm (long) and the mSATA must be 25mm (short).

Sunk818 - Will run wifi and msata at the same time.

I will correct my original post to reflect this.

Hi, Can you confirm that you have tested the msata port on a latitude e6420!

This "dell Ravi BC" guy is confusing me ( as Dell employee). My latitude's pci-e slot under the wwan card slot is not labeled at all.

Thanks!

I have tried is not working.

I have a mSATA in my E6430. I got a mSATA to SATA adapter, cost me $6, plugged into the primary HD slot. There is no performance loss using this adapter. Then got a 1TB 6gb/s SATA HD, stuck that where the DVD player once was, adapter $20, and use that for storage, temp, cache, Linux (dual-boot), etc. I can honestly say that it now boots into windows 10 in about 5 seconds.  ZOOM! ZOOM!

hello did u fix this problem i have the same one.also my problem is i get all going but cant get the wifi working 

I opened the back of my Dell Latitude E6420. There is an actual slot for a 50mm WWAN and a 25mm mSATA SSD and there is still a wireless card which looks very similar to the 25 mm card. But not sure of you work for dell but you are wrong. I too at first wanted to install a msata card in he side removable slot. Im not sure what that is doe . Used to be ??? I dont know. This is actually my first dell. Always had sony. Of the 4 brand new top of the line Sonys I purchased 3 dies within 18 months. So I went and switched to Apple after using Windows since 1985. But you know I know this is an older Dell. It has a second gen I7 quad core CPU and an after marked SSD. I installed Windows 10 with the free upgrade from 8.1. I gotta say I am impressed. I only bought the Dell because I bought a eBay Chinese laser and they only work with windows. (they recommend XP. Get what you pay for. But I just wanted to say after all these years I stuck with Sony because I get loyal like that. Well now Dell has another long time customer in my. (untill and if I get Sonied) This laptop so far has worked flawless and I am happy I can put a SSD inside. I wish I could use the 50mm slot. The 25mm Dell SSDs are super expensive. Samsung has a 50mm 850 which is a good one. 512gb but its 50mm. 6 gps. Amazon for 119.99 Dell is 4 times that. But at least these something there. I can always swap out the DVD which I no longer use anyway.

So is there someone who successfully installed a mSATA SSD in a E6430? I also noticed there are actually 3 slots, 1 is occupied with a 25mm WLAN (JMINI2) and the other two are empty, marked JMINI1 - WWAN (50mm) and JMINI3 - 1/2 MINI (25mm). WWAN and 1/2 MINI overlap one another, 1/2 MINI inserts vertically (north - south), WWAN horizonatally (east-west).