Latitude E6520 "FLASH SATA" port - **what* can be used in this slot???

It is for an m-SATA SSD card.  For example,

www.intel.com/.../solid-state-drives-310-series.html

It is for an m-SATA SSD card.  For example, www.intel.com/.../solid-state-drives-310-series.html

hi, EJN63 the proposed Intel 310 SSD even does not fit the size of the SATA/FLASH compartment. The said SSD is twice that big compared to the room available by the slots. How have you arrived to your opinion? I would love to put a bootable SSD into my E6520 next to 500GB HDD to speed up my system, but am not able to find any way how to do that.

Petr Jan 

Ah, if only that were true.  Again, several individuals (one in particular) has exhaustively tried several SSD's in this slot... and not one of them will work for booting, or even to be recognized in some cases..

This is such a GLARING defect....to have the slot, and not be able to effectively use it.  Just think, everyone, how nice it would be to have your OS on this SSD and everything else on a mechanical HD....... Come on, Dell....make this WORK!

well, it would seem Dell will not step up to the plate and do something about this - a real shame as it seems the M-series laptops with, I think, the same motherboard do work with only BIOS modifications.

It would be NICE if Dell made the effort to port those BIOS changes to the e6520 line.......REALLY nice.....

My understanding is it is a "m-sata mini" I haven't purchased any of the devices for it but the one dell sells boots to a custom linux kernel and functions like a mobile thin client, you can buy others off amazon or other sites.

Hi Derek, nice thought, but unfortunately, not true.  This slot will *not* support any type of mSATA SSD.  It is, essentially, useless for the enduser.

As I have been very satisified with every aspect of this laptop except for hard drive expansion, I am now waiting for a Samsung 850 EVO 1TB to come down in price enough to just replace my mechanical hard drive.

Hi ranran, to sump up  if I understand it correctly, the port called "FLASH SATA" dont work unless dell upgrade the Bios and make the port functionnel ? :emotion-7:

FLASH SATA" port

I have a FEDERAL e6520 with the SATA FLASH device installed from the factory.

To the best of my knowledge (limited at best) it is a restoration partition only accessible from the BIOS.

It works like a system restore USB drive that Dell sold as an accessory in the same time period.

An accessory USB Restore drive must be attached and booted into for a restore, and detached to resume normal operation.

The SATA FLASH is resident and does not require any (attach or detach) function as it is internally driven. 

So then, in theory with the proper equipment, one could remotely access this computer and reset the drive from a cell phone.

My SATA FLASH was installed by Dell and custom configured by Dell.

The documentation for the device is in the original configuration information.

Solution.

Buy this from ebay,

Item:  
222078385248 or 
322083797188

SanDisk X110 128GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) Solid State Drive (SSD) SD6SF1M-128G-1022I

SanDisk X110 32GB Mini-SATA mSATA Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SD6SF1M-032G

Install software from Intel:

Intel Rapid Storage Technology.

How it will work:

By installing the software, it will detect the mSATA Drive and will use it as cache, to speed up the PC, I will not recommend installing the OS on the SSD since it will take up space really fast and Windows 7 or 10 will only detect 25% of the drive and not all of it (do not know why).  If you want to have a fast setup, buy a Seagate Momemtus XT 500 GB or a 1 TER, some have 8GB of SSD Cache and the newer ones have 32GB SSD and it is configured to act as 1 drive, a very fast one for gaming.  Since 2011, prices on SSD have gone down and maybe you could find something better.