The mSATA / mPCI-e twins, Can't identify, help.

[NonStandardUser]

I have a 5-year old laptop (LG A510-DE30K) as my daily driver, and I had recently made an upgrade to the storage: adding a 256GB adata SSD to go along my old 500GB toshiba HDD. But there is a thing in  my laptop which continues to bother me: next to my intel WiFi card(obviously mPCIE), I have a spare port that looks exactly the same. And I am very troubled about what port this is, since should this support mSATA, I am going to go with another mSATA SSD upgrade.  So here's some questions: A. Is my laptop equipped with an mSATA port(this spare port)? B.If this spare port is mPCIE, which I guess would be more likely, would an mSATA SSD work on this? C. Regardless of the answers of the prior questions, What else can I do with this port? Attatched are images of my intel Wifi card and the spare port in question. I would appreciate any sort of genuine and on-point answers. Thanks .

P.S. Would like some good answers fast:), since I am very much stressed about this. Can't find good data on the internet.

[Moonzy]

looks like an mSata more than an M.2

check your laptop's manufacturer website, they'll list it there i supose

[xentropa]

mpcie and msata are literally exactly the same pin pattern which makes it quite confusing.  Whether it can handle an sata device, or a pcie device is determined by what the controller chip is configured to on the other end.  If controller chip supports both sata and pcie devices though this single interface, then any device will do.  Otherwise if the controller chip supports only one or the other, then that is what you are limited to.  Can't really tell by the pictures alone, you might need to contact the manufacturer or just experiment on your own.

[Howlingwolf101]

Taking a look at an mSATA I had on hand, it looks like it will fit but like @Moonzy said, the laptop manufacturer's website should tell you

[NonStandardUser]

Ok...

[NonStandardUser]

44 minutes ago, xentropa said:

mpcie and msata are literally exactly the same pin pattern which makes it quite confusing.  Whether it can handle an sata device, or a pcie device is determined by what the controller chip is configured to on the other end.  If controller chip supports both sata and pcie devices though this single interface, then any device will do.  Otherwise if the controller chip supports only one or the other, then that is what you are limited to.  Can't really tell by the pictures alone, you might need to contact the manufacturer or just experiment on your own.

Well, should've expected it- but the reason I'm posting this here is because I can't get to that information. No such friendly (or rather, unnecessarily specific) spec listings about LG. Guess I'll find out by spending about $900 for an 256gig msata ssd

But I very much appreciate your reply, thanks.

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, leaderkys said:

Guess I'll find out by spending about $900 for an 256gig msata ssd

or just dont touch it o-o

[NonStandardUser]

6 hours ago, Moonzy said:

or just dont touch it o-o

Wait, I meant $90 lol.

[Moonzy]

3 hours ago, leaderkys said:

Wait, I meant $90 lol.

i still wouldnt use $90 to bet on things lol