M.2 questions , different hardware types

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#298607 1-Jul-2022 09:00

Hi.

Im unsure about all the differing M.2 hardware formats

PCIe, SATA, M key, M+B key , B Key

So, whats the easiest way to tell what I might have , what the Motherboard/Notebook supports , what a USB M.2 enclosure supports
Also, whats now the most common

Much of the manufacturers info is a bit vague , especially for USB readers/enclosures .

Jase2985

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#2936811 1-Jul-2022 09:09

https://www.atpinc.com/blog/what-is-m.2-M-B-BM-key-socket-3

Fast M.2 NvME drives should be M key to conform with PCIE x4 spec

Dynamic

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#2936812 1-Jul-2022 09:11

Documentation is your friend. Look a little harder.

Not saying that to be an ass. This is not something to guess with. I've made purchasing errors in the past.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Jase2985

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#2936817 1-Jul-2022 09:32

Dynamic:

Documentation is your friend. Look a little harder.

Not saying that to be an ass. This is not something to guess with. I've made purchasing errors in the past.

not to be an ass but you try finding that for some devices, its non existent.

Just says something like "The M.2 2280 slot does not support M.2 SATA SSD."

Motherboards are usually pretty good but laptops and the actual SSD's themselves from what ive just seen are pretty poor.

Mehrts

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#2936902 1-Jul-2022 11:04

To put it very basically and generally:

PCIe (NVMe) based drives will have the M key, this is identified by the pins having one gap in them. These drives are the best for performance, since they interface directly with the PCIe lanes.

SATA based drives will have the B+M keys, and are identified by the pins having two gaps. These drives won't have any better performance than regular 2.5" SSDs due to using the same SATA protocol.

Some motherboards support either PCIe & SATA drives in one slot, and the drive type is then configured in the UEFI/BIOS. It all depends if you want to use up PCIe lanes and have better performance, or only use SATA and have average performance if 4 PCIe lanes aren't available due to CPU/chipset limitations.