Both in the past and this year, articles about SSDs can be safely started with the same passage: “The solid-state drive market is on the verge of major changes.” For many months now, we have been looking forward to the moment when manufacturers finally start releasing fundamentally new models of mass SSDs for personal computers, which will use a faster PCI Express bus instead of the usual SATA 6 Gb / s interface. But the bright moment when the market is flooded with fresh and noticeably more high-performance solutions, everything is postponed and postponed, mainly due to delays in bringing the necessary controllers to mind. The same single models of consumer SSDs with a PCI Express bus, which nevertheless become available, are still clearly experimental in nature and cannot impress us with their speed.
Being in such a languid expectation of changes, it is easy to lose sight of other events that, although they do not have a fundamental impact on the entire industry, are nevertheless important and interesting. Something similar just happened to us: quietly in the consumer SSD market, new trends began to spread, to which we had hardly paid attention until now. SSDs of a new format - M.2 - began to appear on sale in large quantities. A couple of years ago, this form factor was discussed only as a promising standard, but over the past year and a half, it has managed to gain a huge number of supporters among both platform developers and SSD manufacturers. As a result, M.2 drives are not uncommon today, but an everyday reality. They are produced by many manufacturers, they are freely sold in stores and installed everywhere in computers. Moreover, the M.2 format has managed to win a place for itself not only in mobile systems, for which it was originally intended. Many desktop motherboards today are also equipped with an M.2 slot, as a result of which such SSDs are actively penetrating, including classic desktops.
With all this in mind, we have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to pay close attention to M.2 SSDs. Despite the fact that many models of such flash drives are analogues of the usual 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, which are tested by our laboratory on a regular basis, there are also original products among them that do not have twins of the classic form factor. Therefore, we decided to catch up and conduct a unified summary testing of the most popular capacities of 128 and 256 GB available in domestic stores M.2 SSD. Assistance in the implementation of this venture was provided to us by the Moscow company " Regard”, offering an extremely wide range of SSDs, including in the M.2 form factor.
⇡ Unity and Diversity of the World M.2
M.2 slots and cards (previously called Next Generation Form Factor - NGFF) were originally designed as a faster and more compact replacement for mSATA, a popular standard used by solid state drives in various mobile platforms. But unlike its predecessor, M.2 offers fundamentally more flexibility in both logical and mechanical terms. The new standard describes several options for the length and width of cards, and also allows you to use both SATA and faster PCI Express interfaces to connect solid state drives.
There is no doubt that PCI Express will replace the drive interfaces we are used to. The direct use of this bus without additional add-ons allows you to reduce latency when accessing data, and due to its scalability, it significantly increases throughput. Even two PCI Express 2.0 lanes can provide significantly higher data transfer rates compared to the usual SATA 6 Gb / s interface, and the M.2 standard allows you to connect to an SSD using up to four PCI Express 3.0 lanes. The foundation for bandwidth growth thus laid will lead to a new generation of high-speed SSDs capable of faster operating system and application loading, as well as lower latency when moving large amounts of data.
| SSD interface | Maximum theoretical bandwidth | Maximum real throughput (estimate) |
| SATA III | 6 Gb/s (750 MB/s) | 600 MB/s |
| PCIe 2.0x2 | 8 Gbps (1 GB/s) | 800 MB/s |
| PCIe 2.0 x4 | 16 Gbps (2 GB/s) | 1.6 GB/s |
| PCIe 3.0 x4 | 32 Gbps (4 GB/s) | 3.2 GB/s |
Formally, the M.2 standard is a mobile version of the SATA Express protocol described in the SATA 3.2 specification. However, it so happened that over the past couple of years, M.2 has spread much more widely than SATA Express: M.2 connectors can now be found on current motherboards and laptops, and SSDs in the M.2 form factor are widely available for sale. SATA Express is not able to boast of such support from the industry. This is partly due to the greater flexibility of M.2: depending on the implementation, this interface can be compatible with devices using the SATA, PCI Express, and even USB 3.0 protocols. Moreover, in its maximum version, M.2 supports up to four PCI Express lines, while SATA Express connectors are capable of transmitting data over only two such lines. In other words, today it is M.2 slots that seem not only convenient, but also a more promising foundation for future SSDs. Not only are they suitable for both mobile and desktop applications, they also offer the highest throughput of any existing consumer SSD connectivity options.
However, given the fact that the key property of the M.2 standard is the variety of its types, it should be borne in mind that not all M.2 drives are the same, and their compatibility with various versions of the corresponding slots is a separate story. For starters, commercially available M.2 SSD boards are 22mm wide but come in five lengths: 30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm. This dimension is reflected in the marking, for example, the M.2 2280 form factor means that the drive card has a width of 22 mm and a length of 80 mm. For M.2 slots, on the other hand, a complete list of dimensions of drive cards with which they can be physically compatible is usually indicated.
The second feature that differentiates different M.2 variants is the "keys" in the slotted slot and, accordingly, in the knife slot of the cards, which prevent the installation of drive cards in slots that are logically incompatible with them. At the moment, M.2 SSD uses two options for the location of the keys from the eleven different positions described in the specification. Two more options have found use on WLAN and Bluetooth cards in the M.2 form factor (yes, this happens, for example, the Intel 7260NGW wireless adapter), and seven key positions are reserved for the future.
M.2 slots can only have one partition key, but M.2 cards can have multiple notch keys at once, making them compatible with multiple slot types at the same time. The type B key, located instead of pins 12-19, means that no more than two PCI Express lanes are connected to the slot. The type M key, which occupies pin positions 59-66, means that the slot has four PCI Express lanes and therefore can provide higher performance. In other words, an M.2 card must not only be the right size, but also have a key layout that is compatible with the slot. At the same time, the keys not only limit the mechanical compatibility between various connectors and M.2 form factor boards, but also perform another function: their location prevents the drives from being installed incorrectly in the slot.
The information given in the table should help to correctly identify the type of slot available in the system. But you need to keep in mind that the possibility of mechanical docking of the slot and the connector is only a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for their full logical compatibility. The fact is that slots with keys B and M can be used not only for the PCI Express interface, but also for SATA, but the location of the keys does not provide any information about its absence or presence. The same goes for M.2 card slots.
| Knife connector type B | Knife connector type M | Knife connector with keys type B and M | |
| Scheme |
|
|
|
| Slot location | Contacts 12-19 | Contacts 59-66 | Contacts 12-19 and 59-66 |
| SSD interface | PCIe x2 | PCIe x4 | PCIe x2, PCIe x4 or SATA |
| Mechanical compatibility | M.2 slot with type B key | M.2 slot with M key | M.2 slots with Type B or Type M keys |
| Common SSD Models | Not | Samsung XP941 (PCIe x4) | Most M.2 SATA SSDs Plextor M6e (PCIe x2) |
There is one more problem. It lies in the fact that many motherboard developers ignore the requirements of the specifications and install the most “cool” M-key slots on their products, but only two of the four PCIe lanes are placed on them. In addition, the M.2 slots available on motherboards may not be compatible with SATA drives at all. In particular, ASUS sins with its love for installing M.2 slots with reduced SATA functionality. SSD manufacturers adequately respond to these challenges, many of which prefer to make both key cutouts on their cards at once, which makes it possible to physically install drives in M.2 slots of any type.
As a result, it turns out that it is impossible to determine the real possibilities, compatibility and availability of the SATA interface in M.2 slots and connectors by external signs alone. Therefore, complete information about the features of the implementation of certain slots and drives can only be obtained from the passport characteristics of a particular device.
Fortunately, at the moment the range of M.2 drives is not so large, so the situation has not had time to get completely confused. In fact, there is only one PCIe x2 M.2 drive model on the market so far, the Plextor M6e, and one PCIe x4 model, the Samsung XP941. All other flash drives available in stores in the M.2 form factor use the familiar SATA 6 GB / s protocol. At the same time, all M.2 SSDs found in domestic stores have two key cutouts - in positions B and M. The only exception is Samsung XP941, which has only one key - in position M, but it is not sold in Russia.
However, if your computer or motherboard has an M.2 slot and you plan to populate it with an SSD, there are a few things you need to check first:
- Does your system support M.2 SATA SSD, M.2 PCIe SSD, or both?
- If the system has support for M.2 PCIe drives, how many PCI Express lanes are connected to the M.2 slot?
- What key layout on the SSD card does the M.2 slot in the system allow?
- What is the maximum length of an M.2 card that can be installed in your motherboard?
And only after you can definitely answer all these questions, you can proceed to the selection of a suitable SSD model.
While desktop hard drives have been around for years in the 3.5-inch form factor, SSDs have been in the 2.5-inch format since the beginning. It was great for small SSD components. However, laptops were getting thinner, and 2.5-inch SSDs no longer met the criterion of small size. Therefore, many manufacturers have turned their attention to other form factors with smaller dimensions.
In particular, the mSATA standard was developed, but it appeared too late. The corresponding interface is quite rare today, in no small part because mSATA (short for mini-SATA) still operates at the comparatively slow speed of SATA. mSATA drives are physically identical to Mini PCI Express modules, but mSATA and mini PCIe are not electrically compatible. If the socket is for mSATA drives, you will only be able to use them. Conversely, if the socket is for mini PCI Express modules, mSATA SSDs can be inserted but will not work.
The mSATA standard can be considered obsolete today. It gave way to the M.2 standard, which was originally called the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF). The M.2 standard gives manufacturers more flexibility in terms of SSD dimensions, since the drives are much more compact, eight lengths are allowed, from 16 to 110 mm. M.2 also supports different interface options. Today, the PCI Express interface is increasingly used, which will dominate in the future, because it works much faster. But the first M.2 drives relied on the SATA interface, and USB 3.0 is theoretically possible. However, not all M.2 slots support all of the interfaces mentioned. Therefore, before buying a drive, check which standards your M.2 slot supports.
The M.2 standard is now spreading among desktop PCs, modern motherboards offer at least one corresponding slot. Another positive point is that the cable is no longer required, the drive is inserted directly into the motherboard slot. However, connection via cable is also possible. But for this, the motherboard must have an appropriate port, namely U.2. Previously, this standard was known as SFF 8639. Of course, it is theoretically possible to equip 2.5-inch drives with a U.2 port, but there are very few such models on the market, as well as drives with SATA Express.
The SATA Express interface is the successor to SATA 6Gb/s and is therefore backwards compatible. In fact, the host interface even supports two SATA 6 Gb / s ports or one SATA Express. This support was added more for compatibility as SATA Express drives are electrically connected to the PCI Express bus. That is, SATA Express drives on "clean" SATA 6 Gb / s ports do not work. But SATA Express only relies on two PCIe lanes, which means the throughput will be half that of M.2.
Compact and very fast: M.2 SSDs with PCI Express interface, photo with adapter card
Of course, most desktops have regular PCI Express slots, so you can install an SSD directly into a slot such as a graphics card. You can purchase an adapter card for M.2 SSD (PCIe), and then connect the drives in the "traditional" way in the form of a PCI Express expansion card.
M.2 SSDs with PCI Express interface show throughput of more than two gigabytes per second - but only with the right connection. Modern M.2 SSDs are usually designed for four lanes of third generation PCI Express, only this interface allows you to unlock their performance potential. With the old PCIe 2.0 standard and/or fewer lanes, SSD drives will work, but you will lose a very significant amount of performance. When in doubt, we recommend looking at the motherboard user manual for the M.2 line configuration.
If the motherboard does not have an M.2 slot, you can install one via an expansion card, for example, in a slot for a second video card. However, in this case, most often, not 16, but 8 PCI Express lanes will be supplied to the video card. However, this will not affect the performance of the video card so seriously. The following table summarizes the modern interfaces:
| Form Factor | Connection | Max. speed | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5 inches | SATA 6Gb/s | ~ 600 MB/s | Standard SSD form factor for desktop PCs as well as many laptops. Various body heights are available. There are SATA ports on any motherboard, so compatibility is very wide. |
| mSATA | SATA 6Gb/s | ~ 600 MB/s | The form factor is intended mainly for laptops. There was only one size available. Uses a native format slot. |
| M.2 | PCIe 3.0 x4 | ~ 3800 MB/s | Form factor for laptops and desktops. Available in different sizes. Many new laptops and motherboards have an M.2 slot. |
| SATA Express | PCIe 3.0x2 | ~ 1969 MB/s | Successor to SATA 6Gb/s. Uses two PCIe lanes instead of four as in M.2. There are almost no compatible drives on the market as manufacturers prefer M.2, a smaller and faster format. |
In this enlightened age, many people have heard about SSD drives without going into too much detail. Unlike traditional hard drives, which have only a couple of form factors - 2.5 "and 3.5", here there is a greater variety of sizes.
This is due to the wider scope of solid-state drives: the hard drive is used in desktop PCs and laptops, but the SSD can already be installed in a tablet and even a top-end shovel phone.
Today we’ll talk about the difference between ssd and ssd m2: is this difference so fundamental and what practical benefit can the user gain by preferring a certain part.
A little about SATA in relation to SSD
The SATA serial data transfer interface, developed in 2003, replaced the outdated IDE on hard drives. Having successfully changed three revisions, he still holds the leading position. It is not surprising that with the advent of the first SSD drives, he migrated here as well, as one (but not the only!) Of the interfaces.
Of the minuses in relation to SSD, it is worth noting that the phenomenal speed of the memory cells, in this case, is limited by the transfer rate of the SATA interface. Yes, a solid-state drive can also be connected to an old motherboard, which also uses SATA ports of the first revision, but the user will not notice a noticeable performance increase. 
On the other hand, it is convenient for minor computer upgrades: there is no need to purchase additional adapters. As a rule, even a computer with a pair of hard drives and an optical drive still has free SATA slots.
mSATA and M.2 Features
mSATA is a relatively new form factor for solid state drives. In addition to dimensions, they differ in the way they are connected: such drives are plugged into a mini-PCIe slot. In addition to physical compatibility, electrical compatibility is also required, that is, the supply of the necessary voltage. Usually this is directly indicated by the manufacturer in the documentation for the motherboard.
The same is true for M.2 drives that plug into a PCI-Express slot. There is one caveat: most motherboards have only one such connector, and usually it is already occupied by a video card. There is a high probability that a small upgrade will not work and, in addition, you will have to buy a new “mother”.
However, when building a computer from scratch, M.2 is a good option for connecting an SSD.
What is its advantage? Such drives are theoretically ten times faster than traditional SATA in terms of data transfer speed. In practice, even triple the speed - and your computer "flies" even when running the most fashionable games (of course, if the processor and video card also match).
Digging into the description of an M.2 SSD, you can also see incomprehensible sets of numbers - for example, 2242, 2260 or 2280. Everything is simple here: these are its physical dimensions. 22 is the width, i.e. 22mm, which corresponds to the width of the PCIe slot. The remaining two digits are the length in millimeters. 
When choosing such a drive, you should correlate this value with the dimensions of the case of the system unit: if its form factor does not match the length of the SSD, in order for the drive to fit, you will either have to change the case, or “upgrade” the one that is, using metal scissors. From an aesthetic point of view, this solution looks disgusting.
If you still doubt whether you need such a device at all or if it’s better to use a hard drive “in the old fashioned way”, I advise you to read the publications “” and “”. I hope I explained clearly what is needed.
And for those whom I have already convinced, and who will soon go to the store for a new drive, the rating of solid-state SSD drives that you will find will be useful.
Personally, I recommend paying attention to the "traditional" Kingston UV500
Samsung Electronics announced the launch of the first Samsung 950 PRO Series M.2 SSD with scalable NVM Express controller(Non-Volatile Memory Express). Let's figure out why Samsung is moving to a new form factor and controller, as well as what is good for the user.
To date, it is M.2 slots that seem to be the most promising for SSDs: they are able to provide the highest throughput among all existing options for connecting solid state drives.
What is NVM?
The biggest problem for SSDs today is the bandwidth limitation of the older Serial ATA and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) buses. The bandwidth of the latest SATA-III is 600 MB/s, the data transfer rate of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS 12G) is 1.2 GB/s. Modern SSDs are capable of more.The NVMe protocol speeds up I/O operations by eliminating the SAS command stack (SCSI). NVMe SSDs plug directly into the PCIe bus. Applications get a dramatic performance boost from shifting I/O activity from SAS/SATA SSD and HDD to NVMe SSD. Memory devices of a new type of storage are nonvolatile (non-volatile) and the delay in accessing them is significantly lower - at the level of delays in random access (volatile) memory.
The NVMe controller demonstrates all the advantages of SSD: very low access latency and huge queue depth for read and write operations. The extremely low latency of storage devices significantly reduces the chances of data table locks during table updates. This is critical for multi-user databases with complex and interrelated tables.
M.2 connector on the motherboard.
Today, NVM Express (NVMe) is supported by all ASUS motherboards based on the Intel Z97 Express and X99 Express chipsets - for this you need to update the UEFI BIOS and use the ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card as an option.
The expansion card allows owners of boards based on the X99 chipset to connect 2.5" drives with an NVMe interface - for example, Intel SSD 750 using the SFF-8639 (mini-SAS HD) connector. The drive itself will also have an SFF-8639 connector, it looks like this:
If the motherboard does not have an M.2 connector or it is not possible to use it, there are adapter cards for PCIe:
Supermicro unveiled NVMe-optimized solutions:
The NVMe Virtual SAN-ready SuperServer delivers industry-leading performance and density in a 1U Ultra 10x NVMe solution (SYS-1028U-VSNF series), easily scalable to enterprise, data center, and cloud applications, according to the manufacturer.
The 2U Ultra 24x NVMe SuperServer (SYS-2028U-TN24RT+) increases hot-swap NVMe density and can be shipped in even higher density configurations - up to 24x2.5″ hot-swap NVMe per 1U.
Two new 2U Virtual SAN Ready Node solutions exclusively based on SSD flash drives, in Ultra (SYS-2028U-VSNF series) and TwinPro (SYS-2028TP-VSNF series) architectures support up to 480 virtual machines in 4 nodes.
In general, Supermicro has a whole line of servers for NVMe media, they are still rare on sale, just like the media themselves.
However, back to the Samsung 950 Pro.
Samsung 950 Specification
| Samsung 950 Pro | ||
| Manufacturer | Samsung | |
| Series |
950Pro |
|
| Model Number |
MZVKV256 |
MZVKV512 |
| Form Factor |
M.2 2280 |
|
| Interface |
PCI Express 3.0 x4 - NVMe |
|
| Capacity |
256 GB |
512 GB |
| Configuration |
||
| Memory chips: type, interface, manufacturing process, manufacturer |
Samsung 128Gb 32-layer MLC V-NAND |
|
| Memory chips: number / number of NAND devices in a chip |
2/8 |
2/16 |
| Controller |
Samsung UBX |
|
| DRAM buffer: type, size |
LPDDR3-1600, 512 MB |
|
| Performance |
||
| Max. sustained sequential read speed |
2200 MB/s |
2500 MB/s |
| Max. sustained sequential write speed |
900 MB/s |
1500 MB/s |
| Max. random read speed (blocks of 4 KB) |
270000 IOPS |
300000 IOPS |
| Max. random write speed (blocks of 4 KB) |
85000 IOPS |
110000 IOPS |
| physical characteristics |
||
| Power Consumption: Idle/Read-Write |
1.7/6.4W |
1.7/7.0W |
| MTBF (mean time between failures) |
1.5 million hours |
|
| Write resource |
200 TB |
400 TB |
| Dimensions: L × H × D |
80.15×22.15×2.38mm |
|
| Weight |
10 g |
|
| Guarantee period |
5 years |
|
| recommended price |
$200 |
$350 |
Unlike the Samsung SM951-NVMe OEM drive, the 950 Pro is based on progressive 3D MLC V-NAND. The SM951 uses conventional planar flash memory manufactured using the 16nm process technology.
Very important: The motherboard UEFI BIOS must contain an NVMe driver to boot the OS from the 950 Pro.
The 950 Pro can get quite hot in some cases - at maximum load, this SSD is capable of delivering up to 6-7 watts. At the same time, notes anandtech.com, this is not a serious problem. The official position of the manufacturer on this matter is as follows: The temperature of the 950 Pro rises to the upper limit only in the case of a continuous, long and complex load, which is not typical for client SSDs. The decrease in performance with a sequential write to a drive of about 100 GB of data is unlikely to affect ordinary users in any way. That is, in the case of using the drive as part of a conventional PC, the problem of overheating is unlikely.».
In most tests anandtech.com 950 Pro performed very well:
While Solid State Drives (SSDs) have been around for a while, I've only recently started using them myself. Stopped by the price, a small capacity, albeit supported by a significantly higher speed compared to conventional hard drives. Before delving into the types of SSDs, manufacturing technologies, the types of memory and controllers used, we should dwell on the form factor (i.e., in fact, physical dimensions) of these drives, i.e. how they differ in shape, what connection connectors have and how to use them. If the 2.5-inch form factor SSDs do not cause questions (they are almost identical to hard drives in size, location of interface connectors), then another variety raises questions. SSD M2 - what is it, where to connect, what is better or worse than usual? Let's figure it out
Development of the SATA interface
This interface replaced PATA, becoming more compact, replacing the wide cable with a thinner and more convenient one. The desire for compactness is a normal trend. Even SATA needed a variation that would allow it to be used in mobile devices or where special requirements are placed on the size of components. This is how the mSATA variant appeared - the same SATA, but in a more compact package.
This connector did not last long, because it was quickly replaced by another one - M.2, which has great capabilities. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are no letters “SATA” in the abbreviation, and I did not say that this is a new version of this particular interface. Why - it will be clear a little later.
I can only say that both mSATA and M.2 allow you to do without cables, power cables, which increases convenience and allows you to make your computer more compact. Especially since M.2 is even smaller than mSATA.
What does M.2 look like and what is it for
This is a small connector located on a motherboard or expansion card that fits into a PCI-Express slot. You can use M.2 not only for SSD, but also for installing Wi-fi, Bluetooth modules, and so on. The scope can be quite large, which makes M.2 very useful. If you plan to upgrade your computer, then I believe that having this connector on the motherboard, even if you do not plan to install anything in it yet, can be useful. Who knows what will happen in a few months, what new device you want to buy ...
An example of M.2 can be seen in the illustrations. He can be like this
or like that.
What is the difference? In the jumper (called the "key") that is in the connector. In order to understand its purpose, let's delve a little into the interfaces of the computer.
M-key and B-key
Modern hard drives (including SSDs) are traditionally connected to the SATA bus. I have, but I will briefly repeat here.
SATA III has a maximum throughput of 6 Gb/s, approximately 550-600 MB/s. For ordinary hard drives, such speeds are unattainable, but for SSD drives, it is not difficult to develop a much higher speed, in general. Only there is no point in this if the interface still cannot “pump” the data stream at a speed greater than that it is capable of.
Therefore, it became possible to use the PCI-Express bus, which has a large bandwidth:
- PCI Express 2.0 with two lanes (PCI-E 2.0 x2) provides 8 Gb/s bandwidth, or approximately 800 MB/s.
- PCI Express 3.0 with four lanes (PCI-E 3.0 x4) gives 32 Gb/s, which corresponds to approximately 3.2 GB/s.
Which interface is used to connect devices determines the position of the key (jumper).
SATA (M+B key):
PCI-Express (M key):
SSD drives can have the following key options:
Let's take the ASUS Z170-P motherboard as an example. It has an M.2 connector with an M-key. This means that the PCIe ×4 bus is used. The question immediately arises, is it possible to install an SSD drive with a SATA interface there? Now this is an interesting question.
You'll have to look into the motherboard specs and see if it supports M.2 SATA. According to the manufacturer's website, yes. So, if you buy an SSD drive, for example, an Intel 600p Series, then it was originally designed for the PCIe × 4 bus and there should not be any problems.
What if there is, for example, a Crucial MX300 running on the SATA bus? According to the manufacturer's specifications, such an SSD should also work.
Whether the SATA bus is supported in the M.2 interface should be paid special attention when buying a motherboard.
Let's summarize what has been said.
- M.2 is just a different form factor (size and connector) of SSD drives. The bus is SATA and/or PCI-Express. M.2 connectors installed on motherboards use the PCIe ×4 bus. The possibility of installing an SSD with a SATA interface must be indicated in the specifications for the motherboard.
- The type of bus used by the SDD depends on the keys. SATA drives are usually available in the M+B key formula, while PCIe x4 drives are M.
2242, 2260, 2280 - what is it?
Looking through the characteristics of the motherboard or laptop, where there is an M.2 connector, you can see the following line in the description of this connector: "M key, type 2242/2260/2280". Well, with the "M key", I hope it's already clear, this is the location of the key in the slot (which indicates the use of the PCIe ×4 bus). But what does "type 2242/2260/2280" mean?
It's simple, these are the sizes of SSD drives that can be installed in this slot. physical dimensions. The first 2 digits are the width, which is 22 mm. The second 2 digits are the length. It can vary and be 42, 60 or 80 mm. Therefore, if the selected SSD, for example, the same Crucial MX300, has a length of 80 mm, that is, it belongs to type 2280, then there will be no problems with its installation.
The 64 GB Transcend MTS400 SSD has a length of 42 mm, i.e. type 2242. If support for such an SSD is declared, then it will not be difficult to install it either. In fact, this indicates whether the motherboard or laptop case has screws that fix the drive, which are designed for different lengths of installed modules. Here's what it looks like on the motherboard.
Conclusion
M.2 is a more compact form factor of SSD drives. Many models are available both in the traditional 2.5-inch format and as a small board with an M.2 connector. If there is such a connector in the laptop or on the motherboard, then this is a good reason to place a drive in it. Whether to make it systemic or use it for other purposes is a separate issue.
Personally, when I upgrade my computer at home, which I mean, I plan to use M.2 to install a disk under the system into it. Thus, the number of wires will be slightly reduced, and it will work quickly.
Do you have any questions? Ask. Am I wrong about something? Always ready for constructive criticism. Missed something? Let's figure it out together.
