Mujtaba, Hassan (2 July 2013). "Intel SSD 530 Series Arriving Next Week – Feature NGFF M.2 Interface". Wccftech . Retrieved 14 September 2013.

The M.2 specification provides up to four PCI Express lanes and one logical SATA3.0 (6Gbit/s) port, and exposes them through the same connector so both PCI Express and SATA storage devices may exist in the form of M.2 modules. Exposed PCI Express lanes provide a pure PCI Express connection between the host and storage device, with no additional layers of bus abstraction. [9] PCI-SIG M.2 specification, in its revision 1.0 as of December2013 [update], provides detailed M.2 specifications. [2] :12 [10] Storage interfaces [ edit ]The SK Hynix Platinum P41 is a worthy choice for anyone looking to buy a high-performance PCI Express 4.0 NVMe SSD without breaking the bank. It blew away several of our benchmark records. The P41 provides AES hardware-based encryption and a clone utility tool as well as SSD management software. Just be forewarned that with its blistering speed, you will want to add a heatsink, the one item of note that it is missing. Samsung introduced a new form factor called Next Generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF), also known as NF1 or M.3, which may replace U.2 in server applications. [23] [24] For example, M.2 modules with two notches in B and M positions use up to two PCI Express lanes and provide broader compatibility at the same time, while the M.2 modules with only one notch in the M position use up to four PCI Express lanes; both examples may also provide SATA storage devices. Similar keying applies to M.2 modules that utilize provided USB3.0 connectivity. [5] [11] [22]

Terms Apply. Promotion ends 3 December 2023. Items are subject to availability. Max 5 units per customer. Now that the new SSD is in place, you need to reinstall Windows 11. It is recommended to have Surface Pro 8 plugged in for AC power during this process (don't power it on yet until step 2 below): We mentioned NVMe above. NVMe is another technical hurdle to consider, because systems and motherboards need board-level support for these drives to be bootable. All late-model motherboards now support NVMe M.2 drives, but older boards are not guaranteed to support booting from an NVMe-based drive. Outside of new motherboards, these high-bandwidth, NVMe-capable slots are also found in some recent laptops. Also note that in some cases, a laptop may support a PCI Express NVMe drive, but it may be soldered to the motherboard and thus not upgradable. So, if you're thinking of upgrading a recent laptop or convertible, be sure to consult your manual very closely before buying one of these drives. (Credit: Zlata Ivleva) M2P4S M.2 (NGFF) PCIe base SSD to PCIe ×4 Adapter". HW Tools. 14 February 2014 . Retrieved 22 June 2014.The market has settled on 22mm wide as the standard for desktop and laptop implementations; the aftermarket drives available and the accessible slots we've seen have all been that width. The most common lengths we've seen are 80mm ("Type-2280") and 60mm ("Type-2260"). The lengthier the drive, the more NAND chips you can tend to stuff on it (plus, M.2 drives can be single- or double-sided), though know that length isn't an absolute measure of capacity. 42mm, 60mm, and 80mm M.2 SSDs (Credit: Intel) The earliest versions of M.2 PCI Express SSDs made use of the PCI Express Gen 2.0 x2 interface, which defines a throughput ceiling that's higher than SATA 3.0's, but not enormously so. That evolved into PCI Express Gen 3.0 x2 and x4, paired with a technology called Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) to propel performance even further, especially with heavy, deeply queued workloads. a b c d e f g h i Handy, Jim; Tanguy, Jon; May, Jaren; Akerson, David; Kim, Eden; Coughlin, Tom (20 September 2014). "SNIA Webcast: All About M.2 SSDs" (PDF). SNIA . Retrieved 15 July 2015.