![]() ![]() ("NAND" is the generic term for the flash-memory chips that make up the actual storage on the SSD the term refers, technically, to the type of logic gates used in the underlying memory structure. M.2 drives are as utilitarian as upgrades come: They look like sticks of gum studded with NAND modules and a controller chip. The drives would be smaller, potentially more capacious, and, most important, not necessarily reliant on SATA. As it took shape, though, it took on its current, final name: M.2. During development, it was known as NGFF, for "Next-Generation Form Factor," a name that still lingers here and there. But it's definitely a fading form factor, and mSATA saw only slight adoption on desktop systems.Įven in mSATA's heyday, though, a replacement was in the works. ![]() Now, mSATA drives still linger on the market, primarily because some laptop models adopted the form factor years back, and residual demand exists as capacity upgrades. mSATA was also unusual in that it piggybacked on an existing connector, known as Mini-PCI, often used for installing small onboard components such as compact Wi-Fi cards. The mSATA drive also draws all the power it needs through the slot.īy being reliant on SATA, mSATA drives gained all of the advantages and limitations of that interface, including the upper speed limit of SATA 3.0, the latest revision of Serial ATA. The interface on the drive end is an edge connector on the PCB, as opposed to the usual SATA cabling. As the name suggests, the slot is a conduit to the Serial ATA bus in the system. (Most mSATA drives relevant to upgraders measure about 1 by 2 inches.) mSATA drives fit into a special slot in a laptop's logic board or on a PC motherboard. The boiled-down essence of an SSD with the shell removed, an mSATA drive is a bare, rectangular circuit board. The first attempt was a new form factor called mini-SATA, or mSATA. Why not design around that? Thus the M.2 form factor was born. So when mobile-device designers, challenged with slimming down laptops and tablets, reassessed this issue, the consensus was clear: The bulky 2.5-inch form factor, eventually, would have to go.Īt the core, an SSD is just a thin circuit board studded with flash-memory and controller chips. It's designed in that 2.5-inch size and shape to make the drive fit into those existing bays. The enclosure an SSD comes in has a lot of dead space inside. However, from an engineering point of view, SSDs didn't need to be that big. ![]() Over time, too, desktop PC chassis have evolved to gain their own bays and mounting points for 2.5-inch drives. You could mount them in a 3.5-inch drive bay using a simple bracket, or even just using alternate mounting holes in those same spots. ![]() (They could configure laptops with the choice of a hard drive or an SSD without any retooling.) Desktop PCs, meanwhile, could accommodate SSDs of this size with little fuss. SSD makers adopted this standard size to make SSDs compatible with existing laptop designs. (In actuality, the drives are about 2.75 inches wide.) These SSDs have the same dimensions that laptop-style hard drives do. The traditional SSD that you buy and install in a desktop PC, or in place of a hard drive in a laptop, uses what's known as the "2.5-inch drive" form factor.
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