1. What Does Ssd Do
2. What Does Ssd Mean

• Jun 12, 2017  The drive uses SATA protocol so install in slot M.2 1 and SATA6G1 port will be disabled so any other SSD's or HHD's cannot use that port And you are not an idiot if your smart enough to ask for answers to the questions you have, we all have to do this.
• Dec 19, 2018  I've seen that higher spec of Acer Nitro 5(i7, GTX 1050ti) do have the secondary slot for hard drive since it said that its come with 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD. I wonder if lower spec (i5, GTX 1050) also have this feature. Would somebody can make this clear?
• Because you can install SSD in the 2.5″ SATA slot where hard disk is installed. If you are asking about SSD+HDD combination, then no. Usually gaming laptops have a 2.5″ SATA slot + M.2 SSD slot.

Best Answer

• Accepted Answer

  Thanks for your answer!
  Short result: Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (PCIe NVMe) works.
  Longer version: Acer support had stated that PCIe NVMe SSDs should work without any capacity restriction. Answers in forums were mixed, with no definite result (i.e., practical experience) in either direction. So I bought a Samsung EVO 960 1 TB (MZ-V6E1T0BW) and agreed with the seller that I could exchange (undamaged, within 14 days) if it turns out to be incompatible.
  Installing the hardware was a matter of minutes.
  I installed both Windows 10 Home and Ubuntu 18.04 in dual boot with grub and both installations were no problem. Note, though, that I've been running these installations for less than 24 hours and am mostly using Ubuntu.
  According to AS SSD and Crystal Disk Mark the Samsung EVO 960 is indeed faster. I don't know which part of that speed up is due to SATA vs PCIe NVMe and which part is due to other factors such as capacity and/or faster controller. HWINFO64 suggests that it might only be using 2 lanes but I didn't dig into that (and do not intend to do so).
  Screenshots for the old 256 GB Micron SATA SSD:
  Screenshots for the new 1 TB Samsung EVO 960 PCIe NVMe SSD:
  Hope that helps, thanks again!
  

Most solid-state drives released within the last year or so have been too fast for the bus they're connected to. The 6Gbps SATA III spec was finalized in the days when rotational hard drives still ruled and SSDs were rare, ludicrously expensive, and relatively unreliable.

There are a couple of different standards that have been created to solve this problem, and they both solve it in the same basic way. One, SATA Express, uses the same physical connector as older SATA drives but uses PCI Express lanes rather than the SATA bus to boost storage speeds. The other, which will be more common in space-constrained mini-desktops, all-in-ones, and Ultrabooks, is called M.2 (previously NGFF, for 'Next-Generation Form Factor').

Does the IdeaPad S340-151WL have a slot for a 2nd SSD drive? I am looking for a reasonable way to increase the HD capacity. If there is not a spot for a 2nd drive, what is involved with replacing the current 128 GB drive with a 256 GB drive? Feb 08, 2015  Understanding M.2, the interface that will speed up your next SSD It's a versatile standard, but there's a lot to know. The Samsung SSD is keyed for slot M, so it won't fit in either of the. Most M.2 SSDs use a PCIe x4 slot on your motherboard. This is the fastest and smallest form of flash storage for the mainstream market. Another thing you need to know about PCIe M.2 SSDs is the new Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) Protocol.

M.2 is interesting not just because it can speed up storage with PCI Express lanes, but because it can use a whole bunch of different buses too; it stands to replace both mSATA and mini PCI Express, two older standards that have been used for SSDs and Wi-Fi cards in laptops for a while now. Intel's new Broadwell CPUs and their chipsets include native support for M.2 and PCI Express boot drivers—neither PCIe-connected storage (hi Apple) nor the M.2 connector itself are new, but beginning with Broadwell systems each of those two things will become much more common.

What Does Ssd Do

Let's start with the physical connector and the things that connect to it. There's a lot to unpack, starting with the fact that there's more than one kind of M.2 connector, more than one type of interface that can be used with M.2, and more than one kind of M.2 card.

Getting to know M.2

Pictured at the top of this article are four different M.2 cards. The one on the left is a combo Wi-Fi and Bluetooth card. The next one to the right is a Sandisk SSD that uses the SATA bus. The next one is an Intel SSD that also uses SATA. The one on the right is a Samsung SSD that can use up to four PCI Express lanes.

Pay attention to two things as you compare and contrast these cards. First, the physical connector on each card is different; each card has different cutouts in the bottom and exposes different pins. Second, the cards are of different lengths and widths. All of this is accounted for in the M.2 spec (PDF).

The different connectors signify different M.2 'module keys.' Each key exposes a different set of interfaces to each card—M.2 can connect directly to the PCI Express bus, but different pins can be used to connect to the USB 2.0 and 3.0 buses, SATA III, DisplayPort, and a variety of other less-prevalent storage buses. Cards with one notch at the bottom are keyed for one specific kind of connector. Cards with two notches can be used in two different kinds of connectors.

What Does Ssd Mean

Above is a picture of two M.2 slots on the motherboard of an HP Stream Mini. Table mountain casino concerts. The slot on the left uses module key E, and the one on the right uses module key B. The Wi-Fi card is keyed for slots A and E, so it fits in the left slot with no problems. The Intel SSD is keyed for slots B and M, so it fits in the right slot. The Samsung SSD is keyed for slot M, so it won't fit in either of the Stream's slots.

The table above lays out the keys in common use today—there are others, mostly placeholders to be called into service as newer buses and interfaces are introduced.

Note the four- or five-digit numbers paired with each slot. These are actually codes to refer to the physical dimensions of each card; the first two digits specify the width in millimeters and the second two or three digits specify the length. Our Wi-Fi module is 16mm wide and 30mm long, or 1630. Two of our SSDs are 22mm wide and 80mm long, or 2280. The other SSD is 22mm wide and 42mm long, or 2242. All motherboard slots are 22mm in width, even the ones attached to 30mm-wide cards.

All current keys can give cards access to two PCI Express lanes, but otherwise interface compatibility is all over the place—so far, it's been pretty easy to guess what kind of peripheral you're dealing with based on the key it uses. Wi-Fi and WWAN cards tend to use keys A and/or E, since they only need the PCI Express or USB 2.0 buses and only need 30mm in length to fit all their key components. SATA SSDs and SSDs that use two PCI Express lanes tend to use keys B and M to maximize compatibility, since both connectors can deliver both SATA III and two PCIe lanes. The very fastest SSDs tend to be M-keyed since it's the only one that delivers four PCIe lanes.

This is a lot to digest, but it's most of what you need to know to understand M.2. There are some other stipulations around the physical thickness of the cards that you can read about in the documentation, but they aren't as important to our discussion today.

The key system isn't always foolproof—our A- and E-keyed Wi-Fi module will physically fit into the B-keyed SSD slot even though the computer won't recognize it there. M.2 is certainly more confusing than the mPCIe and mSATA specs, but in the end it's more flexible. Components can access many different buses through one small internal connector, and you've got a lot of different physical card sizes to play with instead of being tied to either a 'full-height' or 'half-height' card.

The worst thing about M.2 right now is a general scarcity of components. OEMs buying parts directly from manufacturers probably have more choices, end users buying M.2 cards from Newegg or Amazon will find that they have few options, especially compared to the selection of mSATA and mPCIe components. That will change as M.2 goes mainstream and those older connectors begin to fade. Broadwell is a big step forward in that transition.