Help me understand M.2!

[Spork829]

Hello, very stupid question here. I just got my hands on a new laptop, a Lenovo Ideapad 720s 14 inch. It currently has this M.2 Sata SSD in it, which I'm looking to upgrade. However, this is my first foray into M.2 drives and I have no idea how they work. This drive has two notches on the connector, which indicates that it's SATA based(?). However, higher spec models of the laptop ship with PCIe NVME SSDs with one notch, so I assume one of those will slot right in? Then there's also the issue of length. How can I figure out if the SSD in there is 2242 or 2280, short of taking it apart and measuring? 

 

Is this all inter-compatible or are there things I need to watch out for? Again I feel really stupid for not being able to figure this out, but I want to make sure I get the right drive for an upgrade. Currently looking at the 1TB Intel 660p. Any help/clarification appreciated, thanks guys!

[SupaKomputa]

Yes, sata is 2 notch, pcie is 1 notch.

Just make sure the laptop supports m.2 NVME drives (pcie), otherwise it won't work.

For length it's pretty straightforward, just match the lenght of your current module.

Although the longer slots can accomodate the shorter one.

 

Intel 660p has mediocre performance, i won't get that if i were you, get samsung.

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

Question is definitely NOT stupid @Spork829

 

The notches on the connector you refer to are called a 'key' and what you described your laptop as having is a 'B & M Key edge connector' which is not compatible with the other two types, being 'B keyed' and 'M keyed'. So there will not be any compatibility across the different types due to their differences in the pin connection placement inside the key.

Secondly, your laptop most likely does have an M.2 type drive and it is most likely that it will be the M.2 SATA and not an M.2 mSATA SSD type, however, it is doubtful that you would be able to fit a 2280 M.2 drive inside the machine (it is 80 mm long!). More common in laptops where space is a premium you will find the 2240 M.2 SSD at 40 mm (my Alienware 14 has an M.2 mSATA drive), because, size matters!

 

As for working out what will fit inside, you will need to dig into what Lenovo has on your specific machine, try and document what drive it shipped with and then find an upgrade path from that. Alternatively, some storage retailers offer compatibility listings and if they list your device you might be able to use that to find an M.2 drive to fit. I have not seen any 1 TB 2240 sized M.2 SATA drives they might only go as big as 512 GB?

 

You should also contact Lenovo support they should be able to provide a Qualified Vendor List (QVL) of replacement HDD manufacturers for that machine.

 

hope this helps

 

Links

Wikipedia

What’s the Difference Between M.2 Modules?

[Spork829]

9 hours ago, SupaKomputa said:

Yes, sata is 2 notch, pcie is 1 notch.

Just make sure the laptop supports m.2 NVME drives (pcie), otherwise it won't work.

For length it's pretty straightforward, just match the lenght of your current module.

Although the longer slots can accomodate the shorter one.

 

Intel 660p has mediocre performance, i won't get that if i were you, get samsung.

 

I didn't realize the size difference was this obvious haha. The one currently in there is definitely a 2280. 

 

As for the 660p this article seems to think it's pretty solid unless your workload is really serious, are they wrong here? I am on a bit of a budget...

[Spork829]

9 hours ago, SydneySideSteveSomewheres said:

The notches on the connector you refer to are called a 'key' and what you described your laptop as having is a 'B & M Key edge connector' which is not compatible with the other two types, being 'B keyed' and 'M keyed'. So there will not be any compatibility across the different types due to their differences in the pin connection placement inside the key.

So does this mean that a drive with 1 key will not work in this machine period? That doesn't seem to be what I'm seeing otherwise.

 

9 hours ago, SydneySideSteveSomewheres said:

however, it is doubtful that you would be able to fit a 2280 M.2 drive inside the machine (it is 80 mm long!). More common in laptops where space is a premium you will find the 2240 M.2 SSD at 40 mm (my Alienware 14 has an M.2 mSATA drive), because, size matters!

It's this drive in there currently, which is definitely the full 80mm, so I don't think size should be an issue.

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

 

On 7/26/2019 at 2:05 AM, Spork829 said:

So does this mean that a drive with one (1) key will not work in this machine period? That doesn't seem to be what (I'm seeing) I see otherwise.

 

Unfortunately, I do not know what you are reading, but did you read the link in my last reply (I added it later as I had to locate the resource) " What’s the Difference Between M.2 Modules? "...?

 

You need to be careful about what you read in the sales blurb of products as sometimes they have an expected understanding which is connected to an asterisk located elsewhere on the webpage. For Example, the ROG STRIX B360-F GAMING says “M.2 Socket 3, with M Key ... support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)* ⁴ ”  I could not understand why the specifications for the motherboard say all the ‘Expansion Slots’ offer both PCIe 3.0 and 2.0. Even more confusing is the ‘Storage’ options where it says there is one “M.2 Socket 3, with M Key ... support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)* ⁴ ” but SATA III is 6GB/s which would bottleneck the NVMe storage (for example, Samsung 960 Evo 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 #MZ-V6E1T0BW. Speeds up to 3,200MB/s, Up to 1,900MB/s). Even more perplexing is the fine print at the bottom of the page “*4 The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with SATA6G_2 port when using M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use X2 mode (PCIE only). The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with PCIEX1_4” which makes it seem that the PCIe 3.0 x 4 mode is only a theoretical speed for the SSD!

[Also “Expansion Slots 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1 *3 [where] *3 The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with PCIEX1_4” ]

 

Not sure why the information your reading shows how one socket is going to plug into the other slot, as there is a physical difference in the connectors on the storage device AND in the socket on the motherboard. Hope the image below helps solve some of the confusion?

 

 

Anyway, if you are sure you have enough space for a full-size storage module (2280 at 80 mm) a quick search of PC Partpicker shows there are 14 B&M Key SSD's in between 960 GB  and 1050 GB ranging in price from 96.99 $ US up to the 409 $ US mark. According to one site, I visited looking for specs on that Lite-On SSD it states that the M.2 SSD is only SATA III 6.0 Gb/s so there is probably no point spending a whole lot of money, for example, buying the 860 Evo M.2 1TB when you are really not going to notice the difference between the top, middle and bottom tiers of the M.2 SSDs.

 

Another question for you to consider though @Spork829 and I don't think you mentioned it, is this M.2 drive already in the machine the boot drive? Because if it is not there may also be a problem with trying to boot from it, if the BIOS does not support it.

 

hope this helps

[Spork829]

6 hours ago, SydneySideSteveSomewheres said:

 

Unfortunately, I do not know what you are reading, but did you read the link in my last reply (I added it later as I had to locate the resource) " What’s the Difference Between M.2 Modules? "...?

 

You need to be careful about what you read in the sales blurb of products as sometimes they have an expected understanding which is connected to an asterisk located elsewhere on the webpage. For Example, the ROG STRIX B360-F GAMING says “M.2 Socket 3, with M Key ... support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)* ⁴ ”  I could not understand why the specifications for the motherboard say all the ‘Expansion Slots’ offer both PCIe 3.0 and 2.0. Even more confusing is the ‘Storage’ options where it says there is one “M.2 Socket 3, with M Key ... support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)* ⁴ ” but SATA III is 6GB/s which would bottleneck the NVMe storage (for example, Samsung 960 Evo 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 #MZ-V6E1T0BW. Speeds up to 3,200MB/s, Up to 1,900MB/s). Even more perplexing is the fine print at the bottom of the page “*4 The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with SATA6G_2 port when using M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use X2 mode (PCIE only). The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with PCIEX1_4” which makes it seem that the PCIe 3.0 x 4 mode is only a theoretical speed for the SSD!

[Also “Expansion Slots 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1 *3 [where] *3 The M.2_1 socket shares bandwidth with PCIEX1_4” ]

 

Not sure why the information your reading shows how one socket is going to plug into the other slot, as there is a physical difference in the connectors on the storage device AND in the socket on the motherboard. Hope the image below helps solve some of the confusion?

 

 

Anyway, if you are sure you have enough space for a full-size storage module (2280 at 80 mm) a quick search of PC Partpicker shows there are 14 B&M Key SSD's in between 960 GB  and 1050 GB ranging in price from 96.99 $ US up to the 409 $ US mark. According to one site, I visited looking for specs on that Lite-On SSD it states that the M.2 SSD is only SATA III 6.0 Gb/s so there is probably no point spending a whole lot of money, for example, buying the 860 Evo M.2 1TB when you are really not going to notice the difference between the top, middle and bottom tiers of the M.2 SSDs.

 

Another question for you to consider though @Spork829 and I don't think you mentioned it, is this M.2 drive already in the machine the boot drive? Because if it is not there may also be a problem with trying to boot from it, if the BIOS does not support it.

 

hope this helps

Thanks so much for the info! I cracked open the laptop and discovered that the SSD in there was actually already 'M' keyed, and Lenovo says the laptop supports NVME, so I went ahead and got myself an Intel 660p 1TB, swapped them out, booted up a fresh windows install and everything is working.

[SydneySideSteveSomewheres]

9 hours ago, Spork829 said:

Thanks so much for the info! I cracked open the laptop and discovered that the SSD in there was actually already 'M' keyed, and Lenovo says the laptop supports NVME, so I went ahead and got myself an Intel 660p 1TB, swapped them out, booted up a fresh windows install and everything is working.

Good to hear you have the M.2 mystery sorted out