M.2 NVMe/SATA Toaster?

[DrMacintosh]

Hello, I was wondering, since at least 1 of the employees I provide tech support to now has a new Lenovo laptop with an M.2 NVMe SSD in it, I have realized that I have no way of interfacing with a drive like that when its removed from the laptop. Getting a M.2 NVMe/SATA enclosure is easy enough, just order one on Amazon. But what I was wondering is if there's an enclosure that's similar to a HDD Toaster, but for M.2 drives. 

 

I don't really see myself needing to clone NVMe drives, especially since I've moved all the employees I manage over to Microsoft 365. I also don't see myself doing that because all the current machines the other employees have are all using standard 2.5" drives.... but it would be nice to be able to clone M.2 drives. 

 

If there isn't something like what I'm describing, I suppose 2 individual enclosures would do the job. I think you get can get a nice one for like $25. 

[RollinLower]

i suppose you could run something like this just out of the housing, it's a bit ghetto but it could work.

i'm not sure about anything of the old 'toaster' design tho. 

[WereCatf]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

but it would be nice to be able to clone M.2 drives.

It should be perfectly possible to cobble together a DIY-solution with e.g. an RPi4 and two NVMe->USB-adapters, a 3D-printer, some push-buttons and some patience -- take the adapters out of their enclosures, 3D-printer a bigger enclosure to chuck the bare PCBs and the RPi4 in -- possibly including the PSU for the RPi4, if you want a very clean look with no external power-bricks -- and connect the buttons as well. The rest would just be software on the Pi.

 

Obviously, one could take things even further with a custom PCB that allows for disconnecting the NVMe-USB-adapters from the RPi4 and connecting them to an external device instead. I'd personally go this route, but not everyone has the skills needed to design such a PCB.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

I'd personally go this route, but not everyone has the skills needed to design such a PCB.

Yeah, I don't even have a 3D printer and I do not have the skills required to design a PCB. I'm barely one or two steps up from Helpdesk IT. 

[WereCatf]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yeah, I don't even have a 3D printer and I do not have the skills required to design a PCB. I'm barely one or two steps up from Helpdesk IT. 

I have, unfortunately, never seen a readymade device for M.2 (NVMe- or SATA-) - drives, so you'd either need to learn and get all the needed stuff, or get someone else to do it. But perhaps it just isn't worth the effort and expense to begin with; messing around with a couple of USB-adapters and cloning-software every once in a blue moon isn't that huge an ordeal.

[Kilrah]

There see to be a few around:

https://www.amazon.com/Cateck-Dual-Bay-Lay-Flat-Tool-Free-Installation/dp/B08N6DX76C/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+duplicator&qid=1619422424&sr=8-7

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Bay-External-Enclosure-Supports-Duplicator/dp/B085T9MR9V/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+duplicator&qid=1619422424&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Bay-ORICO-Tool-Free-Enclosure-Duplicator/dp/B08CTZPLH4/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+duplicator&qid=1619422424&sr=8-2

 

Although like most m.2 enclosures they tend to only support either SATA or NVMe so you probably need one for each (and won't be able to clone one to the other without a PC).