is mSata the same thing as m.2?

[Jest a gamer 27]

is m.2 the same as mSata?

[Oshino Shinobu]

No, they are physically and electrically different. 

 

EDIT: From left to right: mSATA, M.2 and regular SATA. 

 

[JoostinOnline]

No.  They're two different form factors.  mSATA is mostly used in laptops, where as you're more likely to find an m.2 slot on a desktop motherboard.  mSATA is also only capable of SATA-III speeds, but m.2 also supports PCIe, which have a much higher bandwidth (along with a much higher cost).

 

The top is mSATA, and the bottom is m.2

Keep in mind that the m.2 one can be different lengths.

 

The details can be pretty confusing.  I had to correct a mistake from my original post (although it was still technically correct).  Unlike with previous generations, which were pretty straight-forward, a bunch of different form factors and interfaces have been released in the past few years (let's not even get into SATA Express).  You can learn a little more about that here.

[Jest a gamer 27]

ok ty

[Oshino Shinobu]

2 minutes ago, Jest a gamer 27 said:

what is the difference in read/write speed? is it faster or slower then a 2.5"ssd?

mSATA and regular SATA should be the same (obviously, different drives will still have different speeds). 

 

For M.2, it can either be SATA or PCIe. SATA M.2 should be the same as mSATA and regular SATA (it was partially created to replace mSATA for large capacities without massive production costs). PCIe M.2 will be faster than mSATA, normal SATA and M.2 SATA, but also comes at a higher cost. 

 

You need to check what port your board has (PCIe or SATA M.2), as they are not inter-compatible. 

[JoostinOnline]

30 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

PCIe M.2 will be faster than mSATA, normal SATA and M.2 SATA, but also comes at a higher cost. 

That's a little too broad a statement.  4K read speeds can sometimes be identical to SATA, and are at most ~20% higher.  And for most people, that's what really matters.  It's why I almost never recommend PCIe drives.