What Kind of drive goes in here ?

[ajithrn]

I found this slot in my hp envy laptop (17-n001TX), what kind of drive goes in here ? m.2 sata ? can anyone help ?

 

EDIT: Can anyone suggest a good compatible drive that i can use ?

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by ajithrn
asking for compatible drive

[Zando_]

Looks like an M.2. 

[Coaxialgamer]

If I had to guess , i'd say that is a mini pcie connector.

[Mira Yurizaki]

M.2 with an M-key. Meaning it's meant for NVMe and SATA SSDs.

 

EDIT:  Actually it has a B-Key, so SATA only.

 

EDIT 2: Why in the flying duck did they make B and M key's so freaking similar? /rant

Edited August 2, 2017 by M.Yurizaki

[ajithrn]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

M.2 with an M-key. Meaning it's meant for NVMe and SATA SSDs.

so can i put a M.2 NVMe SSD in ter ?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, ajithrn said:

so can i put a M.2 NVMe SSD in ter ?

I edited my post. It's a B-key so it's meant for SATA only.

[ajithrn]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I edited my post. It's a B-key so it's meant for SATA only.

oh okay, its so confusing    

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, ajithrn said:

oh okay, its so confusing    

Yeah, I hate it. It's like trying to figure out which way the USB plug goes in without looking directly at the port.

[ajithrn]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

Yeah, I hate it. It's like trying to figure out which way the USB plug goes in without looking directly at the port.

true that 

[KenjiUmino]

8 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

EDIT 2: Why in the flying duck did they make B and M key's so freaking similar? /rant

why the flying duck does mSATA and mPCIe look so damn similar to each other as well ? 

 

with m.2 that might make sense to keep the NVME slots downwards compatible.

 

but msata ? c'mon!

 

would have been cool if they could've made them cross compatible

 

i mean ... especially with older laptops, it would be nice to always have the option to sacrifice the wifi card for a second drive because on old laptops the wifi card usualy is outdated and slow anyways 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, KenjiUmino said:

why the flying duck does mSATA and mPCIe look so damn similar to each other as well ? 

 

with m.2 that might make sense to keep the NVME slots downwards compatible.

 

but msata ? c'mon!

 

would have been cool if they could've made them cross compatible

 

i mean ... especially with older laptops, it would be nice to always have the option to sacrifice the wifi card for a second drive because on old laptops the wifi card usualy is outdated and slow anyways 

Well you know what's worse? The M.2 slot for wireless cards (yes, they exist) uses an E key, making it impossible for you to stick anything else in there.

 

"Let's make a unifying connector for small add-on cards! Oh, but make it confusing as hell for end-users who want to upgrade."

[KenjiUmino]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

"Let's make a unifying connector for small add-on cards! Oh, but make it confusing as hell for end-users who want to upgrade."

"great idea, let them all look similar but each be a LITTLE bit different, guess how much confusion that will cause"

 

hey, by the way - since the m.2 slot can offer up to a PCIe 4x connection - has anyone thought about using it for a low tier GPU upgrade ? something like a 1030 equivalent should be doable on this form factor - right ?

[Mira Yurizaki]

15 minutes ago, KenjiUmino said:

"great idea, let them all look similar but each be a LITTLE bit different, guess how much confusion that will cause"

 

hey, by the way - since the m.2 slot can offer up to a PCIe 4x connection - has anyone thought about using it for a low tier GPU upgrade ? something like a 1030 equivalent should be doable on this form factor - right ?

M.2 doesn't deliver enough power for it. Plus the small form factor would make it hard to cool it off (if not impossible to fit since the GPU could be bigger than one of the dimensions of the board).

 

You can use an adapter if you really want to piggy back on the PCIe lanes though.

[KenjiUmino]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

You can use an adapter if you really want to piggy back on the PCIe lanes though.

speaking of piggy backing:

 

what is this slot on the back of my thinkpad T410 ?

 

the slot on the left side is DDR3 SODIMM, obviously - but what about the other slot ? mPCIe ? mSATA?

 

easy access to mPCIe would be cool for some DIY eGPU tinkering but moar storage drives is never a bad thing either

 

i have a mPCIe wifi card and a mSATA ssd left over ... can i just stick them in and see what works in this slot ? or do i risk damaging anything if i put a ssd in a mPCIe slot or a wifi card into mSATA ?

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, KenjiUmino said:

speaking of piggy backing:

 

what is this slot on the back of my thinkpad T410 ?

 

the slot on the left side is DDR3 SODIMM, obviously - but what about the other slot ? mPCIe ? mSATA?

 

easy access to mPCIe would be cool for some DIY eGPU tinkering but moar storage drives is never a bad thing either

 

i have a mPCIe wifi card and a mSATA ssd left over ... can i just stick them in and see what works in this slot ? or do i risk damaging anything if i put a ssd in a mPCIe slot or a wifi card into mSATA ?

 

Power delivery wise they're compatible. Data signal wise they're not.

 

Also Mini PCIe is only PCIe x1, so it's not very suited for GPUs.

[ajithrn]

Found this while trying to figure out.

 

 

M.2 SSD Keying
Currently an M.2 SSD has either one of three key types: B, M or B+M, while a socket can only have one key. As the key positions of B and M are slightly different, the M. SSD can only be installed one way.  m.2-connectors A 'B' keying (pins 12-19) gives PCI Express SSDs up to 2x lanes of bandwidth, while a 'M' keying (pins 59-66) provides PCI Express SSDs with up to 4x lanes of bandwidth. Even with 2x lanes of bandwidth a 'B' keyed M.2 SSD still gives 10Gbit/s performance, whereas the 4x lanes on 'M' gives up to 20Gbit/s. M.2 SSDs with B+M keying maximize compatibility in both slots, and will operate with 2x lanes of bandwidth. 

 

ref: https://goo.gl/UEL3g5

[Alice in game]

4 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Yeah, I hate it. It's like trying to figure out which way the USB plug goes in without looking directly at the port.

so you mean that it is easy ? cause the cable tell you what side goes on top by the usb logo, you don't have to look at the port

http://lifehacker.com/5847279/how-to-plug-in-a-usb-cable-correctly-every-time

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 hour ago, Alice in game said:

so you mean that it is easy ? cause the cable tell you what side goes on top by the usb logo, you don't have to look at the port

http://lifehacker.com/5847279/how-to-plug-in-a-usb-cable-correctly-every-time

Except in my computer where everything is upside down, so you're screwed. Also not everyone follows convention.

 

So I understand that wasn't the best example. Would trying to figure out if a hex screw to a thing is metric or standard without a manual be better?

[KenjiUmino]

16 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Power delivery wise they're compatible. Data signal wise they're not.

i guessed that, but can i damage something if i put the wrong thing into the wrong slot?

 

or will it simply not work and that's it ?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, KenjiUmino said:

i guessed that, but can i damage something if i put the wrong thing into the wrong slot?

 

or will it simply not work and that's it ?

It only damages the part if it gets too high of a voltage in the wrong spot.

 

So even plugging in say a 3.3V signal card in a 5V signal slot will likely damage it.

[Alice in game]

22 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Except in my computer where everything is upside down, so you're screwed. Also not everyone follows convention.

 

So I understand that wasn't the best example. Would trying to figure out if a hex screw to a thing is metric or standard without a manual be better?

Oh, that's a good one. Or chosing the right screw M3 or 6-32.

 

On the original topic, isn't it easier to check the computer manual to see what the port is ?

[ajithrn]

On 8/3/2017 at 3:28 AM, M.Yurizaki said:

I edited my post. It's a B-key so it's meant for SATA only.

i counted the pins on the left, its only 5 so i guess its a M connector, but its upside down than normal layouts.

[Mira Yurizaki]

9 minutes ago, ajithrn said:

i counted the pins on the left, its only 5 so i guess its a M connector, but its upside down than normal layouts.

I counted the pins on both sides of the connector (the ones on the "bottom" of the socket and the ones on "top"). There were 11 total, making it a B-key. If there were 9 total, it's an M-key. See: