Is it possible to adapt an M.2 drive into a different length socket?

Xathian · November 25, 2018

I am a backer of the newest maker board coming from UDOO, the Bolt V8. The board features a few different storage options but there is a problem. As the spec sheet lists here:

https://i.imgur.com/Qn6KL2h.png

The board features an NVMe 2080 M.2 Key M socket and a SATA 2060 M.2 Key B socket. According to a post on the comments of the page, the NVMe slot is not SATA compatible (I'm not aware of the technical workings but he said that having it SATA compatible requires something to handle SATA over PCIe that is not present on this board?). I would like to purchase a SATA M.2 drive (An offering such as Crucial's MX500) because where I am located the cost of an NVMe drive is over twice that of a SATA drive yet has half the total storage. I would rather have double storage than the speed of NVMe. The problem here is that the SATA based M.2 slot on the board is 2060, of which there are very few options on my local retailers and they're astronomically expensive (more expensive than even the NVMe offerings). So I was wonder if on a technical level the M.2 2060 socket is the same as the 2080 socket just with a shorter length before the ground pin, and if so, can you purchase an adapter plate or something that would let you slot a 2080 into that 2060 socket?

I am aware the tech specs also list a standard SATA3 connector but the metal case the board comes with may not have room for internally mounting a 2.5" SSD (unconfirmed as of now) so I am just assuming that won't be the case for now and preparing otherwise.

SSD Sean · November 25, 2018

As long as there is room after the initial 60mm you could rig something to hell’s the ssd down in the slot. But you must make sure nothing is in the way of it physically is all.

SupaKomputa · November 25, 2018

Doesn't matter the length of the card, as long as you can plug it in.

Shorter card can be adapted to fit, use duck tape if you're cheap.

NVME cards witch have M.2 interface is not compatible with SATA cables.

They do have m.2 sata drive that will act just as a sata with its bandwidth limit.

A sata M.2 will use one of the SATA channel that the board support, so if it has 4 sata port, if you plug M.2 sata then it the number of sata supported will be 3.