Thinkpads Forum

Any way to use an M.2 SSD in older Machine/ Server without M.2 port?

Since the prices these days are similar to SATA SSDs and performances higher, and the intent for M.2 is so that I can pop it out and use it in a newer machine (laptop or desktop).

Is there some PCIe > M.2  daughter dongle/ card?

The server can boot disks of PCIe RAIDs so some kinda PCIe > M.2 - Daughter board/ RAID or similar emulator?

or SATA > M.2 - Will slow it down but allow future usage.

It really depends on the type of M.2 SSD you have.

M.2 SSDs can either have a SATA or PCIe x4 connection. If it's SATA, then it's likely that an adapter kit that turns it to a normal SATA drive already exists.

I believe some PCIe-based SSDs already come with adapters that allow them to be plugged into a normal PCIe slot.

Booting might be an issue--it mainly depends on the firmware of the SSD I guess: for example, Samsung statesd that its PCIe-based 950 Pro M.2 SSD can boot on PCs that support booting from IDE devices.

crashnburn wrote:Is there some PCIe > M.2  daughter dongle/ card?

The server can boot disks of PCIe RAIDs so some kinda PCIe > M.2 - Daughter board/ RAID or similar emulator?

Yes, for example, LyCOM DT-120.

Question of bootability is same as for any other (system bus to storage expansion) card: ask vendor whether card has IBM PC BIOS-compatible Option ROM.

automobus wrote:

crashnburn wrote:Is there some PCIe > M.2  daughter dongle/ card?

The server can boot disks of PCIe RAIDs so some kinda PCIe > M.2 - Daughter board/ RAID or similar emulator?

Yes, for example, LyCOM DT-120.

Question of bootability is same as for any other (system bus to storage expansion) card: ask vendor whether card has IBM PC BIOS-compatible Option ROM.

Interesting. The more I read about these SSDs the more I get confused /:)

So this is the most inexpensive M.2 512 G SSD I could find. It says its SATA - Can you point me to an adapter that will allow me to boot this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... APK4BU3355

Based on your link it wont work with that card. Is there another that will work?

Also, since I plan to move this to a future machine in an year.. when it comes to Notebooks (& Mini ITX MoBos) and M.2 will this work? e.g. the dark Thinkpad Surface Pro Clone..?

PS: The next type of Non SATA M.2 NVMe that is cheapest is almost triple price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 12K3GB5852

PPS: Would this work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Searched using: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=60

crashnburn wrote:So this is the most inexpensive M.2 512 G SSD I could find. It says its SATA - Can you point me to an adapter that will allow me to boot this?

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/DT-119B-M-2-NGFF ... B00FKCSMYY

axur-delmeria wrote:

crashnburn wrote:So this is the most inexpensive M.2 512 G SSD I could find. It says its SATA - Can you point me to an adapter that will allow me to boot this?

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/DT-119B-M-2-NGFF ... B00FKCSMYY

Thanks for the response.

Thanks for the response.

Did some digging and found the most economical:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... APK4BU3355

Would the above SSD work with this adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

And boot up? 

PS: Isn't there some adapter that supports PCIe to all 3 M.2 types: SATA, AHCI and NVMe SSDs? unlike this one:
http://www.lycom.com.tw/DT-120.htm

crashnburn wrote:Would the above SSD work with this adapter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

And boot up?

Most likely yes. The Sandisk SSD you linked to states a SATA III interface, while the adapter card has a SATA connnector. Basically, you plug one end of a SATA cable to that, and the other end to a SATA port on your motherboard.