Everything About Solid State Drive Form Factors

Apr21,2023

Do you plan to boost the performance of your system with the best 256GB NVMe SSD? Upgrading your computer’s storage devices can enrich its performance. But planning to buy an SSD can be difficult if you are unaware of how to select the best out of the several options flooding the market. 

The influential determining factors include the storage connection type your system supports and the form factor. The form factor of SSD is its dimensions and shape. Your choice of storage also features a storage interface, such as NVMe and SATA. Therefore, we will discuss the different form factors before you find your system the best SSD.

Various Form Factors of SSD

The form factor of solid-state drives distinguishes by the drive’s size, the physical space it needs, and the connection interface type. Based on this, there are four form factors. 

2.5-Inch SSDs

The market has all kinds of dimensions and frames to offer. When selecting from the available form factors, the first step is to ensure it can fit into your system. The popular form factor compatible with multiple systems is the 2.5-inch. Almost every computer and laptop show support for this type. 

These ensure users to easily upgrade from HDDs or hard disk drives to SDDs by being identical to the conventional HDDs. Thus, if you are transitioning to increase performance, you can quickly look for a 2.5-inch 256GB SSD price in India. You will not have to change the cables from connecting interface. You can easily use SATA cables with these solid-state drives. 

U.2 SSDs

The U.2 form factor SSD types seem identical to the 2.5-inch SSDs. These drives are thicker and employ a different connector with a PCIe connection interface for delivering information. Specific places have enormous storage requirements, including enterprises, higher-quality workstations, and servers. To fulfill this purpose, the U.2 SSDs exist. 

These SSDs can support extreme temperatures while working and offer better heat transfer than the M.2 type of SSD form factor.

M.2 SSDs

Whenever you come across notebooks or sleek laptops, they are more likely to contain M.2 as a storage type. You can compare the form factor of this SSD to a gum stick. Its tiny form makes direct installation on the system’s mainboard easier. 

Further, to support various capacities of solid-state drives, these can be found in all kinds of lengths. Thus, its size must be longer to incorporate a maximum number of NAND chips for higher capacity in a single drive.  

Mini-SATA SSDs

Mini-SATA drives are often known as mSATA. To deliver storage for systems with limited space, the mSATA is a compact version of SATA SSD at full size. Although using a similar form factor as M.2, these are only compatible with SATA and not PCIE. 

Conclusion

It is easier to make a buying decision when you know all kinds of determining factors. When purchasing an SSD, having an idea of its form factor and connection interface can help you find a suitable candidate. The three main form factors are typically 2.5″, M.2, and mSATA. Now that you know each, you can select the best option depending on your requirements.

Source: https://www.bimoze.com/technology/everything-about-solid-state-drive-form-factors/

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