17
6
As people already know they are physically compatible, you can plug an M.2 SATA (aka M+B key) into an M.2 NVMe (M key).
My question is will it work?
unom
Posted 2018-03-14T09:35:11.597
Reputation: 412
Can you connect an M.2 SATA to an M.2 NVMe port?
Answers
5
A slot that can do SATA will have the M key and/or B key.
A slot that cannot do SATA will not have either the M or B key, but others instead, making it physically impossible to insert a SATA-only card.
A card with multiple keys can only use the lowest common set of features. With B+M, that’s PCIe x2, SATA and SMBus.
Because an M.2 NVMe SSD typically wants PCIe x4, there’s only one possibility: M key.
It might be noteworthy that slots with multiple keys are very rare, if they exist at all.
If a card physically fits the slot, it will work. That’s the entire idea behind the key notches.
Daniel B
Posted 2018-03-14T09:35:11.597
Reputation: 40 502
Corrected the type I meant M+B key versus just M key. this is the case I described. In this case one can insert a M+B key drive into a just M slot it fits. The other, connecting a M key drive to an M+B key slot is impossible. – unom – 2018-03-14T12:54:10.590
@unmircea I updated my answer. Please accept an answer if it answers your question. If you need further clarification, please let me know. – Daniel B – 2018-03-15T11:19:32.817
In Asus laptop, Q534UXK is possible to connect SATA m.2 or PCI m.2. but the motherboard has a label with the two options! – RckLN – 2018-09-11T03:20:45.533
@Daniel B, I agree this doesn't seem to answer the question. An NVMe has an M-key only, while many SATA's seem to have B+M, and so will physically fit in an NVMe slot. All your answer seems to say is that a SATA device without an M-key won't fit. – Matthew – 2019-06-10T21:18:43.907
@Matthew An M-keyed slot also offers SATA. I don’t see the problem? – Daniel B – 2019-06-10T22:07:50.547
So if I have a "dumb" NVMe card that is essentially connecting the M.2 pins directly to the PCIe pins, will a SATA (B+M) drive work with that? If you're claiming "yes", it still isn't obvious. (At least some other sources appear to say "no".) – Matthew – 2019-06-11T20:20:05.587
@Matthew I’m not sure I’m following. Did you perhaps mean “slot” when you wrote “card”? An NVMe card will not be a SATA card. – Daniel B – 2019-06-12T07:22:30.090
No, I specifically meant "card", as in a PCIe card that provides one or more NVMe slots. Slots on a motherboard, AFAIK, tend to accept either NVMe or SATA devices, so the answer for those slots it probably "yes". I wonder about other slots, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079TQ9C6Q or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FU9JS94. Cards for M.2 SATA devices usually either have an onboard SATA controller also, or are only providing a place to physically park the device (and power) and require a separate SATA cable to connect the device to the system.
– Matthew – 2019-06-13T14:39:22.267Ah. These are special cases. They do not follow the specification. These slots are simply not true M.2. If I have a motherboard-mounted slot, I will still expect it to perform as specified. – Daniel B – 2019-06-13T15:47:25.190
0
Just because an M only slot fits into M+B slot does not necessarily mean it will work.
Here is an example : M-Slots for M+B and M only
Guy Schwartz
Posted 2018-03-14T09:35:11.597
Reputation: 1
What motherboard are you using? – AdmiralFreebee – 2018-03-14T09:42:35.840
1According to wikipedia M keyed means "PCIe ×4, SATA and SMBus". So a M-keyed M.2 port can do both PCIe/NVMe and SATA. – Hennes – 2018-03-14T14:24:43.860
@Hennes Interesting, so that would mean yes... In theory an M.2 NVMe equipped Macbook Retina could accommodate an M.2 SATA drive. – unom – 2018-03-14T17:14:25.440