M.2 NGFF vs msata (and crucial m500 and asus maximus impact)

[darckhart]

hi all,

I do some browsing on google and wikipedia trying to find out the differences between M.2 and msata, but they seem the same to me? except for length of the pcb, where it appears M.2 allows for longer so that more chips can be added on. Is that the only difference?

and a more general question, are these ssd bootable? seeing as how it talks on SATA I would assume so?

so, i'm looking at getting the asus maximus impact and I notice it has support for M.2 NGFF ssd. but i'm leaning toward a crucial m500... which currently only has msata version. but i'm wondering if it would still be compatible?

thanks for any help!

 

[RU482]

M.2 and mSATA are two completely different form factors, with different interface connectors/pinouts. looking at the Asus specs, there is no mention specifically of mSATA, so an mSATA drive likely won't work without some extra adapter

M.2 will become more available in 2014
here is a link to the M.2 M500 http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-M500-480GB-6Gbps-Internal/dp/B00HBKM6UO/

 

[Cerb]

The M500 is available in M.2. Hardly anybody is selling it yet, but it has been released.

M.2 may or may not be compatible with mSATA. It will depend on the system, I believe. I wouldn't try it, unless it was explicitly given as a feature. M.2 has direct SATA pins, but I don't know if they are the same ones as used in mSATA.

 

[RU482]

M.2 may or may not be compatible with mSATA. It will depend on the system, I believe. I wouldn't try it, unless it was explicitly given as a feature. M.2 has direct SATA pins, but I don't know if they are the same ones as used in mSATA.

M.2 uses a narrower connector than mSATA. 22mm vs 30mm width

 

[darckhart]

cool thanks for the replies.

also found this picture which depicts intel's offerings:
http://cdn4.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SSD-530-series-NGFF.png

oddly it seems that some have two notches on the connector part, while others only have 1 notch. though all have at least the one notch on the left side. oh here we go. some googling reveals that 1 notch = M.2 PCI Express and 2 notch = M.2 SATA