Why Are There No M.2 NVMe Readers?

mlhm5

Member
Oct 28, 2007
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I cannot find one. Anyone know if they are even being made. Just how difficult would it be to have an M.2 NVMe to USB reader? They have the for non-NVMe M.2 SSDs.
 

Billy Tallis

Senior member
Aug 4, 2015
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USB to SATA bridge chips are cheap, readily available, widely used and pretty thoroughly standardized. USB to PCIe bridges that support NVMe are a niche component that is way more complicated, more power hungry and more expensive to produce. Hardly anyone needs one, especially with Thunderbolt NVMe enclosures becoming more common.
 

mlhm5

Member
Oct 28, 2007
92
1
66
Is there an M.2 (m-key) NVMe enclosure to Thunderbolt available? I have been looking but cannot find one. The B+M keyed versions do not work with M.2 NVMe.
 

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
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Most of this information was covered in the last thread you made :D There's a massive difference in time, volume, development and technical difference into why NVMe over USB has not been rapid and cheap to market. There are a couple of Thunderbolt to NVMe Storage devices since they port PCI-e between the device and the system. http://www.netstor.com.tw/product_info.aspx?PID=PID_171026055872595

They aren't cheap, but they'll get cheaper over time.
 

mlhm5

Member
Oct 28, 2007
92
1
66
Most of this information was covered in the last thread you made :D There's a massive difference in time, volume, development and technical difference into why NVMe over USB has not been rapid and cheap to market. There are a couple of Thunderbolt to NVMe Storage devices since they port PCI-e between the device and the system. http://www.netstor.com.tw/product_info.aspx?PID=PID_171026055872595

They aren't cheap, but they'll get cheaper over time.
Apparently, they are not available either. I cannot find anyone selling them.
 

PliotronX

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 1999
8,883
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That "enclosure" is basically a computer. A PCI-E bus needs a host processor and RAM to drive it which explains the sky high price. I'd sooner build an ITX box with a pentium and share over the network or find a NUC w/NVME etc. but that's me.