Hello everyone - I was recently helping pull data off a friend’s mSATA SSD when it occurred to me; mSata has a small footprint. I bet you could fit 6+ mSata connectors on a single PCIe x16 carrier card, and since it’s SATA theoretically Bifurcation might not be required? I know mSATA is one of those transient technologies, but as I recall they did make mSATA SSDs in capacities up to 2TB.
Just trying to think about Wendell theme of ‘coloring outside the lines’, and being creative in useful ways.
I’m aware of two devices that are loosely related to this concept:
- 5 x 2280 M.2 B-Key PCIe 3.0 x16 Card: Amazon.com
This one is interesting, but seems to carry mixed reviews online. With unusual M.2 products, I’m weary of the uninformed not understanding M.2 keys and leaving poor reviews when things work out badly for them. It lists a bandwidth limitation of PCIe 3.0 x2, so you’re capping out at 2 GB/s max. But for a budget way of cramming five more SSDs into a consumer platform, that could still have merit.
- 1 x 2280 M.2 B-Key, 1 x 2280 M.2 M-Key, 1 x mSATA PCIe 3.0 x16 Card: Amazon.com
This one is a nice option if you need less disk density, but you’ve got multiple interface SSDs kicking around. You have a place to park your old PCIe 3.0 NVMe without wasting your nicer 4.0/5.0 ports on the mobo. It looks as if the card only powers the SATA interfaces as there’s SATA data connectors to plug into your controller like you usually would a 2.5"/3.5" device.
Does anyone have experience with such creatures? Or does anyone know of a PCIe x16 carrier card that just has all the mSATA connectors?! Appreciate it, as I also enjoy edge/fringe uses of tech to help creativity when planning/updating builds for friends/family.