The Rise of M.2 Non-Volatile Memory Express Solid-State Drives: Unlocking Faster Speeds and Capabilities

In recent years, solid-state drives (SSDs) have become increasingly popular due to their speed and reliability compared to traditional mechanical hard drives. One of the key developments in this field is the emergence of M.2 Non-Volatile Memory Express Solid-State Drives, or M.2 SSDs for short. These drives are relatively new, having only been around for a few years, but they have already made a significant impact on the industry.

M.2 SSDs use flash memory for data storage, just like regular 2.5 inch SSDs, but they differ significantly in terms of form factor and connection type. The M.2 is a totally different form factor from traditional expansion cards, and it connects to a different type of slot. This makes it an ideal solution for mounting expansion cards internally, which has led to its widespread adoption.

One of the key advantages of M.2 SSDs is their speed. They have dramatically passed mechanical hard drives in terms of speed, thanks to their use of flash memory, which eliminates the need for moving parts. This means that data can be transferred much faster than with traditional hard drives. In fact, M.2 SSDs are roughly 5 times faster than SATA and AHCI-based SSDs.

So, what sets M.2 SSDs apart from other SSDs? The answer lies in the technology behind them. Prior to the emergence of M.2 and NVM Express, the latest interface standard used for hard drives and SSDs was SATA 3.0, with the advanced host controller interface (AHCI) being used as the standard protocol for software communication. However, AHCI was developed primarily for mechanical hard drives and wasn't optimized for SSDs.

This created a bottleneck for today's SSDs, which were designed to take advantage of the faster speeds offered by newer technologies like SATA 3.0 and PCI Express. M.2 NVM Express SSDs, on the other hand, use the PCI Express bus, which is much faster than SATA. This allows them to transfer data at a rate of 3 Gigabytes per second, making them significantly faster than SATA-based SSDs.

Another key advantage of M.2 NVM Express SSDs is their ability to handle high input and output operations per second (IOPS). The NVMe protocol, which was developed specifically for these drives, reduces CPU overhead and streamlines operations, resulting in lower latency and higher IOPS. This makes them ideal for applications that require fast data transfer, such as gaming and video editing.

The NVMe protocol also allows M.2 SSDs to perform many input/output operations in parallel, breaking down large jobs into smaller, independent tasks that can be processed simultaneously. This is similar to how multi-core CPUs work with multiple threads, where each core works independently to perform certain tasks.

In addition to their speed and IOPS capabilities, M.2 SSDs also offer a feature called the command queue. The command queue allows for the delay of commands to be executed, which can improve overall performance by reducing latency. This is particularly useful in applications that require low-latency data transfer.

The M.2 SSD connects to the motherboard through the M.2 slot, which is easily accessible and requires no additional connections or cables. Simply slide the drive into the spring-loaded slot and tighten it down with a single screw, and you're good to go.

However, not all motherboards support M.2 SSDs, as this technology is relatively new and has only been around for a few years. If you want to use an M.2 NVM Express SSD, you'll need to make sure that your motherboard supports it, with an M.2 slot and the ability to handle NVM Express technology.

It's also worth noting that not all M.2 SSDs have NVM Express technology or use the PCI Express bus. Some M.2 SSDs still use the SATA bus, which is significantly slower than PCI Express. In fact, there is no speed advantage between an M.2 SATA SSD and a standard 2.5 inch SSD.

Before purchasing a new motherboard and SSD, it's essential to research and ensure that your components are compatible with each other. There's a wealth of information available online, including articles, reviews, and forums dedicated to M.2 SSDs and NVMe technology. By taking the time to learn more about these emerging technologies, you can make informed decisions about your next hardware upgrade.

For those looking to try out an M.2 SSD for themselves, there are many great options available on the market. One highly-recommended option is [insert recommended M.2 SSD model here], which has been thoroughly reviewed and tested by experts in the field. With its fast speeds, high IOPS capabilities, and compact design, this drive is an excellent choice for anyone looking to upgrade their storage solution.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello everyone. In this video, we're going to talk about M.2Non-Volatile Memory Express Solid-State Drives orSSDs. Now these drives are relatively new and have only been around for a few years now and just like regular2.5 inch SSDs that we're more familiar withM.2 SSDs also use flash memory for data storage and they are very fast.But the difference between a regular2.5 inch SSD and an M.2 SSD is that the M.2 is atotally different form factor and it connects to a different type of slot.The M.2 which was formerly known as the next generation form factor is a standard that's used for mountingexpansion cards internally.Now SSDs have dramatically passed mechanical hard drives as far as speed and this is becauseSSDs have no moving parts.Because they use flash memoryfor data storage as compared to mechanical hard drives that use rotating magnetic disks to store data.But in recent yearsSSDs have gotten faster and are more capable of moving data at a faster rate.So in order to unlock the full capability of SSDsengineers needed a new technology to unlock the faster speeds of SSDs and that's where M.2 andNVM Express come in.Now prior to M.2 and NVM Expressthe latest interface standard that was widely used for hard drives andSSDs was SATA 3.0 and the standard that was usedfor an interface for software to communicate with SATA was the advanced host controller interfacewhich is better known as AHCI. Now AHCI was developed primarily formechanical hard drives. It wasn't made or optimized for SSDs and that's mainly because it dates back to2004. So it was creating a bottleneck for today'sSSDs. The SATA 3.0 bus with AHCI allows data transfer speeds at atheoretical rate of 600 Megabytes per second, which is pretty fast. However, M.2 NVM ExpressSSDs do not use the SATA bus.They instead use the PCI Express bus, which is much faster than SATA.So by using the PCI Express bus with an optimized protocol like NVM Expressthese allow SSDs to transfer data at a rate of 3 Gigabytes per second, which isextremely fast. SoM.2 SSDs with NVM Express is roughly 5 times faster than SATA andAHCI. Now this speed will vary depending upon what motherboard you are using and which SSD. But regardlessit's still a lot faster than SATA SSDs.NVMe orNon-Volatile Memory Express is acommunications protocol specifically developed for SSDs. It basically reduces the CPU overhead andstreamlinesoperations which lowers latency andIncreases input and output operations per second or in other words it's fast.NVM Express was developed to fully take advantage of thecapability of PCI Express storage devices and to perform many of the input/output operations in parallelmeaning that manycalculations are done at the same time. A large job is broken down into several smaller jobs that can be processedindependently.Now this is very similar to how a multi-core CPU works with multiple threadswhere the CPU cores work independently of each other to perform certain tasks.Another advantage that NVM Express has over AHCI is what's called the command queue.The command queue is a queue for enabling the delay of a command to be executed.So in a nutshell as commands are sent to a storage drive it gets into a line or queuethen as each command is finished executing by the driveit goes to the next command in the queue. Now AHCI allows one queue with up to 32commands in the queue. But NVM Express allows64,000 queues and with each queue capable of64,000 commands. So in theory if you were to max out NVM Expressyou can fulfill a staggering 4 billion96 million commands.The M.2 SSD connects to the motherboard in the M.2 slot.It just slides into thespring-loaded slot and then tightened down with a single screw and that's pretty much it.There's no other connections to be made. So there's no connection cable or a separate power cable.So it's just like an expansion card.Now not all motherboards are going to have an M.2 slot.Because like I said before this is a relatively new technologythat's only been around for a few years. So if you want to use an M.2 NVM ExpressSSD you need to be sure that your motherboard supports it.You have to make sure that it has an M.2 slot and that it can supportNVM Expresstechnology.It's also important to note that not all M.2 SSDs have NVM Expresstechnology or use the PCI Express bus.Because some M.2's use the SATA bus, which is a lot slower.In factthere is no speed advantage between an M.2 SATA SSD and a standard2.5 inch SSD. So before you go out and purchase a new motherboard and SSDyou need to be sure and I also have a link in the description of this video below of an M.2 SSD that Irecommend and have purchased myself.\n"