In Storage, Size Matters: What you need to know about SSD form factors

[Julio Franco]

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[newwindow=https://www.techspot.com/guides/768-ssd-form-factors/]https://www.techspot.com/guides/768-ssd-form-factors/[/newwindow]

Please leave your feedback here.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Nice article - haven't seen one talking about form factors. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I just have mine hanging somewhere in the air below the DVD drive .

 

[Guest]

I just have mine hanging somewhere in the air below the DVD drive .

Haha, been there done that.

 

[madboyv1]

Velcro with heavy duty hooks (particularly plastic to plastic hooks) are a personal favorite for putting HDD's and SSD's places they were not meant to be. =)

Nice informative article, good to see the "odd form factors" on display.

 

[howzz1854]

I can't wait for them to do away with the 3.5" HDD factor. trying to fit SSD inside those large 3.5" sucks. and waste of space. I've evern went with 2.5" HDD + SSD and have them sitting right below the Optical drive now. freed up those 3.5" drive bays for water pump and reservoir.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I can't wait for them to do away with the 3.5" HDD factor.

I wish this as well, but I'm not looking forward to it until after 1TB SSD are below $100. And if they do it right they can drop the 2.5 inch form factor as well by mounting the SSD to the backside of the motherboard. With all the mass storage requirements and server farms, I doubt it will be anytime soon.

 

[Guest]

Well desktop drives are 3.5inch, laptop drives are 2.5inch but you can fit 2.5inch drives into 3.5inch bays using an adapter (and there generally cheaper) or if you got an awesome case like mine with pull out trays using mostly screwless design you do need to screw the drive to the tray unless you want it just hanging around, the screws are smaller but the thumb screws on the back of the case should be small enough to screw it in.

Everything you need to know about SSD sizes... done!

 

[Guest]

Great, thanks! I've learned something new.

 

[Guest]

Everything you need to know about SSD sizes... done!

Only if you don't take mSATA, M.2 and PCIe SSDs into account.

 

[Guest]

What, no discussion of z-height??? Huge failure.

 

[howzz1854]

Well desktop drives are 3.5inch, laptop drives are 2.5inch but you can fit 2.5inch drives into 3.5inch bays using an adapter (and there generally cheaper) or if you got an awesome case like mine with pull out trays using mostly screwless design you do need to screw the drive to the tray unless you want it just hanging around, the screws are smaller but the thumb screws on the back of the case should be small enough to screw it in.

Everything you need to know about SSD sizes... done!

you missed my point. this isn't a thread about comparing our chasis. I was talking about the fact that one still need to make SSD fit into the now almost obsolete 3.5 cage with adaptor, strap, or whatever it is that you use. the industry should just do away with 3.5" altogether sometime soon.

 

[cliffordcooley]

No mention of 5.25 drive bays that we use today actually being half-height bays. What difference does it make if the height was not mentioned? That was not the point of the article. The point of the article was that the diameter of platters no longer dictate the dimensions of storage media, and how the dimensions have already changed since the introduction of SSD.

 

[Jad Chaar]

What is the point of mSATA when there is M.2?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Wasn't M.2 basically a compatibility merger between both mSATA and mPCIe?

 

[Chongler]

Once the price comes down enough, what will stop Motherboards from being built with a 2-3 TB SSD Built right onto the motherboard?

 

[waxbytes]

Once the price comes down enough, what will stop Motherboards from being built with a 2-3 TB SSD Built right onto the motherboard?

By that time 2 to 3 TB will be considered a "drive cache" for whatever next level of storage is..

 

[ac604]

Does anyone here or the author/OP know of a multi-interface USB adapter that can be used to connect multiple form factor drives to a USB 2.0/3.0 port?

I've used a USB adapter before, that supported: IDE/PATA, regular SATA, eSATA, and Micro SATA (not the same as Mini or mSATA) all-in-one cable/adapter.

I know there are several dedicated mSATA (Mini SATA) to USB adapters, but I'm looking for a multi-adapter that I can buy to support old IDE/PATA hard drives from the 80's to current mSATA SSD's.

I have tried Googling and checking on Amazon, and I just called accessories maker, Sabrent as well, no luck...seeing if any others may know.

Thanks!

 

[cogitare]

Does the Apple 2013+ SSD form connector have a name like M.3 or something or Apple PCIe version X?

Thanks