Possible to use NVME SSD (m.2) outside of pc?

[i1own0u]

Like if I wanted to look at an old laptop harddrive, i'd put it in an external usb adapter (sata to USB). Wondering if there's anything like that for the nvme drives (pci-e)? I think I saw a thread about a year ago saying that this may be possible if you have a sata m.2 drive, but no one had a solution for an external pci-e m.2 nvme drive.

Anyone know of a solution? My PC died and I wanted to see if my nvme drive still works (I had to ship in my mobo so I have no m.2 slots available to me).

It's a samsung 960 pro 512GB btw.

 

[Eximo]

There are some M.2 enclosures you can buy. I'm sure someone has made a pigtailed USB adapter as well.

 

[atljsf]

https://www.amazon.com/ZTC-Enclosure-Adapter-SuperSpeed-ZTC-EN004-BK/dp/B00KQ4LNJC

 

[Eximo]

On second thought, doesn't look like anyone is willing to manufacture those yet. Likely too expensive to turn a profit.

PCIe internal adapter:

https://www.amazon.com/NGFF-PCI-e-Express-Host-Adapter/dp/B01M0OS5JH/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489528055&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+to+M.2+NVMe

 

[Eximo]

https://www.amazon.com/ZTC-Enclosure-Adapter-SuperSpeed-ZTC-EN004-BK/dp/B00KQ4LNJC

"Supports SATA B keyed, B+M keyed M.2 NGFF SSDs. However, it does Not Support M keyed nor PCIe devices. Please Check your M.2 SSD type first for compatibility. "

Sadly no, it would not work with the 960 Pro.

 

[Eximo]

I'll poke around and see if any of the specialty companies make one, but I doubt it would be affordable. LaCie doesn't seem to have anything which is sad. Nor OWC.

Not even any exotics like Thunderbolt oddly.

Looks like they just haven't made them yet. Everyone is using the same chip (and most times the same board) ASMedia 1351 USB 3.1 Controller with UASP Support which doesn't support NVMe.

However, there is one, that is out of stock, that shows a little promise with newer host hardware.

https://www.amazon.com/portal/detail/B00LX0Z1IW?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&deviceType=desktop

Now I am going to stalk around for this product until I find one. Just bloody useful to have, I do a lot of hobby repair of laptops, only a matter of time.

 

[atljsf]

it is just one of many others, just a example, if you seach for yourself you will find there is like 10 different models with different approaches

 

[Eximo]

it is just one of many others, just a example, if you seach for yourself you will find there is like 10 different models with different approaches

So far I have found a total of two solutions for USB. They either use a USB 3.0 to mSATA bridge controller or a USB 3.1 to mSATA bridge controller. They are basically the chip manufacturer's recommended specs put on a board. Most of the available ones from all the major e-tailers even use the same PCB and chassis.

A plethora of PCIe internal adapters, different form factors. Other mSATA solutions including dual bay 2.5" RAID adapters.

Right now the cheapest solution that isn't an adapter is a computer that supports NVMe M.2 drives.

I even dug a little deeper with some of the major chip producers, nothing seems to be on the horizon on this front.

If someone were to make such a device now, they would have to use two expensive IC, and possibly add some RAM or cache into the mix.