Question SATA SSD versus M.2 NVMe SSD vs Memory Card (also an "SSD") ?

[DanielThommen]

Stupid Question, but why would you prefer one over the other?

Even a 512GB Memory Card is technically a SSD and could be mounted very easy with a card reader into a USB connector. Have WIN and all on it and start it from there (would that even work if USB is the booting device in BIOS)?

So what is better with a "real" SSD SATA (where you need an available SATA connector or a SATA-card (PCIe) where you could plug it in
...vs...
a SSD M.2 NVME (where you also need an adapter to connect it via PCIe)
...vs...
a SD card, connected via USB?

I guess whatever is connected to PCIe is faster than USB.

So is the fastest to get a PCIe-x4 adapter card for M.2 NVME and a SSD card that goes in there? But is the speed not also bottlenecked based on the PCIe (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0)?
Or is a PCIe-x2 SATA card where you connect a SSD with a cable to it faster?
Or is a "SSD" SD Card connected via USB even faster?

 

[CountMike]

Stupid Question, but why would you prefer one over the other?

Even a 512GB Memory Card is technically a SSD and could be mounted very easy with a card reader into a USB connector. Have WIN and all on it and start it from there (would that even work if USB is the booting device in BIOS)?

So what is better with a "real" SSD SATA (where you need an available SATA connector or a SATA-card (PCIe) where you could plug it in
...vs...
a SSD M.2 NVME (where you also need an adapter to connect it via PCIe)
...vs...
a SD card, connected via USB?

I guess whatever is connected to PCIe is faster than USB.

So is the fastest to get a PCIe-x4 adapter card for M.2 NVME and a SSD card that goes in there? But is the speed not also bottlenecked based on the PCIe (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0)?
Or is a PCIe-x2 SATA card where you connect a SSD with a cable to it faster?
Or is a "SSD" SD Card connected via USB even faster?

Memory cards like SD cards are just technically SSD (because SS= Solid State) But are made indifferent scale of transistors, smaller and so potentially less reliable, speed greatly influenced by USB interface which is often much slower than memory itself. Only USB3.2 can make them work full speed.
SATA SSDs are limited by SATA interface which has limited bandwidth to typically 550/500 Mbps.
NVME SSD drives work of PCIe interface which is much faster in frequency as well as in bandwidth.Even PCIe 2nd gen is at least 2 times faster than SATA3 and so are SSDs connected to it.
Newest PCIe gen5 NVME SSDs run at 11.700MBps. Compare that to SATA SSDs. Basically, PCIe interface doubled bandwidth with every generation while SATA will never improve.
So main and deciding difference is in speed but comparing to SD cards also have potential for much greater capacities. Sd cards capacity can't grow as much as other types of SSDs because they are simply limited in size and speed is also limited as faster they are they heat more with no practical way of cooling them while SATA SSDs canbe in metal casing with disapites heat and M.2 NVMe drives can have large evenwater coolers.
In SD cards there's little space to put RAM cache in wich can speed drives considerably.

 

[USAFRet]

If a system does not have native PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 M.2 ports, then get 2.5" SATA III SSDs.

SD cards, wile "solid state" (no moving parts) are NOT even close in performance or reliability.

And of course, getting a Windows system running from USB is its own headache.

 

[Bob.B]

Stupid Question, but why would you prefer one over the other?

Even a 512GB Memory Card is technically a SSD and could be mounted very easy with a card reader into a USB connector. Have WIN and all on it and start it from there (would that even work if USB is the booting device in BIOS)?

So what is better with a "real" SSD SATA (where you need an available SATA connector or a SATA-card (PCIe) where you could plug it in
...vs...
a SSD M.2 NVME (where you also need an adapter to connect it via PCIe)
...vs...
a SD card, connected via USB?

I guess whatever is connected to PCIe is faster than USB.

So is the fastest to get a PCIe-x4 adapter card for M.2 NVME and a SSD card that goes in there? But is the speed not also bottlenecked based on the PCIe (1.0, 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0)?
Or is a PCIe-x2 SATA card where you connect a SSD with a cable to it faster?
Or is a "SSD" SD Card connected via USB even faster?

Other than benchmarks it doubtful you would see a diff in perf between a 2.5 ssd and a nvme ssd.

So just to keep it simple if you have an open sata 3 port on the mobo connect a 2.5 ssd and go.

 

[DanielThommen]

Other than benchmarks it doubtful you would see a diff in perf between a 2.5 ssd and a nvme ssd.

So just to keep it simple if you have an open sata 3 port on the mobo connect a 2.5 ssd and go.

Problem is that, although I have an open SATA port on my MOBO, I recently figured out that it will not work, I could not make a second CD-drive work using it.

Therefore I added a SATA/eSATA card with a RAID controller to one of my available PCIe-x4 slots, but the card was too old and would also not work with my PC (that is also old lol).

So I literally have no available SATA connector (without buying a new SATA/PCIe-x4 card). I have 2 PCIe-x4 and one PCIe-x8 available where I could put in a N.2 MVNe SATA card I would have to get... The PCIe-x8 is on the bottom of my MOBO and the case and below the GPU, so cooling might be an issue in general with that one... I have to see whether their are cards that would take the PCIe-x4 slot to then accept a N.2 MVNe SATA card...

That's why I was asking about a USB SD Card, of course USB is way slower, so that might not be the best idea, for sure not to put Windows on...

 

[DanielThommen]

Other than benchmarks it doubtful you would see a diff in perf between a 2.5 ssd and a nvme ssd.

So just to keep it simple if you have an open sata 3 port on the mobo connect a 2.5 ssd and go.

I agree, with my old PC I will not even reach any benchmark. And with me just doing normal stuff on the PC, far away from heavy gaming, I doubt I would see a difference.

Plus for me, 1 second more or less does not make a difference at all. I just would like to have faster loading times, my 2TB HDD does not cut it there, it loads and works perfect, but it could go faster with an SSD...

Is all of that worth to do to a 15 year old PC with an old processor? Or invest the money into a new system?

 

[DanielThommen]

If a system does not have native PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 M.2 ports, then get 2.5" SATA III SSDs.

SD cards, wile "solid state" (no moving parts) are NOT even close in performance or reliability.

And of course, getting a Windows system running from USB is its own headache.

Thank you!

I will have to get a SATA card I can put into one of my available PCIe-x4 slots, as my available SATA3 port does not work anymore, tried to add a 2nd CD-drive to the SATA3 port and it would not work. So I basically have to upgrade the PC with a new SATA port...

And with that, would it be better to add a N.2 card to my available PCIe-x4 to use N.2 SATA stick or would it be better to buy e SATA card for the PCIe-x4 and use a square SATA SSD? Both would be connected to the PCIe-x4, just one is SATA-cable and one is N.2

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you!

I will have to get a SATA card I can put into one of my available PCIe-x4 slots, as my available SATA3 port does not work anymore, tried to add a 2nd CD-drive to the SATA3 port and it would not work. So I basically have to upgrade the PC with a new SATA port...

And with that, would it be better to add a N.2 card to my available PCIe-x4 to use N.2 SATA stick or would it be better to buy e SATA card for the PCIe-x4 and use a square SATA SSD? Both would be connected to the PCIe-x4, just one is SATA-cable and one is N.2

Be advised, the PCIe adapter cards generally rely on a motherboard SATA port for the data.
The slot and the card provides the power, the data goes through the normal SATA port.

 

[DanielThommen]

Memory cards like SD cards are just technically SSD (because SS= Solid State) But are made indifferent scale of transistors, smaller and so potentially less reliable, speed greatly influenced by USB interface which is often much slower than memory itself. Only USB3.2 can make them work full speed.
SATA SSDs are limited by SATA interface which has limited bandwidth to typically 550/500 Mbps.
NVME SSD drives work of PCIe interface which is much faster in frequency as well as in bandwidth.Even PCIe 2nd gen is at least 2 times faster than SATA3 and so are SSDs connected to it.
Newest PCIe gen5 NVME SSDs run at 11.700MBps. Compare that to SATA SSDs. Basically, PCIe interface doubled bandwidth with every generation while SATA will never improve.
So main and deciding difference is in speed but comparing to SD cards also have potential for much greater capacities. Sd cards capacity can't grow as much as other types of SSDs because they are simply limited in size and speed is also limited as faster they are they heat more with no practical way of cooling them while SATA SSDs canbe in metal casing with disapites heat and M.2 NVMe drives can have large evenwater coolers.
In SD cards there's little space to put RAM cache in wich can speed drives considerably.

Very good explanation, thank you for your lengthy answer! I appreciate it.

My PC is 15+ years old and I need to upgrade it in a economic way, meaning I am not looking to spend a lot of money, yet it still has to work nicely. I am not a gamer, so it does not matter whether it needs a second more or less, but I am a bit tired of waiting minutes for a start up or waiting until the WIN explorer moves files... YEah, a newer PC with more whatever would do, but I do not have the financial means for this right now.

I think that after reading your explanation, a 512GB SD card connected with a USB stick to a USB port is out of the question for fixed storage. It is ok to move files around from one PC to the other or for limited backup, but not for a standard internal SSD.

 

[CountMike]

Very good explanation, thank you for your lengthy answer! I appreciate it.

My PC is 15+ years old and I need to upgrade it in a economic way, meaning I am not looking to spend a lot of money, yet it still has to work nicely. I am not a gamer, so it does not matter whether it needs a second more or less, but I am a bit tired of waiting minutes for a start up or waiting until the WIN explorer moves files... YEah, a newer PC with more whatever would do, but I do not have the financial means for this right now.

I think that after reading your explanation, a 512GB SD card connected with a USB stick to a USB port is out of the question for fixed storage. It is ok to move files around from one PC to the other or for limited backup, but not for a standard internal SSD.

If your PC has SATA port you can ad a SATA2.5" SSD which will be much faster than any mechanical HDD. It's just a matter of which generation of SATA port it has. Gull speed of 550/500MBps would be on SATA3 (that's maximum for them) and about half that in SATA2. port.To make full use of it OS and programs should be installed on it.