Term of the Moment
key
Redirected from: NGFF
Definition: M.2
A small expansion card that holds a solid state drive (SSD) or communications controller such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Introduced in 2013, M.2 cards were initially deployed in tablet and laptop computers but later migrated to desktops. Modern motherboards include M.2 sockets, and adapters retrofit old computers (see below). Originally known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), M.2 supports PCI Express (PCIe), SATA and USB. See U.2, PCI Express, mSATA and Mini PCI Express.
Five Lengths
M.2 cards are 0.87"/22mm wide, but lengths vary:
The Dockcase External M.2 Case
NVMe on M.2
Old mSATA and New M.2
M.2 Sockets On the Motherboard
Key IDs
No M.2 Motherboard Sockets?
Five Lengths
M.2 cards are 0.87"/22mm wide, but lengths vary:
Inches Millimeters
1.18" 30mm
1.65" 42mm
2.36" 60mm
3.15" 80mm
4.33" 110mm
Holding a 30mm M.2 SSD card that connects via USB, a feature of the Dockcase is its 1.25" status screen. At startup, "PLP Charging" means capacitors are being charged so that if the drive were abruptly disconnected from the computer, there is sufficient power to copy the contents of the cache to storage. See cache.
This 80mm M.2 card contains a terabyte SSD. NVMe SSDs on M.2 cards connecting via PCIe reached eight terabytes (8TB) in 2020. The pen is for size comparison. See NVMe.
The top SATA SSD is on an mSATA card. The bottom SATA SSD is on M.2, which replaced mSATA in new products. See mSATA.
Modern desktop PC motherboards have dedicated M.2 slots as in this Asus example. This is looking down between the graphics card and heat sink.
M.2 has 12 plug and socket "key" configurations to ensure that the motherboard supports the interface on the card. The M and B keys are the most popular.
No problem. Insert the M.2 card into an adapter that plugs into a PCI Express (PCIe) slot on the motherboard. M.2 cards are 22mm wide by 30, 42, 60, 80 or 110mm long. After insertion, the card is bolted to the adapter (or motherboard) using the hole at the far end. See PCI Express.