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Monday, March 25, 2024

· 2 min read

Solid State Drive (SSD) Form Factors​

SSD components:

  • Controller chips
  • Memory chips
    • NAND Flash particles
      • SLC (1 bit/cell)
      • MLC (2 bits/cell)
      • TLC (3 bits/cell)
      • QLC (4 bits/cell)
    • Manufactures
      • Samsung
      • SanDisk
      • Micron
      • SK Hynix
      • Toshiba
  • Interfaces
    • SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
      • Size
        • M.2
      • Protocols
        • AHCI
    • PCIe (PCIe 5.0, 4.0, 3.0)
      • Size
        • M.2
      • Protocols
        • AHCI (rarely!)
        • NVMe

NOTE Data Transfer Protocols:

  • AHCI
  • NVMe

NOTE M.2 is a size format: about the size and shape of a stick of gum.

Popular SSD: PCIe 4.0/M.2/NVMe over 7000MB/s

Portal SSD:

  • SSD (mentioned above)
  • Protective case
    • Durable
    • Waterproofing
    • Drop resistance
    • Heat dissipation
    • Compact and portable
  • Bridge chips
  • USB-C interface (external) to PCIe/M.2/NVMe interface (internal)
  • USB-C interface (external) to SATA/M.2/AHCI interface (internal)

NVMe vs M.2: Bus, Interface, and Protocol - MiniTool Partition Wizard

3 SSD Terminologies You Need to Know when Buying SSD Drive - MiniTool Partition Wizard

USB Flash Drive​

Both USB Flash Drive and SSD use NAND flash memory for data storage. The main difference is from other form factors, such as SSD own more advanced and complicate controller chips to read/write data.