There are two types of hard drives in computers, one is solid-state drives(SSD) and the other is traditional mechanical hard drives(HDD). Their main functions are to store data and other information. It is understood that there are many types of SSD, so some users do not know what interface they are using. Below, we will introduce several types of SSD interfaces.
This is SATA Revision 3.0 (abbreviated as SATA3.0 or SATA 6Gbps), which represents the use of the SATA Revision 3.0 standard and is faster compared to SATA Revision 2.0. SATA is the standard specification for hard disk interfaces, in fact, The SATA 6Gbps interface is an non-standard term, and the correct one is SATA III (SATA3.0), with an interface speed of 6Gbps. Of course, everyone is used to saying that. This is the most common HDD/SSD interface on the market, and most people buy hard drives using this interface.
The biggest advantage of SATA 6Gbps (SATA3.0) is that it is very mature and can unleash the maximum performance of mainstream SSD. It should be noted that some older computer motherboards may only have SATA2.0, which cannot fully utilize the performance of SSDs due to limited maximum supported speeds. Therefore, some older computer or older motherboard users generally do not recommend upgrading SSD unless they replace a motherboard that supports SATA3.0.
This interface is the product specification for the new mini SATA (mSATA) interface controller developed by the SATA Association. The new controller can integrate SATA technology into small-sized devices. MSATA also offers the same speed and reliability as the SATA interface standard, providing system developers and manufacturers of small-sized CE products (such as Notebooks/Netbooks) with more efficient and cost-effective storage solutions. This interface is mainly used for laptops that focus on miniaturization, such as business laptops, ultrabooks, and so on. For desktop computers, mainstream laptops still use SATA3.0.
In fact, The mSATA interface can also be said to be a necessary process for miniaturizing SSD. Of course, mSATA also has some shortcomings of SATA, such as still being a SATA channel with a speed of 6Gbps.
M.2 Originally named NGFF interface, this is a new generation interface standard tailored for Ultrabooks, mainly used to replace the mSATA interface. Whether in terms of very compact specifications or transmission performance, this interface is much better than the mSATA interface. It is precisely because the interface bottleneck of SATA is becoming increasingly prominent that many motherboard manufacturers are now reserving M.2 interfaces on their product lines.
M.2 interfaces can support both PCI-E channels and SATA, with the former being easier to improve speed. At the beginning, the interface used PCI-E 2.0 x2 channels with a theoretical bandwidth of 10Gbps, which can be said to have broken through the theoretical transmission bottleneck of SATA interface. Nowadays, the M.2 interface has fully shifted to PCI-E 3.0 x4 channels, with a theoretical bandwidth of 32Gbps, which has greatly improved compared to previous levels, and also greatly enhanced the performance potential of SSDs. In addition, the interface solid-state drive also supports the NVMe standard, and compared to the current AHCI, SSD connected through the new NVMe standard have a significant performance improvement.
At the beginning of the development of SATA interface SSD, PCI-E interface SSD had already emerged, and the latter's advantages can be said to be very obvious. As for other SSD, regardless of the interface used, they all move from SATA to native PCI-E, and SSD with PCI-E interfaces are directly in place without any intermediate processes.
However, PCI-E hard drives were initially primarily used in the enterprise market because they required different controllers, resulting in increased performance and higher costs. As for the consumer market, there is not much demand for this product, only in the past two years, PCI-E hard drives have just begun to become popular in the high-end consumer market.
After SATA 6Gbps speed, It will be more difficult to improve the speed of the SATA interface. Although SAS interfaces can reach speeds of 12Gbps, they are only targeted at the enterprise market and have undergone significant changes to the original interface, which is not cost sensitive. However, when facing the consumer market, this cannot be the case. We must consider practical issues, SATA-IO ultimately came up with a solution for the SATA Express interface.
In fact, its physical interface is modified from SATA 6Gbps interface and has been launched in the market for several years. However, based on the current market share, there is still a long way to go for this product to become popular. The only wise thing about this product is its backward compatibility with SATA 6Gbps interfaces.
What exactly is the U.2 interface? I believe no one has heard of it! Its alternate name is SFF-8639, which is an interface specification introduced by the SSD Form Factor Work Group. U. 2 not only supports the SATA-Express specification, but also is compatible with SAS, SATA and other specifications. Therefore, you can consider it as a four channel version of the SATA-Express interface, with a theoretical bandwidth of 32Gbps, which is no different from the M.2 interface.
Summary:
Although the interfaces of SSD on the market are indeed very messy now, in the end, they are just a combination of SATA, MSATA, M.2, and PCI-E are the main components. In terms of cost-effectiveness and technological maturity, The SATA3.0 interface occupies the vast majority of the market. The vast majority of desktop computers and mainstream laptops directly use SATA interfaces, which are compatible with traditional mechanical hard drives and new SSD. This interface will also be mainstream for a long time in the future. For some high-end players, M.2 interface SSD can be considered, but motherboard support is required.
