What is the difference between m.2 and sata solid state drives? Must-read: M.2 and SATA buying advice

phpXinyi will give you an in-depth understanding of the differences between M.2 and SATA solid state drives. With the continuous development of technology, solid-state drives have attracted much attention as storage devices. M.2 and SATA are two common solid-state drive interfaces. They have obvious differences in performance, speed and applicable scenarios. This article will give you a detailed introduction to the characteristics of M.2 and SATA solid-state drives and purchasing suggestions to help you better choose a solid-state drive that suits your needs.

For many friends, the laptop they use becomes slow after a few years. A large part of the reason is because our hard drive is not powerful. At this time, many people will consider replacing themselves with a hard drive, but often in I am confused about the choice of hard drive. Should I choose a solid-state drive with a SATA interface or a solid-state drive with an M.2 interface? They are both solid-state drives, but the price gap between the two hard drives is really huge. What is the difference between two products with different specifications in terms of performance?

#What is a SATA interface solid state drive?

In the traditional sense, most 3.5-inch mechanical hard drives and 2.5-inch solid-state drives use the SATA interface. Its transmission method is relatively complicated and requires reading from the memory, that is, hard disk → memory → CPU → For the operation of memory → hard disk, the main SATA interface BIJ channel of the notebook we currently buy is 3.0. The biggest improvement of SATA3.0 is that the maximum transmission is increased to 6Gbps. Due to the limitation of theoretical bandwidth, the actual read and write speed is 500MB-700MB. /s more. However, this is obviously not enough for many friends who need faster storage!

#M.2 interface SSD reads faster without going through memory!

Here we have to go through a brain-burning link, that is, there are two modes on the M.2 motherboard interface, one of which is M.2SATA: the read and write speed is similar to that of a 2.5-inch SSD, only The interface is just different. The second type of M.2NVMe: read and write speeds exceed 1GB/s, up to 5GB/s. Here you can simply understand that they are all M.2 interfaces, but SATA hard drives will still go through the memory processing process, and only the processing efficiency of NVMe will be faster. In terms of transmission method, M.2NVMe is larger than M.2SATA. It directly skips the memory and the hard disk is directly connected to the CPU. Of course, it also improves the reading and writing speed.

#So what is the difference between the M.2 interface and the SATA interface?

Theoretically, it is estimated that the M.2 interface will be twice as fast as SATA. SATA3 is 6Gb per second, which is about 700MB per second. M.2 is 10Gb per second, which is about 1.25GB per second read and write speed. So in terms of pure transmission speed, NVMe solid-state drives with M.2 interface have more advantages, but if your notebook is older, you must see clearly which generation of product your SATA interface is. SATA1 is the first generation. The speed is 1.5GB/s, SATA2 is the second-generation speed of 3Gb/s, and SATA3 is 6Gb/s speed. If you use the second-generation SATA interface, there is no need to buy a good solid-state drive. If it is a first-generation interface, then it is better to change to a new computer or simply choose a mechanical hard drive.

#Then another question arises. Is the price difference between M.2NVMe SSD and SATA3 SSD much different? The author searched around on JD.com. In terms of price, SATA3 interface SSDs are absolutely cost-effective. If you are not short of money, you will give priority to M.2NVMe SSDs. If you are pursuing cost-effectiveness, you will give priority to SATA3 interface SSDs. harddisk. But the premise of all this is that your computer needs to have a slot for an M.2NVMe solid-state drive. If there is no slot, you basically have no choice. Be sure to choose a solid state drive with a SATA interface. Everyone can see the formula below clearly. When purchasing, start with the one with the highest priority. M.2NVMe＞SATA3＞SATA2＞SATA1＞HDD mechanical hard drive.

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