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Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

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Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#61

Post by wtallis »

shawnz wrote: post #6
djsumdog wrote: post #2

Wonder if we'll see these on the Raspberry Pi 5 and other embedded boards? This is pretty amazing; much better than the current eMMC and SDCard based storage solutions on a lot of dev boards.

Is it better than SD Express though, which also supports PCIe and is backwards compatible with existing cards?

This doesn't seem to be targeted at the frequently-swapped use cases that SD cards are made for. It's more about adding repairability/upgradability to internal primary storage in small devices. For that use case, the 4x throughput advantage is probably reason enough to rule out SD Express.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#62

Post by mises »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #35

I can definitely see the perks of the form factor here, and totally see SSD cooling hardware as being the next big thing, and it sounds like they're prepared for that here. But I mourn how fast the interface format is changing now, because I don't have the hardware to support all of these formats. I've got a handy USB to SATA adapter that did the job for, I don't know, a decade and a half, and now there's eight diffe…

On one hand, I'm inclined to agree with you; but on the other, we've seen huge growth in disk speeds, density, and affordability. All though, I think we've hit a slow-down in improvement if the garbage that is QLC is any evidence. Seriously, I can't believe that manufacturers are trying to force that down our throat.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#63

Post by peterburkimsher »

Svperstar wrote: post #44
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #35

I can definitely see the perks of the form factor here, and totally see SSD cooling hardware as being the next big thing, and it sounds like they're prepared for that here. But I mourn how fast the interface format is changing now, because I don't have the hardware to support all of these formats. I've got a handy USB to SATA adapter that did the job for, I don't know, a decade and a half, and now there's eight diffe…

Its crazy my 2.5" SSD died last week and I opted to go from 2 different SSDs to 1 2 tb nvme SSD. I too have a USB to Sata adapter but now I can't use it on my personal computer. I do have a thunderbolt external nvme adapter they have got a lot cheaper.

Is the Thunderbolt adaptor you're using the same as my Transcend JetDrive 855? I successfully tested it with an Intel 660P 2 TB into an M.2 to Mac adaptor.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#64

Post by diabeetusman »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #54
pathartl wrote: post #52

Something that I think people are glancing over, this has some huge potential in the laptop / pro tablet space. I don't think someone like Apple would ever move to something like this, but standard NVMe mounting solutions are probably taller than they need to be. This is also a screwless solution which while not a huge deal, is pretty neat. In my eyes, this sort of connector gives manufacturers no reason to solder on…

Who cares about laptops and tablets? They already have fast ports. You already can put a real NVMe drive into a USB enclosure and get ridiculously fast external storage. This new form factor would be perfect for cameras that shoot RAW video or high-bandwidth video. Until recently you'd need to buy very expensive and fast SD cards or proprietary RED mags to be able to record high quality high resolution video. BMPCC4K…

Of course, the RED mags that you're referring to just use normal SATA with the pins moved around.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#65

Post by mceachen »

tristor wrote: post #29
gambiting wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RockPi has a full size M.2 connector that accepts most NVMe drives: http://rockpi.org/

I bought a Rock Pi 4 and the whole kit-n-kaboodle. Just finished doing some benchmarking and it has pretty impressive performance, but it definitely needs assistance staying cool. The case I have is aluminum with the bottom of the case being a whole-board heatsink, and I still had to set it on top of ice packs with a fan blowing to keep it from throttling under heavy benchmarking load. I think one thing people don't…

Or... you could make your own Extra Fancy case: https://twitter.com/mrm/status/1157820493098934272

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#66

Post by myself248 »

djsumdog wrote: post #2

Wonder if we'll see these on the Raspberry Pi 5 and other embedded boards? This is pretty amazing; much better than the current eMMC and SDCard based storage solutions on a lot of dev boards.

Hardkernel saw this need and addressed it; their boards use an eMMC daughterboard with a standardized connector that I could swear I've seen picked up by a few other vendors now.

I wonder if they'll switch over to this on some future generation.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#67

Post by AmVess »

gameswithgo wrote: post #59
Sileni wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse to replace my NVMe for this reason alone. That screw is going to get stuck somewhere and I'm going to have to take the motherboard out completely to get it, hoping the whole time I didn't fry anything. Why. Why make a screw that small. It's torture.

on most motherboards you could probably leave the screw off and it would be fine forever. not that I've done that. yet.

The connector requires a small amount of downward force to slot the nvme device. Without a screw, the device can easily pop out of the slot.

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#68

Post by grenoire »

wtallis wrote: post #56
DanBC wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're M2 x 3mm? That's small but not ridiculous. Place a magnet on the screwdriver blade.

I find it a bit odd how most motherboards seem to use M2 screws, but most of the add-in card M.2 adapters I've dealt with use M3 screws, and the M.2 spec only talks about M3 screws.

In the end the size of the screw doesn't matter as long as it fits in the hole. Your M.2 isn't going to just pop out because the screw is half a millimeter smaller in radius!

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#69

Post by e12e »

nextos wrote: post #47
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #35

I can definitely see the perks of the form factor here, and totally see SSD cooling hardware as being the next big thing, and it sounds like they're prepared for that here. But I mourn how fast the interface format is changing now, because I don't have the hardware to support all of these formats. I've got a handy USB to SATA adapter that did the job for, I don't know, a decade and a half, and now there's eight diffe…

I think this new format is nice because it requires no tools to install, like most other components e.g. RAM. In contrast, current M2 NVMe have this annoying screw that requires a fairly specialized screwdriver and tends to get stuck in some motherboards. Not a good design. So Toshiba's new form factor looks like a step forward.

What kind of ram requires tools to install? (apart from the stuff that's soldered on..)

Re: Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor

#70

Post by nimish »

altmind wrote: post #41

How it is comparable to microSD express(with pci-e 3.1 and nvme) announced February this year? https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/286390-sd-association-ann...

SD Express is almost certainly going to be adopted by more people than Toshiba, for one. Though it could die like UHS-III.
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