NVME to USB - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 07:06:16 pm
content: Hi. A colleague of mine poured some water down the keyboard of his laptop. And it wasn't a thinkpad, so it is dead now. Anyway, we would like to save the SSD if possible and it is one of these new NVME drives. NVME looks like M.2, but it is PCI-e based, and I cannot find an external USB enclosure for it.The only solution I could come up with it to use a PCI-e internal adapter and take apart a PC for this... which is tedious.Does anyone have a solution for this?

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 07:43:28 pm
content: The PCIe slot adapter is going to be your best option unless you want to pay lots for a NVMe enclosure and you need a Thunderbolt capable machine for that.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 07:49:43 pm
content: Quote from: tsman on June 13, 2018, 07:43:28 pmPrice is secondary in this case, but I dont know about thunderbolt.

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 08:00:55 pm
content: There are ones with a controller onboard which convert to USB3, but I've only seen them from aliexpress. I'm assuming you don't care about transfer rate and only want to pull data.

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2018, 08:07:04 pm
content: Fsck is talking about an enclosure likethis. YMMV regarding reliability and performance.If you want high speed then you'll need aNVMe to Thunderbolt enclosureor a PCIe slot adapter.AFAIK there is no easy way to add Thunderbolt to a PC that doesn't already have it or specifically lists support for a manufacturer specific Thunderbolt addon card. The PCIe cards all say that you must only use it with the corresponding list of motherboards and other motherboards aren't compatible. Grouchy reviews on Amazon and other seller sites seem to back this up.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 04:19:28 pm
content: Quote from: Fsck on June 13, 2018, 08:00:55 pmThat is the plan, we save data if possible than it goes back to HP for repairs.Quote from: tsman on June 13, 2018, 08:07:04 pmThat chinese looks really fishy to me. 0 feedback doesnt give me too much confidence.The other one... I need to check if there is a PC at work with thunderbolt. I guess not, but you never know. Otherwise I have a HP desktop with an NVME drive in it, but it has the OS on it. And this would block me from working.There are only bad choices

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 04:35:12 pm
content: NVMe drives are M.2, they don't look like it - they are.Anyway, your best bet is the internal adapter. It's not that tedious, seriously, it takes about two minutes..

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 04:40:19 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on June 14, 2018, 04:19:28 pmIf you only want the data and then will be sending back the SSD then I still think thePCIe slot adapteris your best option. It is cheap and should work at full speed with no weird controller to get in the way.Somebody has 1 of those NVMe to Thunderbolt enclosures onAmazon. $228 and no reviews though. Be wary about the other enclosures being advertised that say B & M key supported but if you actually look more closely, they only work with B keyed M.2 SSDs i.e. SATA.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 04:52:55 pm
content: Yep PCIe to M.2 adapter is the way to go.M.2 NVMe is just simply PCIe 4x put onto a smaller connector. So all that is needed is to physically connect the right pins onto a PCIe slot and should just work. You likley won't be able to boot from it, but once in windows it should find the drivers for it and just magically make it work.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 05:12:38 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on June 14, 2018, 04:35:12 pmNVME isnotM.2And M.2 is SATA based, while NVME is PCI-e. Most enclosures especially state that it is not compatible with NVME, while the others just have an outdated description.

author: tsman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 05:23:45 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on June 14, 2018, 05:12:38 pmNo. Your SSD is M.2. There aredifferent slot keys definedin the standard. M.2 isn't just SATA.B key = PCIe ×2, SATA, USB 2.0 and 3.0, audio, UIM, HSIC, SSIC, I2C and SMBusM key = PCIe ×4, SATA and SMBusSATA M.2 SSDs usually have a B key slot just because that is what most laptops had for a M.2 slot. They used the same kind of slot connector for the PCIe WiFi + USB Bluetooth cards or the 3G/4G cards.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 05:28:02 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on June 14, 2018, 05:12:38 pmConsumer NVMe SSDs use the M.2 form factor.M.2 carries: SATA, PCIe, USB2, USB3, SMBus, SDIO, UART, .....M.2 SSDs come in SATA, PCIe AHCI, and PCIe NVMe. Any of which will work in either slot on the board in this machine. Wifi cards are M.2 now, too.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 05:58:40 pm
content: Yep M.2 supports both SATA and PCIe on the same connector simultaneously(Along with other crap that is not used for SSDs). However hosts are not required to support both. If a motherboard only supports SATA then it will be keyed accordingly to prevent you from plunging in a NVMe SSD. Typically all motherboards that support NVMe drives will also support SATA, but not the other way around.Since you said you have a NVMe SSD that's why i suggested a purely physical PCIe adapter card as NVMe requires PCIe.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 06:57:36 pm
content: Quote from: Berni on June 14, 2018, 05:58:40 pmIt is a HP 512-GB Turbo Drive G2 solid-state drive supporting TLC 917926-001, which is PCIe. After searching for 10 minutes, I was fairly sure it is not going to be easy, so I asked the question.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 07:16:57 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on June 14, 2018, 06:57:36 pmIt's very easy. You buy something like this:https://www.amazon.co.uk/PCI-Slot-Adapter-Converter-Card/dp/B01NAV0XHXAnd.. it works.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 14, 2018, 07:24:24 pm
content: Some SBCs support NVMe, so that might be an option if you don't want to or cant install an adapter in a PCIe equipped desktop. Boot Linux on the SBC from USB and share the drive on your LAN using SAMBA or DD it across to an image file on a network share.