Use M.2 drive 'bays' for U.2 hot swap (?)

[AveryFreeman]

Hey,

I'm just writing to see if anyone has tried using a U.2 adapter in an M.2 connector for doing hot-swapping ? Is this possible, or am I just dreaming?

I am a cheapskate hoping I can jury-rig some system that looks like this:

Motherboard<--->M.2 connector<--->U.2 adapter<--->cable<--->U.2 to M.2 adapter<--->M.2 NVMe drive

To take it one step further, I'd actually ultimately like to throw a x16 PCIe 4x NVMe M.2 adapter - ideally four of them for 16 M.2 'drives' in U.2 adapter/cases set up in some sort of hot swap array

Does this sound do-able to anyone else?

Thanks!

 

[gea]

M.2 is not intended for hotswap, U.2 is

So basically you would need
Motherboard -> [M.2/U.2/SFF8644/Oculink] -> cable to U.2 -> U.2 Hotswap case (2 bay or 4 bay)

like NVMe Solutions_2.5" HDD/SSD CAGES_ICY DOCK manufacturer Removable enclosure, Screwless hard drive enclosure, SAS SATA Mobile Rack, DVR Surveillance Recording, Video Audio Editing, SATA portable hard drive enclosure

Then and this is more important, you need a mechanism to offline/online PCI-e NVMe devices on driver or tools level
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/w...33596-hot-plug-capability-nvme-ssds-paper.pdf

 

[AveryFreeman]

Oh sweet, thanks for the link to the Icy Dock ToughArmor MB699VP-B -- that's exactly what I was thinking but I couldn't seem to find anything but the single-drive hot swap rack.

I found an article on U.2 adapter cards on servethehome.com that has a 4-port U.2 adapter that would probably work better than any M.2<--->U.2 adapter - I would definitely go with that instead.

But then I would probably put M.2 drives inside U.2 adapters since they're a lot cheaper than native U.2 drives. Do you still need the mechanism to offline/online the M.2 drives inside of U.2 adapters, or would they essentially work like U.2 drives at that point?

This is exciting!

 

[William]

I have a review for the MB699VP-B in the Que now.

 

[gea]

M.2 <-> U.2 is electrically the same. This is simply a passive cable adapter, see image at
Intel bridges the U.2 gap with an M.2 cable for its 750 Series SSD

If you buy an U.2 drive, this cable is simply one of the cabling options similar to
Delock Produkte 62696 Delock Konverter U.2 SFF-8639 > M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M (other way)

btw
The hotplug procedure of any PCI-e device (pci-e adapter, M.2, U.2) must be the same (no hotplug by default)

Be aware that U.2 is not more expensive per default. Its more so that only enterprise class drives are currently available in U.2. Enterprise class M.2 are rare or only to be expected in future.

 

[AveryFreeman]

I have a review for the MB699VP-B in the Que now.

Oh sweet, thanks! I'll check it out...

 

[AveryFreeman]

M.2 <-> U.2 is electrically the same. This is simply a passive cable adapter, see image at
Intel bridges the U.2 gap with an M.2 cable for its 750 Series SSD

If you buy an U.2 drive, this cable is simply one of the cabling options similar to
Delock Produkte 62696 Delock Konverter U.2 SFF-8639 > M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M (other way)

btw
The hotplug procedure of any PCI-e device (pci-e adapter, M.2, U.2) must be the same (no hotplug by default)

Be aware that U.2 is not more expensive per default. Its more so that only enterprise class drives are currently available in U.2. Enterprise class M.2 are rare or only to be expected in future.

I do agree that they're not necssarily more expensive, but scarcity and fewer options will definitely play a role

I had planned on getting some more 480GB SM953s, as I have a couple of them now as they seem to be dirt cheap, have power loss protection, etc. I'd just like to have some redundancy and not have to power down and take apart the computer if one goes bad...

 

[AveryFreeman]

I have a review for the MB699VP-B in the Que now.

I don't see it posted yet -- can you tell us what you thought of the drive cage?

Thanks

 

[Aluminum]

I need that drive bay because reasons.

 

[AveryFreeman]

Yes. Reasons.

 

[Myth]

I've been checking out these u.2 micron SSD drives. They seem to get the same speed as my samsung NVMe drives but are in a 2.5" form factor. It would be greate if the micron SSD drives would be hot swapable.

I currently have a M.2 riser card that goes into a x16 PCIe slot. I've order a M.2 to U.2 adapater, then a cable, and another adapter but the M.2 drives are still not hot swapable.

I'm glad this thread is here, because I have the exact same question. These Micron SSD drives are U.2 in a 2.5" form factor and offer the same speeds as an NVMe drive, but they come in 3.6TB sizes which is awesome. So I was thinking of using the cable I already have and the M.2 to U.2 adapter, but I don't know if they will be hot swapable like that. I have a software raid so I don't need a controller card, but if one existed for u.2 SSDs that would be great too.

9200 | Solid State Storage

The problem with SATA or SAS ssds is the cost is very high vs the speeds. The NVMe and U.2 ssds are like 4x faster per drive, and in a 12 drive array thats like 48x faster and it's cheaper with the higher performance drives, but the raid config is harder to manage. Still trying to figure it all out.

 

[Myth]

I'm just wondering, will the U.2 drives be hot swapable when using the conversion cable? Or do I have to buy one of those backplanes/kits.

The kits I see are the intel kit
And the ICY Dock

I read each article above. It seems the intel kit may or may not work with my motherboard if I plug in the PCIe card which converts out to 4x NVMe U.2 drives. I think it will since my motherboard supports bifurnication, but I don't know for sure. I do like their backplane which has 4x U.2(NVMe) dirves and 4x SAS drives.

Then the ICY dock but I don't know how to put that in our server. What cables will connect the ICY dock to the motherboard?

 

[Myth]

I need that drive bay because reasons.

We need to push 4k and 8k camera footage to 10 editing bays at the same time.

 

[Myth]

btw
The hotplug procedure of any PCI-e device (pci-e adapter, M.2, U.2) must be the same (no hotplug by default)

How do I enable the hotplug feature? Do I have to have a backplane or will one of the adapter cables work if I have a U.2 drive. I've tested all kinds of m.2 NVMe drives and none are hotswapable, but I haven't tested those backplanes yet.

 

[gea]

U.2 is hotpluggable from the mechanical part but only with proper OS/driver support (M.2 is electrically the same PCI-e but not intended as a hotplug connector).

Mostly hotplug support for PCI-e devices is not yet available OS/driver wise.