this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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A search for this only brings up adapters to plug M.2 drives into a PCIE slot which is not what I want because I don't have a PCIE slot.

What I want is M.2 > M.2 (2x, 3x, etc). Does this exist?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

bifurcation Is the keyword you’ll want to be looking for. And before you look into it any further make sure your motherboard even supports it on that slot. Bifurcation has existed since like pcie2 or something, but just like rebar hasn’t supported on consumer platforms until pretty recently.

That said I can’t actually help you because I don’t know of anything to do this. I can only imagine it doesn’t exist because there’s not enough space on one M.2 slot to fit two M.2 ssds. Traces take up space, connectors take up space, and you’d have to somehow double stack SSDs on top of each other and they already get too hot for their own good.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Are there m.2 to m.2 bifuricators? Either way bifuricating down to x2 or x1 seem to be even rarer even though those speeds are enough for most workloads. Wish they were more common as M.2 ssds are getting cheaper than sata ones.

E: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/multi-nvme-m-2-u-2-adapters-that-do-not-require-bifurcation.31172/ found this while searching

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

because there’s not enough space on one M.2 slot to fit two M.2 ssds

It's not extremely uncommon for motherboards to put m.2 slots on the rear side these days, which opens up a lot of space.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

A possible workaround: M.2 to PCIE adapters are pretty common. I could use one of those combined with a PCIE to multiple M.2. But this feels hacky and I don't love it.