IDE, SCSI, SATA, SAS now U.2 M.2…
these drives are called: “U.2 PCIe NVMe” no kidding, search for em on ebay.
that reminds of… “the usb cable chaos” has arrived with “Slim SAS” for another round of mass cable connector confusion
In Kingston lang this is called “Enterprise-class U.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 3.0 x4 SSD (datasheed)” What is it? Is it a SSD? Or a NVMe?
It is a NVMe with a (Mini) SAS connector and SHOULD have the same speed as directly to motherboard motherboard connected NVMe (that was true for sequential write-and-read on the server GIGABYTE G292-Z20-00)
there is even an adapter of “Mini SAS” to typical NVMe connection #wtf
WARNING! UNTESTED! (would be great if it was that simple connecting “U.2 PCIe NVMe” drives to any motherboard that has a free NVMe slot) https://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/u2-sff-8639-connector-insight-when-buying-the-intel-750-nvme-ssd/
the list of interfaces grows by the year?
no U.2 is not:
1) the band U2 
or (more likely)
2) “a form factor” “a size factor” 2U (2x rack unit heights)
NVMe upgrading old servers is a massive challenge, that not always goes as planned on any OS (see here)
holy crap, 1 year later (2023-08) those storage devices costs has halfed! search eBay: https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=kingston+dc+1500m+1920G&_sacat=0
A massive challenge for SysAdmins to NVMe (NVMe is the future, SAS and SATA said to be “dead”) face that do not want to replace a long running reliable server, that has enough CPU and RAM but the RAID10 is still running on magnetic discs and could be faster…
while…
info@ssdformfactor.org hos no working mail address, to address this... Delay reason: H=ssdformfactor.org [18.217.214.245]: SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<info@ssdformfactor.org>: 454 4.7.1 <info@ssdformfactor.org>: R
Kingston Europe responded:
Thank you for your email.
We understand that the naming convention for these connectors can be confusing.
- SFF-8643 is the actual the backplane or raid controller or motherboard connector…
- Only on client desktop motherboards it is referred to as U.2,
- in Server environments its typically just mini-SAS or SFF-8643.
- Only on client desktop motherboards it is referred to as U.2,
- This connector cable can support mini-SAS or x4 PCIe lanes,
- that is the reason it could support U.2 (SFF-8539) on the other end.
- In Server environment the U.2 interface would be on the backplane on the driver bay side and on the backend,
- it would be mini-SAS or slimline-SAS.
- U.2 SFF-8539 could support SATA, SAS and NVMe.
- SAS SFF-8482 interface on a backplane would support only SATA and SAS, but not NVMe.
provide mobo model of system and can check which options be there to connect SEDC1500M drives
for further questions mail to: (it is obfuscated on purpose, to avoid spam bots collecting that mail address)
Thanks Kingston support to clarify this. It is a bit confusing.
more about this:
SFF-8643
The SFF-8643 is the latest HD MiniSAS connector design for implementing HD SAS Internal interconnect solutions.
The SFF-8643 is a 36-pin ‘High Density SAS’ connector, and utilizes a plastic body typically used in internal connections.
Typical application would be a INTERNAL SAS link between a SAS HBA to SAS drives.
The SFF-8643 is compliant with the latest SAS 3.0 spec, and supports 12Gb/s data transfer protocol
The SFF-8643’s HD MiniSAS external counterpart is the SFF-8644 which is also SAS 3.0 compliant, and also supports 12Gb/s SAS data transfer speeds.
Both the SFF-8643 and the SFF-8644 can support up to 4-ports (4 lanes) of SAS data.
CS Electronics has incorporated this connector onto both cable assemblies and pcb adapters.
These newer SFF-8643 and SFF-8644 HD SAS connector interfaces have essentially replaced the older SFF-8088 external and the SFF-8087 internal SAS interfaces, however CS Electronics continues to support our customers’ needs for the older interface cables and adapters.
Related Products:
ADP-4480-12
ADP-4380-12
ADP-4443i-2X
ADP-4487-1X
Connector types:
SFF-8644
SFF-8680
SFF-8639
SFF-8088
SFF-8087
SFF-8482
SFF-8484
SFF-8431
SFF-8436
SFF-8470
src: https://cs-electronics.com/sff-8643/
Links:
https://www.isunshare.com/blog/u-2-sata-pci-express-sata-express-msata-m-2-sas-ssd-interface-best/
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