Where are mainstream long m.2 SSDs?

[ZodaEX]

I noticed that M.2 SSDs can be made in at least three different length sizes.

But the overwhelming majority of drives use the medium length drives with underwhelming capacities.

When are the SSD companies going to start making the longer drives in 6-12TB capacities?

 

[uOpt]

The 110mm M.2 drives don't generally fit laptops. And most mainboards have both short and long slots. So the audience is limited.

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

The only 22110-size m.2 SSDs I've seen are enterprise-grade units that don't actually use the extra space to hold additional NAND. Instead, it's used to support features like capacitors for power loss protection and others that generally have no appeal to consumers due to cost.

 

[KazeoHin]

I noticed that M.2 SSDs can be made in at least three different length sizes.

But the overwhelming majority of drives use the medium length drives with underwhelming capacities.

When are the SSD companies going to start making the longer drives in 6-12TB capacities?

The issue here isn't the space, as you've been able to get 8TB 80mm SSDs for years, and surely NAND density has increased quite a bit since the PCI-G3 days. The main issue is the market capacity for such devices at the price they would need to be sold at. You can get enterprise 2.5" U.2 and other NVM-E protocol SSDs in the 10s (and even 100s) of terabytes, but they are VERY expensive and EXTREMELY niche in their use.

Modern SSD Controller ICs have select "channels" much like a CPU's memory controller that determines the number of NAND chips that can be accessed, adding more would require switching, and that will result in terrible speeds (look at the old GTX 970 3.5GB controversy as an example of what happens when a memory controller does not match the memory layout).

Also, yeah, Notebooks usually only fit a 2280 drive so you don't want the support headache compounding the loss in market capacity.

 

[MrGuvernment]

When they need them, likely no market for it outside of enterprise as the avg. person isnt willing to spend a couple thousand $$$ for a long NVMe

 

[dogDAbone]

This is a rare case where the saying about "size DOES matter" doesn't really apply....

It's not the size of the pcb that is the issue here, it's the cost & availability of the larger NAND chips that would be used to increase the capacity of the drive....when those 2 things improve, then the sizes of the drives will go up accordingly

 

[uOpt]

This is a rare case where the saying about "size DOES matter" doesn't really apply....

It's not the size of the pcb that is the issue here, it's the cost & availability of the larger NAND chips that would be used to increase the capacity of the drive....when those 2 things improve, then the sizes of the drives will go up accordingly

Errr. It is the other way round. 110mm SSDs would allow you to reach the high capacities with (a larger number of) cheaper small capacity chips.

I believe that one or the answer is in how many chips typical controllers can address. Somebody already mentioned that above.

In any case this makes me sad Panda. Would love to have a 4 or 8 TB drive at the per-TB prices that 2 or 4 TB drives cost even if that makes it 110mm.

 

[LukeTbk]

With mainstream motherboard getting 3-4-5 slots more and more and the pci to m2 adapter price on amazon, if one do expect the cost by TB to be higher not lower, it will be more and more niche demand. Can be nice to have a single drive instead of 2 and join them but not that much.

8TB can be and are made for the regular size m2 ssd:
https://sabrent.com/products/sb-rkt4p-8tb
Corsair MP600/MP400, etc...

The fact that it is possible the OP was not aware of them (could be possible at $800 and up... you do not see or heard of them often) can show the limited market for over 4tb sized drive.

And one of the most logical place where they would have a lot of value will be when you have limited m2 slot, i.e. a Laptop, if you need 16tb, 2x8TB would be nice on desktop 4x4 for 16tb of M.2 have been easy (expensive but easy) for a long time, but then on laptop size become a big deal.

 

[Red Falcon]

The only 22110-size m.2 SSDs I've seen are enterprise-grade units that don't actually use the extra space to hold additional NAND.

Precisely, 22110's aren't used for high capacities, there are other enterprise form factors for that.

Instead, it's used to support features like capacitors for power loss protection and others that generally have no appeal to consumers due to cost.

One is used in the ARM server in my sig for that exact feature.

 

[Tsumi]

I would pick a U.2 drive for large desktops... too bad there isn't a comprehensive source of information on those.

 

[acquacow]

Errr. It is the other way round. 110mm SSDs would allow you to reach the high capacities with (a larger number of) cheaper small capacity chips.

I believe that one or the answer is in how many chips typical controllers can address. Somebody already mentioned that above.

In any case this makes me sad Panda. Would love to have a 4 or 8 TB drive at the per-TB prices that 2 or 4 TB drives cost even if that makes it 110mm.

Grab some of the used enterprise m.2 22110s off of ebay then. You can get larger capacities, power loss protection, and better wear life there.