SOLVED: USB M.2 SSD for use with SWAP

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 yes it will limit it, again it will be essentially usb ram for 16 gbs that is more than I need and it won’t kill the drive because it’s ram. I now wonder about just using it with the m.2 slot if I set the swap on the drive that way if it would use the on board memory. Still this is cool.

stephenw10

It won't work in the m.2 slot in the 2100 because that doesn't support NVMe.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 ok so it will have to be with my usb adapter it will work that way. It will be faster over my HDD that is running over usb for swap currently. This is exactly what I need it has a huge ram that can be accessed when needed without destroying the drive with over use. Plus it could still store dump files if needed

stephenw10

It will be interesting to see how that goes. I'm not sure how that dual function device will present in an adapter like that.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 I am asking about it on FreeBSD forum its radio silence, I did find a post where they got an Intel Optane to function and work so it has the drivers. Intel I am hoping has it all managed on the m.2 card so as long as it can see the drive I should be able to utilize the onboard memory by way of Intel's onboard code. "praying"

stephenw10

Best case I imagine is that it just appears like a normal NVMe drive and the RAM cache is all handled on-board. No drivers needed.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10

Can I use the mini usb port with an adapter to get the 5.0Gbps speeds for a usb drive?

stephenw10

The console port? Nope that is only connected to the serial converter IC. AFAIK you can only use the one external USB A port.

The m.2 slot has USB connectivity but I'm not sure what speeds are available. You're already using that slot anyway though.

The miniPCIe slot does not have USB. It has PCIe of course so it might be possible to run an NVMe drive in an adapter there even if it cant boot from it. Not something I've tried.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 thanks, I didn’t think about using an adapter, I am not using the AP on that slot right now. Something like this?? M Key? I will have to remove the compex card from it.

Mini PCIE to M.2 M Key Adapter, Support 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SSD M.2 NGFF Nvme M Key Converter Adapter

This has 90 on it

xiwai 90 Degree Angled PCI-E 4.0 NVME M-Key M.2 22x30mm to 22x80mm High Storage Extension SSD Converter Board Upgrade Expansion Adapter Compatible with 2230 to 2280 SSD Handheld ROG Ally Gaming

stephenw10

To be clear I have no idea if that would work! If I had such an adapter I would try it out of curiosity.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 there is some posts about SSD not working in that slot for 1100 but they are using minipcie drives, is it only usb2.0 speed on the mpcie or faster? Thanks for the reply. I am excited but it would have to have a cable because it would be to long in a 2100. It’s one lane, would it only top out at Single Direction: 2.5 Gbps/200MBps
Dual Direction: 5 Gbps/400MBps

That is where the 5gbps usb0 is at I am thinking on start up logs

JonathanLee

@stephenw10

Sintech M.2 (NGFF) nVME SSD to Mini PCIe Adapter with 20cm Cable

I am going to try it with the Intel Optane for swap. It should make use of the usb0 bus technically that is what it is. As long as the drive is connected and has power it should see it. Maybe not boot from it but be able to gpart it and activate it. I have the m key drive so maybe I can get access to 5gbps

stephenw10

All SSDs I've seen that fit the mPCIe format are mSATA it that socket is not wired for mSATA. It's PCIe only. So theoretically an NVMe drive in that format would be seen on the PCIe bus. As would an m.2 drive in a PCI adapter. Theoretically!

In reality I've never seen an NVMe drive in aarch64 and have no way to test it. But I'd expect it to work.

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 getting it to fit will be a challenge, with the cable I should be able to add nonconductive tape on the bottom of it and Velcro it, the other straight adapters would be too long it would hit the back, and the 90 degree one would work but put the drive directly over the cpu and memory with the added heat that would cause issues. I am thinking about velcroing it to the top side where it is close to the vented area, adding a heat sink or something to it.