Convert WiFi Slot to M.2 NVMe SSD Slot!

[@FROILANDRES]

Thanks, great video! Just remember that the NVMe M.2 SSD will work at 25% (or 1/4) of its maximum capability as the WiFi interface is PCIe 1x (Not 4x). If you have PCIe 3.0 that means the maximum speed would be just below 1 GB/s (985 MB/s) and if you have PCIe 2.0 its speed is only 500 MB/s (slower than maximum SATA III which is 600 MB/s in theory and about 550 MB/s in reality). And keep in mind you may need a "bootloader" to be able to launch your OS from that slot. Best regards!

[@techwise66]

Thank you so much for your comment! You make a great point. The 1x PCIe of the WiFi interface can create a bottleneck. So we may not get the full potential of the NVMe drive. But it performs significantly better PCIe 3.0 x4 than a SATA III SSD, especially for tasks with lots of small random reads and writes

[@wellloaded2157]

In my opinion SATA3 at 600Mbps is nominal, the truth is it goes at 400-450Mbps Max. A PCIe 3.0 could have a NVME to 4 or even 5x SATA working just fine as long as they are not set up in a sort of RAID (like ZFS) e.g. not used all at once all the time. Thank you for the video, very informative!

[@FROILANDRES]

@@wellloaded2157 Thanks! Nowadays SATA III gets up to about 550 MB/s real transfer rates (Sequential Read / Write). And remember that NVMe depends on the amount of PCIe lanes available for that slot and the PCIe version. For WiFi you normally have only 1 PCIe lane, as I said above...

[@barryobrien1890]

​@@FROILANDREScorrect. Most wifi slots are pcie 2.0 on these older laptops and bios likely will not boot from there. Slow nvme cards are cheap so it's ok, but not much better than a sata drive but maybe there is no space.

[@FROILANDRES]

@@barryobrien1890 Thanks for your feedback and input. Best regards!

[@DanTheYeen]

I always wondered if this was possible. I never pursued it because I was never willing to give up the WiFI in my laptops.

[@hicknopunk]

Put it in your Bluetooth socket?

[@DanTheYeen]

@@hicknopunk Usually they're combined on one module.

[@emwa3600]

USB WiFi. Since WiFi standards are now ?? AX210 as of June 2023 ?? I can get WiFi thru a USB dongle. However, BlueTooth is more difficult because many USB AX units don't have BT built-in. Argh.

[@Potew]

@@emwa3600 just plug an Ethernet cable and be happy...

[@E_Proxy]

Unlucky. As an example my t480 has two of these slots. Meaning i can keep my WiFi module while having an ssd

[@schrodinger3467]

Great mod. One can always use a usb wifi dongle. Lots of variants and form factors to choose from anyway.

[@milesobrien2694]

Great point! Remember that you're not going to get better speed than your USB buss can deliver. Also, I really recommend paying attention to heat dissipation because these SSD's run VERY hot and heat is the _major_ cause of early degradation of memory products.

[@sategllib2191]

Usb wifi dongles suck. Chances are if your laptop doesn't have a m.2 slot built in it really won't be that much better than a good ssd

[@Rose.Of.Hizaki]

The number of USB ports on laptops are quite limited these days. Some may only have two USB Type A's and maybe one or two USB Type C's. Dont seem the point of wasting a USB port to a dedicated wifi card unless your laptop has a soldered in Wifi card that isnt user replicable and hooking it up via the built in network card isnt convenient. A majority of internal wifi cards are user replicable but there will be some that arent.

[@oscarfernandofloresgarcia4926]

this is great! Some people might say is worthless bc you lose your wifi connection. In my case, I use an old laptop as a server, so is always connected through ethernet, I can now use this to expand the storage :) ! Thanks

[@yogibarista2818]

Keep in mind - A/E is dual PCIe x1 and a USB(2) so an adapter from any other key config is going to be limited to using one of the PCIe x1 connections.

[@TheTrulyInsane]

Good video, I get it, personally I would upgrade the HDD to an SSD before giving up my internal wireless and bluetooth on the laptop.. there are external adapters for both, and more than likely faster, like adding wifi6, however the benefit of the laptop is to be small and portable, you have to start adding in external devices to make up for what was once internal...

[@farishakim6759]

Well. U can stick the wifi adapter at the back of your laptop...then connect it with USB 3.0 female to USB 3.0 male...

[@FROILANDRES]

There are very small USB WiFi adapters, in case you need the M.2 upgrade, but remember WiFi interface is PCIe 1x, not 4x as NVMe M.2 SSD.

[@xrafter]

​@FROILANDRES I don't about how they use them, but m.2 E-key has 2 1x pcie lanes, and a usb 2.0 interface. I don't know what is thr use of the other PCIe lane, but the USB is used for Bluetooth in my wirles card.

[@Auut-dj9bu]

es es el problema, y bien lo resumiste, si hicieran un m2 para que entre como un SSD, y seguir conservando la targeta dual channel wifi y bluetooth. gracias por tu apreciacion.

[@Hyperion1722]

The laptop slot could be PCIE3 so it is still more than twice as fast as SATA SSD speed. Great conversion. If slot is PCIE4 X2, that will be as fast as PCIE3 x4!

[@mikehensley78]

it would be worth it to "lose" the internal wifi and replace with NVMe SSD imo because the system overall will be faster/snappier and i'm sure you can get a faster or just as fast USB wifi dongle.

[@sassuki]

It's a waste of time, effort and money. If you need ultimate snappiness, you need an SSD with DRAM cache. Even your usual SATA 2,5" drive will then be snappier than your average NVMe SSD. Examples of SATA drives with DRAM cache are the Samsung 870 Evo and the Crucial MX500 series.

[@rwbmal]

​@@sassuki Damn you really do not know what your talking about

[@ExtaTer]

@@sassuki Both Samsung 870 Evo and Crucial MX500 have unusually high failure rate withing 1-2 years. Quality is not what it used to be, thanks to globalization.

[@sassuki]

@@ExtaTer I have an MX500 that is 2 years old in my PS4, runs like a charm. It has a 5-year warranty anyway so, it shouldn't be a problem. I do backups of save data on a regular basis just in case. And I just bought a brand new 870 EVO for my PC, which is just a boot drive, so it doesn't matter if it fails either as it does not need any backup, and it also has a 5-year warranty.

[@ExtaTer]

@@sassuki I was talking on average, not your case of 1. All "warranties" nowadays are horrendous - you will jump through hoops, pay for shipping possibly to outside US, and wait for months for a refurbished drive. Pray you will never need to use the "warranty".

[@BrightAngel007]

Thank you so much for this video! I got a few of the Acer Veriton X4640G pc's pretty cheap for the family and was attempting to use the M.2 slot. This is when I got exposed to all of the NVME differences. But online, I only came across people asking about the M.2 slot only to be answered over and over that it is a "wifi only slot". It is an A+E slot like yours. I had no idea there were adapters for this. I am headed to Aliexpress to grab some now!

[@techwise66]

Thank you so much for your comment! I'm so glad my video helped you and I wish you enjoy the speed upgrade with your new SSDs!

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​@@techwise66can my bios uefi still see the u.2 drive inserted in a u.2 to m.2 adapter even if it cant boot into the u.2 drive?

[@techwise66]

@@jirehla-ab1671 Yes, your BIOS/UEFI should likely see the U.2 drive. However, being able to boot from it depends on a few factors. First check if your BIOS/UEFI supports booting from NVMe drives. Update it if you have an older version. And at the same time, enter your BIOS/UEFI settings and ensure the U.2 drive is listed there and set it as the primary boot device. If your BIOS has legacy Compatibility Support Module (CSM), it may need to be disabled for NVMe boot. Finally, using a high-quality U.2 to M.2 adapter, especially for NVMe drives, can help avoid compatibility issues. Even if the drive isn't bootable, the BIOS recognizing it allows you to access the data through your operating system once booted from another drive.

[@jirehla-ab1671]

@@techwise66 another way i could boot into the u.2 drive is by the efi shell, i have done it before on my external drive and it works

[@jirehla-ab1671]

@@techwise66 maybe the reason why the high quality adaptera may have a higher chance booting is because of the adapter having a boot rom

[@swan7739]

Man thanks a lot for this video! Really in depth information. 1 year old video and yet helpful

[@Slot1Gamer]

You can also add the m.2 port back onto these machines, I have done before

[@asnasc]

Amazing! I didn´t know such adapters existed!!!!

[@milesobrien2694]

Thanks for this! I was just wondering about doing this as I don't use wireless or BT on my laptop. It's hardwired to the network via RJ45. My ideapad 330S has an NVME slot that HAD an intel Optane memory stick in it. I swapped it out for a 1TB M.2 NVME PCI-E stick. Remember NVME PCI-E is a buss that has revisions with speed limitations. We are at PCI-E 4.0 and PCI-E 5.0 is just being installed on bleeding edge motherboards. The standards are supposed to be backwards compatible but just like RAM, you can't go faster than the buss speed. So check what revision of PCI-E your motherboard is running. Similarly when looking at NVME M.2 to USB adapters, you can't go faster than the USB iteration on your motherboard. What it boils down to is _don't over spend_ on the NVME SSD you buy.

[@ricardostronsky4855]

Great video! Thanks!!! 👏🏼👍🏼 And I thought I had searched the Net… I realize that, compared with your research, just have managed to scratch a bit… 😂🤣😂🤣 Your video (well explained with a calm voice) sure puts my worries at ease. Puhhhh. I’ve bought the adapter and a 2230 memory with the intention to remove the wifi card and replace it with this ”special solution SSD” as boot drive for Proxmox, Unraid and VM’s for my home lab. Because I really need the 3 nvme’s in the AMD NUC mini pc so I can use RAID5. Yupp, I’m going all in with this one. We’ll see how it all works out once I get the mini pc and the 2230 stuff. Wish me luck, I think I’ll need it! 😳 But, as I said, Kudos to you for this very thought out video. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@adolfoplanchart326]

Nice video bro keep it up, I would suggest including some benchmarks to see how the M.2 SSD performs with the adapter, just to compare speed with/without the adapter :)

[@BertoldVdb]

It will be limited to one lane, but apart from that it will be just as fast (assuming the slot has equal PCIe version support, usually the case in non-embedded hardware)

[@farishakim6759]

@@BertoldVdb still faster than the most expensive Sata ssd right?

[@BertoldVdb]

One lane of pci-e 1.0 or 2.0 is slower than SATA...

[@farishakim6759]

@BertoldVdb nope..the owner of the video said his write/read speed exceed 1gb/sec...just scroll down his comment and u'll find

[@BertoldVdb]

@@farishakim6759 Then he has a pcie3.0 or better slot. One lane of that will of course easily beat SATA.

[@calholli]

Speeds will depend on what generation your PCIe is: Mini PCIe 1.0: Based on PCIe 1.0, providing a data rate of 250 MB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 2.0: Based on PCIe 2.0, providing a data rate of 500 MB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 3.0: Based on PCIe 3.0, providing a data rate of 1 GB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 4.0: Based on PCIe 4.0, providing a data rate of 2 GB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 5.0: Based on PCIe 5.0, providing a data rate of 4 GB/s per lane12.

[@IkanGelamaKuning]

Great for old laptop which have 2.5g wifi. Discard the wifi card, replace with nvme and usb 5g wifi dongle.

[@farishakim6759]

Yezza...wifi6 adapter.

[@rsimch]

Very well contributed this knowledge that your quest has found and your kindness sharing it 👏👍🙏

[@quisqueyanguy120]

Great video. Very helpful.

[@NicksStuff]

1. Check your data transfer rate, it won't be mind boggling; 2. some of these ports are CNVi and don't have a PCIe line, the SSD won't work; 3. even if it has a PCIe lane, some manufacturer whitelist the devices that can actually be used there and an SSD won't work. I don't know what the likelihood of it working is but it's not 100%

[@SummonerArthur]

00:30 wait, isnt that a unsoldered nvme slot between your fan and the coin cell battery?

[@techwise66]

I wish I had, but there is no unsoldered nvme slot in my Ideapad 520 laptop

[@SummonerArthur]

@@techwise66 what is that then? 🤔

[@techwise66]

@@SummonerArthur I don't know

[@filda2005]

may and may not be. either way, there is no a firmware, power, slot to be working out of the box now

[@KINGZAMEER1990]

Yes it is the unsoldered nvme m.2 connector

[@danw3735]

Nice video, i was just looking at this slot

[@bobsmith6079]

1:43 I apologize if this is a stupid question but I noticed you had an empty B-key slot so why didn't you just get a B-key SSD instead of sacrificing your WiFi card?

[@techwise66]

First and foremost, thank you very much for your comment and I want to emphasize that there are no stupid questions when it comes to learning and understanding technology. It's great that you're seeking clarification! Regarding the Lenovo Ideapad 520 that I use, it's important to note that my laptop's motherboard, unfortunately, doesn't come equipped with a B-key SSD slot. The image I presented in the video at 1:43 was simply a demonstration to illustrate the differences between a B-key slot and a WiFi card slot. This is why I couldn't opt for a B-key SSD and had to make a choice regarding the WiFi adapter to use M.2 NVMe. I hope this clears up any confusion!

[@bobsmith6079]

@techwise66 Thank you for your kind reply and clarification. I subscribed.

[@DonzLockz]

Very interesting and helpful. Thanks!

[@sujitkumarsingh3200]

I wonder what is the max read/write speed of the NVMe drive in this Wifi slot setup.

[@techwise66]

I got 1257,54 Read (MB/s), 1211,65 Write (MB/s) which quite higher than my Sandisk 2.5" SSD

[@hotdogsarepropaganda]

This is great! I dont use the Wifi on my laptop I use for my mobile DAW recording rig and adding another ssd would be GREAT!

[@Alex-nx5wi]

Nice vid! But I guess the converted M2 Disk has 'only' SATA-speed and not NVMe speed?

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment! I received 1257.54 Read (MB/s) and 1211.65 Write (MB/s), which is significantly higher than my 2.5" SSD

Thank you my bro! My hero!!!

[@default19in]

Superb tx so much for sharing .

[@travels1047]

Clever Lad good video.

[@emwa3600]

WWAN slots since the Dell Lat 6xxx series have accommodated M-SATA cards. Plus, those machines have a BIOS that allows turning that WWAN slot into "bootable"... huh? Wha-?!! Is that like Bootable Ethernet? That was my first question by on the Dell Lat 6440. I tried it, and voila, that worked. I don't have a Dell Lat 7xxx series with a WWAN port, but I wonder!

[@Nashez23]

The wifi you can remplace with a usb dongle but I wonder if you can put back the backplate on your laptop when you use this adapter...🤔

[@arlandi]

helpful video, thanks. just one question. the motherboard photo in the intro is different than the resulting photo in conclusion. are you using the same laptop?

[@techwise66]

Yes, I used it on my laptop, and one of my friends tried it on his laptop, and both results are working

[@JoseLopez-go6vl]

All right and how connects it wifi now? USB?

[@techwise66]

Yes, by this way, now it needs a USB wifi adapter to connect to the wifi

[@ammarramli7718]

Great information and helpful, thanks you help me a lot! especially when you tern on to Wifi 6.

[@brewmaster6452]

Nice video. Only missing one thing... The data transfer rates. For a nerd, that's is essencial path to go. :)

[@techwise66]

Thank you for pointing that out! 😄 You're absolutely right. Nerds like us thrive on those details. I'll make sure to include data transfer rates in the upcoming content.

[@mr.electronicsdevicevlog9333]

Nice bro, very informative thanks for sharing bro.👍

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

Wow great video. It's a cool finding.

[@LutorKF]

Ty🙏 for this nice video! God bless you!

[@allogic]

Cool, nice find.

[@RizalBoon]

Very interesting. This is might be useful for similar case if you have a WWAN slot and want to replace with SSD.

[@MohamedBadawiEgypt]

Yes, I did it successfully🙂

[@Zahrok]

What is the result of crystaldiskmark test? Do you loose, some speed on write and read?

[@techwise66]

I got 1257,54 Read (MB/s), 1211,65 Write (MB/s) which quite higher than my 2.5" SSD

[@brialasifhayipaka1199]

OMG cool, how about Asus Vivobook A442U. İ dont know what adapter i need to buy​@@techwise66

[@adamlee3217]

Good job on the research and your results.👾

[@Patrick-it8nk]

Very helpful information, thank you! I have a pavilion laptop I've had for something like 7 years or so, and through replacing parts on it over the years now the main issues are a wobbly charging port, possibly battery going bad aaaaand the onboard SSD steadily slowing down + high usage. If I can swap out the wireless card (that I barely use anyway) with an NVME drive them maybe it will keep kicking, or even be faster than in the past few years.

[@MatthewKiehl]

Very nice solution.

[@MatthewKiehl]

In some machines might there still be a problem booting from the NVME? Ive heard NVME risers don't usually work for adding a boot drive, especially older machines with pcie 1.0 or 2.0

[@Liminal.Headspace]

From what I know PCIE Gen 1 is not compatible with NVMe, only SATA. PCIE Gen 2 is known to have issues booting off of NVMe drives, but it's a case by case scenario.

[@rubberduck4966]

booting from nvme usually is only possible if the systems BIOS/UEFI supports NVMe Boot.

[@rmendez011]

Opencore (yes, it's meant for installing macOS on Windows PCs) allow you to boot NVMe SSDs on many older devices that do not natively support NVMe booting.

[@rubberduck4966]

@@rmendez011 CloverEFI can do the same.

[@FireCamp105]

Is the reverse also possible? Transfering a wlan card from a laptop to 1 desktop Mobo m.2 slot would it work?😊

[@techwise66]

Yes, it can be possible to use a laptop's WLAN card in a desktop, but you'll need a different adapter that I used in the video. A "Wireless M.2 A+E Key Slot to M.2 M Key Wi-Fi Bluetooth Adapter" may help to convert the necessary interface, allowing you to plug the laptop card into your desktop's M.2 M key slot

[@hassandraznasr1294]

It's a great video I got Lenovo z50-70 laptop And I buy Samsung nvme PCIe m-key But i don't find a way to attach it into my laptop After i watch your video i get some hope to do it in my laptop But i look for the WiFi slot i found it very tight to do that 😢 Can you guide me what i can do? 🙏

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment. I use a USB wifi adapter as an alternative

[@hassandraznasr1294]

Thank you

[@Louis-zz7zv]

Di you installed that on a different board,not the one you showed first? Looks different

[@techwise66]

It is installed on different laptops and works very well. I am planning to record a new video to show step-by-step as well.

[@bigGGyou]

Useful video~ Thanks!

[@anaphaxeton]

I see only questions, further questions and a lot of congratulations. But has anyone else tried this? I see zero feedback.

[@buffuniballer]

IIRC, my machine has two WiFi ports. One for WiFi and one for a dedicated cellular WAN connection. I just might be able to use that second connection to add some additional storage should I need to. Thanks

[@pironiero]

Tests, we need more tests, or at least one in comparison with a regular M2 slot on a same SSD

[@techwise66]

I am planning to do another video to show you more

[@pironiero]

@@techwise66 oh cool!

[@hendyprathama3176]

Why you sacrifice the wifi card instead of use a HDD-DVD caddy?

[@techwise66]

The speed of the DVD caddy is not the same as the wifi slot.

[@mipad553]

Good but is there any splitter to add SSD + Wifi card + eGPU in one wifi card slot ?

[@techwise66]

I didn't see this type of adapter before

[@mipad553]

Ok you already have adaptor for wifi card to m.2. please check whether connector with 3 m.2 slots for 1m.2

[@mattmill30]

It would be interesting to explore whether any of the M.2 slots are capable of supporting multiple cards, using an "M.2 riser" - I don't know whether that exists.

[@Monni95]

Basically you would need PCI-E PCI-E bridge controller chip... I assume it will restrict the bandwidth usable for each card. Obviously you could split the USB and PCI-E pins and use one card that only use USB pins and another card that only use PCI-E pins.

[@mattmill30]

@@Monni95 would the USB pins enable a M.2 card to act as a hub? So potentially providing the port for the termination of a USB network, which the standard supports up-to 127 devices.

[@nanayeboah475]

You have a new subscriber❤

[@sivakumarb9749]

Good info. But if it is possible to add an additional M.2 slot (either SATA or NVME) or an M.2 slot which supports both SATA & NVME protocols? What I am asking is whether we can add an addional M.2 slot in a laptop motherboard which has only one M.2 slot.

[@techwise66]

I didn't try this before, but it should work because we convert wifi slot to M.2 slot this way. It worked in the motherboards that don't have M.2 slot.

[@sivakumarb9749]

@@techwise66 No bro, I am not asking about converting an existing Wifi slot. I am specifically asking if we can add an additional M.2 slot in a laptop motherboard.

[@techwise66]

@@sivakumarb9749 I understand, Brother, now. I only found this method to add an M.2 slot to a laptop motherboard. But when I find any other alternative method, I will also share it at once.

[@farishakim6759]

@techwise66 I think you misunderstood his question...what he's asking is "is it possible to add additional m.2 slot although our laptop has only one m.2 slot (the wifi card slot)" In other words...is there any 2 in 1 m.2 adapter/extension out there?

[@csm2063ify]

good~~~좋은 정보 감사합니다.

[@edgarroncero]

So I assume that UEFI is able to detect the storage device in order to boot the installed O.S

[@techwise66]

Yes, you are right

[@brialasifhayipaka1199]

İ have question. Could u please try beanchmark, just because u using adapter there, so it could be limited by adapter

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment. I am going to do that.

[@brialasifhayipaka1199]

​@@techwise66can please try to Asus Vivobook A442U? i hope u can do that. its help us a lot. thank u

[@santana261]

Great idea. Thanks

[@XpcBenchmark]

Doesnt work on asus l406 after place the adapter i was try eith many diffirent ssd not detected in bios thanks anyway

[@techwise66]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the ASUS L406. I'm sorry to hear that the adapter and SSDs weren't detected in your computer model

[@Locky2701]

Nice research man,but I'm happy with the speed of my 2.5" SSD Samsung with 550 Write/Read. Did you test the speed ?

[@techwise66]

I got 1257,54 Read (MB/s), 1211,65 Write (MB/s) which quite higher than my Sandisk 2.5" SSD

[@Locky2701]

@@techwise66 my laptop is a Toshiba A75-P7100,i 7 with 32 GB of ram. I can have similar speed as you got when I installed another SSD in Raid Zero. I'm using this 17" Toshiba just for viewing KZbin,for my work, I use my Mac Pro 2019 and my MacBook Pro M1.Thanks for your rapidly answer.

[@farishakim6759]

I assumed what you said is theoretical speed ...Like what is advertised and not real scenario, right?

[@farishakim6759]

@@Locky2701 are your SSD SATA or NVME?..cuz SATA max speed is only 600mb/sec speed and write.

[@Locky2701]

@@farishakim6759 in Raid Zero mode,you'll get double the speed of a single SSD I have 2 SSD Sata in my laptop ,1 TB /each

[@coniferousbug2395]

So you will only connect your laptop either by a ethernet cable or via usb wireless adapter to access the Internet?

[@techwise66]

I use an ethernet cable for the internet right now.

[@hicknopunk]

Of wifi. You can use your Bluetooth slot for the ssd.

[@MrGeemonty]

curious why you didnt show the same laptop you were doing the upgrade on with the card adapter at the end. Appears you used a picture of a different laptop.

[@techwise66]

I used different images to show that the card adapter upgrade method is suitable to a wide range of laptop models, including PCs. Rather than focusing on a particular laptop model, the goal was to demonstrate the upgrade's adaptability and compatibility across other platforms.

[@MrGeemonty]

@techwise66 based on the intro the goal was for you to find add an nvme ssd to your laptop m.2 wifi slot, would make sense you would show it working in the laptop that you were wanting to upgrade.

[@techwise66]

​@@MrGeemonty I appreciate your feedback. I am planning to create a new video that will walk through each step in depth once more

[@bhargavzantye7688]

u r awesome 👏 u solved my problem

[@farishakim6759]

Brother..just wondering, after you put the adapter, can you close laptop cover ? Cuz the height of the adapter is 22mm which is taller than laptop right?

[@techwise66]

Yes, brother, I can close the laptop cover. The thickness of the adapter is very thin, I mean mm level. And the adapter can be broken based on your ssd size, which is 2230 for me. So I cut it to 2230, which fits my laptop motherboard.

[@The.Doctor.Venkman]

Thank you for this information!

[@matthewgonzalez2360]

Good explanation. I hope you can help me. I have an Asus laptop with a soldered Wi-Fi card that is bad. I want to use an SSD adaptor as my secondary drive where i can install a wi-fi card and an nvme drive. What do you think I should use?

[@techwise66]

To solve your issue, you can use an M.2 to PCIe adapter that has both an NVMe and Wi-Fi card slot. This way, you'll be able to use an NVMe drive and replace the bad Wi-Fi card without having to solder anything. Just ensure your laptop has a spare M.2 slot and that the adapter is compatible with your laptop

[@T3CHNOM4NCER]

Do this and use a wifi adapter via USB bobs your uncle if you dont want to sacrifice a port get a usb hub adapter and use that. now tou have additional usb ports too

[@iuryPlayed]

Faz um video mostrando o resultado por favor mano

[@wardehaj]

Do you need a motherboard bios upgrade in order to recognize and use the m2 drive?

[@techwise66]

In my instance, I did not need to update my motherboard bios in order for the M.2 NVMe SSD to be recognized. The BIOS settings are available in this video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbM

[@JohnSmith-iu8cj]

More information please about laptop and cpu model, ability to boot, bios / uefi support

[@techwise66]

Lenovo IdeaPad 520, i7- 8550U, I migrated all data to new M.2 and it is bootable

[@JohnSmith-iu8cj]

Thank you! 👍😃

[@MrBobWareham]

Wow, that was a lot of information in such a short time it is such a simple idea to add a hard drive, but if you dedicate that port to NVMe then what about your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth? If you use a USB adapter, then you will have slow Wi-Fi and Bluetooth!

[@techwise66]

Thank you so much for your comment. There are some good Dual-Band USB Adaptors for wifi. This could be an alternative. I use the ethernet cable for the internet

[@farishakim6759]

Well, you need to find a good one and need to study the specs...look for wifi 6 AX dual band adapter. ..then you'll have both wifi+ Bluetooth

[@farishakim6759]

Brother...can you teach me how to boot from the wifi port..I'm confuse between legacy or UEFI setting

[@techwise66]

You may watch this video, the BIOS settings which is worked in there as well kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbM

[@farishakim6759]

Thank God I stumble on this channel. Thanks so much sir...I was looking this exact solution and wondering if it works or not

[@lorenakademar5267]

Great explained video!! It gives me some light to one "issue" that I have with my laptop! I'm going to do a better research now that I know about the differents kind of keys

[@farishakim6759]

Can you share with us that issue? Just curious

[@juliomolinas879]

good video master, I want to do the same with a desktop PC, but the other way around, my mother board does not have m2 wifi, only m2 storage, do you think it is possible to put an m2 wifi and bluetoth in that connector? It is a gigabyte h 510 I await a response!!

[@techwise66]

Hello and thank you for your comment! Yes, it is generally possible to add WiFi and Bluetooth functionality to a desktop PC using the M.2 slot originally intended for storage, but there are a few important considerations to keep in mind. Slot Compatibility: Most modern desktop motherboards use M.2 slots that support both SATA and PCIe devices. For WiFi and Bluetooth cards, you'll need a slot that supports PCIe devices, as most M.2 WiFi cards use PCIe for connectivity. Your Gigabyte H510 motherboard should support this, but it's always a good idea to check the motherboard's manual or specifications online to confirm the type of M.2 slots it has and their compatibility. Keying and Form Factor: M.2 slots and devices are keyed to ensure that only compatible devices can be connected. M.2 WiFi cards typically use the A, E, or A+E key, while M.2 storage devices might use B or M keys. Ensure that the M.2 slot on your motherboard matches the keying of the M.2 WiFi card you plan to use. Hardware Support: Not all motherboards may support booting or device recognition for M.2 WiFi cards if the BIOS/UEFI firmware doesn't explicitly support it. Check your motherboard's documentation or contact Gigabyte support to confirm if your specific model supports using an M.2 slot for WiFi and Bluetooth modules. You can search for adapters that can solve your issue, such as "NGFF A/E-Key Wireless NGFF WiFi Card to M.2 NGFF Key-M" or "Wireless M.2 A+E Key Slot To M.2 M Key Wifi Bluetooth Adapter." However, ensure you check for compatibility and space constraints before purchasing any hardware. Good luck with your upgrade!

[@TT-it9gg]

Very nice!~

[@andonrangelov8844]

do the laptop recognise the ssd directly? do you change boot options in the bios ? or do you do some other actions that are needed?

[@techwise66]

My laptop directly recognized 2.5" SSD, but I didn't have an M.2 NVMe SSD slot. So this way, I could plug M.2 SSD into my laptop. All the bios adjustments are in the below video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbM

[@KikoMovilla]

Nice video, I wanna try it, i got a notebook with 32gb emmc for my child, and now, after a lot of system updates we got stuck with its capacity. Can you give some info? How much slower are nvme with only 2 lanes of pcie that a+e key are limited

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment! NVMe SSDs are much faster than eMMC because they use the PCIe interface, which has much higher potential throughput. The number of PCIe lanes connected to an NVMe SSD can affect its maximum performance. A typical NVMe SSD with 4 PCIe lanes can reach higher speeds than one with only 2 lanes. Based on my research, A+E key M.2 slots may be limited to 2 PCIe lanes, meaning any NVMe SSD that is installed in such a slot will have a maximum bandwidth that's roughly half of what could be achieved with 4 lanes. Practically, an NVMe SSD on a 2-lane connection might achieve read/write speeds near 1,900/1,500 MB/s. In contrast, a 4-lane NVMe connection might allow for speeds closer to 3,800/3,400 MB/s or more, depending on the SSD's specifications and the PCIe version.

[@JAAS-b7k]

Hi, what read write speed so you get by doing this? I wanted to do this because nvme is cheaper than sata here where i live

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment! I received 1257.54 Read (MB/s) and 1211.65 Write (MB/s), which is significantly higher than my 2.5" SSD.

[@JAAS-b7k]

@@techwise66 nice!

[@frankenstein3163]

Great shear. Any idea on how to get the best four NVMe's ssd performance on a 3rd gen pci desktop mobo ? It only has one m.2 slot and I'm a noob wen it comes to pci stuff on mother board's. EDIT: The rail stuff gets me a little lost.

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your kind words and great question! Enhancing your system to accommodate and make the most out of four NVMe SSDs, especially with a motherboard that has only one M.2 slot, presents a challenge, but there are solutions. Since your motherboard has limited M.2 slots, you can use either the adapter that I showed in the video to convert a WiFi slot to NVMe or a PCIe adapter to add more NVMe SSDs. These adapters convert available WiFi slots and PCIe slots into M.2 slots. For a 3rd gen PCIe motherboard, ensure the adapter is compatible with PCIe 3.0 for optimal performance. It's a good idea to ask the seller for this information.

[@frankenstein3163]

@@techwise66 :) I have ben doing a bit of research last year to see if I wanted a 4th gen. Just for got most of it. Turning the wifi slot on laptop to a functioning PCIe is awesome. I remember trying to make a expot adapter for a graphics card on my 12 year old laptop several years ago. Epic fail. >_

[@techwise66]

@@frankenstein3163 😊 It's great to hear about your enthusiasm and willingness to explore new upgrades and modifications, even after an adventurous attempt with your old laptop! The journey of upgrading and tinkering with hardware can be both exciting and challenging. Don't be discouraged by this type of past experiences. Keep researching, and and may it be a great success!

[@frankenstein3163]

@@techwise66 :)

[@floycewhite6991]

Did you use a docking port for Ethernet?

[@techwise66]

I have a built-in Ethernet port in my laptop, so I didn't need that, but it could be an alternative to using docking stations that include multiple ports, including Ethernet, USB, HDMI, etc., and can be connected to a laptop via a USB or Thunderbolt port

[@iuryndabv]

Ótimo vídeo papai tmi

[@sharukhanklesaria2365]

Super video

[@eduardopauloferreirajunior]

If it works out, I intend to make a video in Portuguese, can I mention you in the video??

[@techwise66]

Thank you for your comment, and of course, if sharing your experience benefits others, that's great!

[@mehdirami9028]

This is the information that I was looking for, one like for you my friend. I want to use this slot for a gpu adapter, I think I have the key E slot (i can read an E on the slot). What do you think about this idea? It will works?

[@techwise66]

Thank you so much for your comment. Be careful to have an M2 A.E Key on your board to use the graphics extension cable. The adapter below may solve your request more than the adapter I mentioned in the video. It is a different purpose to use M.2 NvMe SSD. www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802884482879.html

[@vinusuhas4978]

What speeds are you getting?

[@techwise66]

I got 1257,54 Read (MB/s), 1211,65 Write (MB/s) which quite higher than my 2.5" SSD

[@vinusuhas4978]

@@techwise66 can we plug there 5G or 10G ethernet port ?

[@techwise66]

@@vinusuhas4978 I didn't try it before

[@calholli]

Mini PCIe 1.0: Based on PCIe 1.0, providing a data rate of 250 MB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 2.0: Based on PCIe 2.0, providing a data rate of 500 MB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 3.0: Based on PCIe 3.0, providing a data rate of 1 GB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 4.0: Based on PCIe 4.0, providing a data rate of 2 GB/s per lane. Mini PCIe 5.0: Based on PCIe 5.0, providing a data rate of 4 GB/s per lane12.

[@Drumsholic]

Nice Work!! You know if the connector of the laptop witch is double sided can support the wifi card and the M2 ssd simultanuesly and if the adapter has some limitation on what type of M2 you can install , it supports 2280 as well for example??

[@techwise66]

It supports M Key NVME SSD (2230, 2242, 2260 & 2280 sizes), and it doesn't support SATA-based B key SSD. I didn't encounter any limitations until now, and it works very well.

[@Drumsholic]

@@techwise66 In the Boot menu on the bios this port recognised as bootable or it takes it only as a 2nd drive only for saving?From the other side of the port you can still connect the WIFI card??

[@techwise66]

@@Drumsholic It can be used as either a bootable or a second hard disk. You may find my bios in this video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbM I use the internet with the ethernet cable, but you may also take a USB wifi

[@thiagorobertt509]

Can it use Wifi and SSD at the same time?

[@kokodin5895]

the only problem with that solution i can see nvme drive might not be bootable on some laptops because laptop maker never intended such an option. hp is notorious for that as for speed, unless it is pcie 4.0 transfer speed will be comparable to sata ssd because this kind of socket oses onlt 1x pcie connection while nvme ssd can use up to 4 pcie lines (double noched nvme uses 2x pcie single noch 4x pcie) if you have access to motherboard documentation you can technically splice in your own nvme socket as extra, either by removing a device you are not using or fiding unpopulated footprint for gpu or something. this require a bit of experience with micro soldering because it is easier to brick a computer if you never done it before my hp laptop runs dual ssd even though it was never intended to have any, one in unpopulated by factory m.2 sata port and onein place of sd cart reader via pcie 1x bus routed to nvme socket and both ssd's have exactly the same speed

[@mikehensley78]

if you use a bootloader on the original HDD you can first boot from HDD and tell it to boot the OS thats on the NVMe...i guess you could boot from a USB and have it boot the NVMe as well.

[@kokodin5895]

@@mikehensley78 yes i am using refind for that, it loads boot driver back to the bios so the boot can be performed from the uefi level, otherwise bios can't see nvme drive as nothing more as pcie device it know nothing about. i have hp laptop with very strip down bios so it can't be done any other way (bootloader might be at the flash drive though but there is only 3 usb) the only problem is windows likes to crash my bootloader and bootloader itself is not capable to secure bood and laptop preferes other signed options

[@akmalmahmoud5918]

Your WiFi service is disabled as you occupy its connection for your PCI card , how you over come this and got a WiFi wireless connection? for me I will think loss one USB port to operate mini WiFi wireless adaptor ! thanks

[@massiveforce6654]

kardeşim aksandan türk olduğun çok belli güzel ama bizden global kanal çıkması başarılarının devamını dilerim :D

[@tamamma03]

Thank you but I've a question. Will then the MainBoard see this nvme drive for boot?

[@techwise66]

Yes, after migrating my previous Windows, which was setup on my 2.5" SATA SSD, to M.2 NMMe, it works as it is and is bootable. You can see the video for bios properties in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbM

[@alexkuk2659]

So you are managed to install a SSD into your notebook but I am just wondering if you could boot your Windows from it, could you?

[@techwise66]

Yes, after I plugged in the M.2 SSD to my Wi-Fi port, I migrated all my previous Windows files and other folders to my new SSD and adjusted the bios. Then, I can boot my new M.2 SSD. You may find the bios details on this video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3PagZSNe6qrqbMsi=kjcy8mDxp-NaqyYu

[@JAYJAY1787]

But we wouldnt need this in a desktop that has both A/E slot correct? I can just plug in my 2230?

[@techwise66]

If you have a desktop that has a M.2 SSD slot, surely you don't need this adapter. But if you don't have that slot and instead only have a wifi slot, you may use this method.

[@JAYJAY1787]

@@techwise66it does have a m.2 slot but I am turning this desktop into a server so it won't need WiFi

[@ega972]

well, I don't see same motherboard in first and last video.. you use a different laptop?

[@techwise66]

It works with different laptop as well

[@Weepsy_]

Now i have another question. Can this be doable the opposite way?

[@techwise66]

Good question! Yes, it can be in the opposite way as well. You can plug a wifi card into an M.2 slot with an adapter