M.2 Enterprise SSD: 2280 or 22110, Power Loss Protection, Boot Use and UK Prices

M.2 2280 enterprise SSD or 22110: the length decides

M.2 is a family of lengths, and enterprise drives come in more than one. Micron's 7450 technical specification lists two M.2 sizes, 22 x 80 mm and 22 x 110 mm, usually written 2280 and 22110. Which sizes you can buy depends on which length your slot takes.

The longer board carries the bigger drives. On Micron's list, a 2280 slot stops at 960GB for the PRO and 800GB for the MAX, while the 22110 reaches 3,840GB and 3,200GB. Micron's product brief writes the longer size as 22 x 100mm; its technical specification gives 22 x 110 mm, and we follow the specification. Samsung's PM9A3 brief lists its M.2 version at 22 x 110 x 4 mm, so that drive needs a 22110 slot too.

If your server only has a 2280 slot, the 7450 offers its smaller sizes there: 480GB or 960GB as the PRO, 400GB or 800GB as the MAX. Samsung's PM9A3 brief gives its M.2 version as 22110, not 2280.

Readers searching for an enterprise M.2 SSD at 4TB should know that the largest M.2 size we have found in Micron's documents is 3,840GB, the 7450 PRO in 22110. We have not found a 4TB-labelled enterprise M.2 drive in a maker's document, so check the part number and length of any listing sold as one.

Power loss protection on an M.2 enterprise SSD

Power loss protection is one feature these makers name for their enterprise M.2 drives. Micron lists full power-loss protection among the 7450's features, and its brief describes a PCIe Gen4 M.2 22x80mm SSD with power-loss protection, specifically designed for server boot use. Samsung says the PM9A3 includes enterprise power loss protection, and describes it using the stored energy in its PLP capacitors to give time to transfer cached data when power fails.

Not every M.2 drive with an enterprise name comes with a document that settles this. We have not found maker sheets for the SATA M.2 versions of Solidigm's D3-S4520, Intel's D3-S4510 or Micron's 5400, so this page states nothing about their power loss protection. If you need it, ask for the maker's document before you buy. The Samsung PM9A3 page covers that drive's other figures.

Enterprise NVMe M.2 as a server boot drive

Micron's brief calls its ultracompact M.2 form factors well-suited for boot devices. SNIA's 2022 form-factor talk takes the same view from the other side: it expects M.2 drives may linger for boot devices but fade away for performant data storage. Among the advantages it lists for E1.S is the ability to remove M.2s, and their limited performance due to thermals.

So in the documents we cite, Micron describes the M.2 drive for boot use and SNIA expects M.2 to linger for boot devices, rather than as the drive that holds a server's data. For data drives in a server built around front bays, the U.2 SSD and E1.S SSD pages cover the larger form factors. Micron's specification gives the 7450 M.2 a 3.3 V supply, within plus or minus 5%.

M.2 NVMe or SATA: check the slot

An M.2 drive can be NVMe or SATA. The 7450 and PM9A3 are NVMe, while the table can also hold SATA M.2 enterprise drives. Check which interface your server's M.2 slot supports in its own documents, and match it to the interface in the listing before you buy.

M.2 enterprise SSD price on Amazon.co.uk

The table holds 1 listing right now. Prices are pounds sterling inc VAT, and each row shows its condition. The table takes enterprise SSD listings we record as M.2 and leaves out 2230-length client drives.

Not every title states the length. Before you press Buy on Amazon, find the part number and check it against the 2280 and 22110 lists above: on Micron's figures a 22110 board is 30 mm longer than a 2280, so measure what your slot takes. The enterprise NVMe SSD page compares NVMe drives across form factors.

In-stock alternatives

None of these is the product this page covers: they are what is in stock on Amazon.co.uk beside it right now. Each row says why it is listed. Check the interface, form factor and part number against your system before buying.