SSD Form Factors | SNIA

Updated February 2023

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are commonly used in client, hyperscale and enterprise compute environments.  They typically come in three flavors:  NVMe™, SAS, and SATA. Since SSDs are made from flash memory, they can be built in many different form factors. This resource guide is designed to provide information on the most common and current SSDs in their various form factors. In addition to the form factor dimensions, information such as use case, interface, protocol, and mechanical/electrical and connector specifications are provided.

Click on the names below to learn more about the many different SSD sizes and formats in a variety of form factors: 

NVMe SSDs service many use cases in the data center. The  NVMe SSD Classification page shows the different types of NVMe SSDs for different hyperscale and enterprise use cases.

And for the latest on EDSFF form factors, view the PDF from an EDSFF Update Panel at Flash Memory Summit 2022 and download new white papers written by SNIA members Dell, HPE, KIOXIA, Meta, and Microsoft.

EDSFF

EDSFF stands for Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor. The family of specifications were developed by a group of 15 companies working together to address the concerns of data center storage, and are now maintained by SNIA as part of the SFF Technology Affiliate Technical Work Group (SFF TA TWG).

EDSFF offers a dynamic range of form factors that have advantages vs the incumbent SSD form factors in capacity, scalability, performance, serviceability, manageability, thermal and power management. Today all the EDSFF family of form factors share the same protocol (NVMe), the same interface (PCIe® ), the same edge connector (SFF-TA-1002), the same pinout and functions (SFF-TA-1009). Infrastructure, especially test infrastructure, can be developed to support multiple EDSFF form factors. Learn more about the EDSFF family.

E1.L, EDSFF 1U Long

Illustrations left to right:  E1.L 9.5mm (courtesy of Intel); E1.L 18mm (courtesy of Intel)

E1.L is a form factor that was developed to maximize capacity per drive and per rack unit in a 1U server or storage array (JBOD, JBOF), with superior manageability, serviceability, and thermal characteristics vs traditional form factors that were designed for rotating media. There are options for x4 or x8 lanes of PCIe while fitting vertically in a 1U chassis to allow for scalable bandwidth per drive, as well as options for 9.5 or 18mm heat sinks for various power and thermal environments (25W and 40W respectively). It improves data center serviceability, and is designed to be hot pluggable and front access serviceable with LEDs built into an integrated enclosure.

Use Cases

E1.L is optimized for high-capacity and dense storage use cases. High capacity per rack unit can improve data center TCO by offering storage consolidation and more power efficient storage (TB/W).

Dimensions

Type
Width
Length
Thickness

E1.L 9.5mm
up to 25W – 38.4mm
318.75mm
9.5mm

E1.L 18mm
up to 40W – 38.4mm
318.75mm
18mm

E1.S, EDSFF 1U Short

Illustrations left to right:  E1.S 5.9mm (courtesy of SMART Modular Systems); E1.S Symmetric Enclosure (courtesy of Intel); E1.S (courtesy of KIOXIA)

E1.S is a flexible, power efficient building block for hyperscale and enterprise compute nodes and storage. The M.2 110mm was popular in hyperscale data centers due to the low-cost structure, flexibility, and scalability of multiple drives per server – but had challenges in hotplug / serviceability, thermals and overheating, and scaling to high capacities. E1.S solves those problems while maintaining the small form factor; E1.S is a small form factor being just a bit longer than M.2 but wider to accommodate more media (NAND) packages for increase capacity per drive. It fits vertically in a 1U chassis, similar to E1.L. The specification for E1.S 5.9mm has four standard mounting holes for heat sinks or carriers.

Different variants of E1.S offer improved flexibility for power, performance, scalability, and thermal efficiency. The latest version of E1.S offers a new optional symmetrical enclosure of 9.5mm width (similar to E1.L) that allows scalability up to 20W and x8 PCIe if required. Mainstream SSDs are still expected to be only PCIe x4, but the PCIe x8 support in the form factor allows use of other devices that need higher bandwidth.

The 15mm and 25mm asymmetrical enclosures offers a tradeoff of fewer drives per rack unit but improved power and performance per drive. At similar power per drive, the 15mm and 25mm enclosures offer improved cooling and thermal performance, decreasing the required airflow.

Use Cases

• Cloud compute servers
• OEM 1U performance server

Dimensions

Type
Width
Length
Thickness

E1.S 5.9mm
31.5mm
111.49mm
5.9mm

E1.S 8mm heat spreader
31.5mm
111.49mm
8.01mm

E1.S Symmetric Enclosure
33.75mm
118.75mm
9.5mm

E1.S Asymmetric Enclosure
33.75mm
118.75mm
15mm

E1.S Asymmetric Enclosure
33.75mm
118.75mm
25mm

EDSFF E3.S and E3.L

Illustrations left to right: EDSFF E3 Group (SNIA specifications); E3.S (courtesy of KIOXIA)

EDSFF E3 is a family of form factors designed to update and replace the traditional U.2 2.5-inch form factor in servers and storage systems.  The different versions share the same height (76mm), and have commonality in length (112.75mm and 142.2mm) and width (7.5mm and 16.8mm).  These hot-pluggable drives are designed more optimally for flash density of the SSD and system chassis.  The E3 family connector is designed for x4 to x16 PCIe lanes and power envelopes up to 70W.  All versions should be slot/connector compatible and are designed to be front accessible.  Designed for future servers and storage systems, EDSFF E3 will accommodate next generations of PCI Express and can accommodate device types such as GPUs and NICs.

Where Used

• The primary usage is SSDs, but E3 is big enough to accommodate a broader range of device types.
• The E3 form factor allows for x4, x8, or x16 PCIe host interface.

Dimensions

Type
Height
Length
Width

Max Power

E3.S
76mm
112.75mm
7.5mm
25W

E3.S 2T
76mm
112.75mm
16.8mm
40W

E3.L
76mm
142.2mm
7.5mm
40W

E3.L 2T
76mm
142.2mm
16.8mm
70W

M.2

M.2 Illustrations left to right: courtely of KIOXIA, courtesy of Intel, courtesty of Samsung

M.2 is a form factor specification for internally mounted SSDs.  Formerly known as Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), M.2 supports PCIe, SATA and USB interfaces and comes in various widths and lengths.  It also has keying notches on the edge connector to designate various interface or PCIe lane configurations.  M.2 is smaller than the typical 2.5” form factor SSD and is typically removable, except Type 1620 (BGA), which offers a ball grid array chip package and it typically mounted on the main system board.

Dimensions

To view a visual representation of M.2 form factor dimensions, click here.

Name
Description
Use Cases
Dimensions (W x L x H, mm)

16mm x 20 mm
x2 or x4 lanes PCIe running the NVMe command set, surface mounted or on 22×30 M.2 PCB.  Capacities up to 1TB
Mobile/Tablet/Laptop
16.15 x 20.15 x 1.3

22mm x 30mm
x2 or x4 lanes PCIe running the NVMe command set. May be BGA mounted on M.2. Capacities up to 1TB.
Mobile/Tablet/ Laptop/PC boot/ Server boot
22.15 x 30.15 x 2.23

22mm x 80mm

x4 lanes PCIe running the NVMe command set. Capacities up to 4TB.

Laptop/PC/ Server or Hyperscale data/ Server boot

22.15 x 80.15 x 2.23

22mm x 110mm

x4 lanes PCIe running the NVMe command set. Capacities up to 8TB. 

PC boot and Data/ Server or Hyperscale data

22.15 x 110.15 x 3.88

2.5-inch (U.2)

The 2.5-inch form factor is the most common deployment of an SSD, and is offered with PCIe (with NVMe), SAS or SATA interfaces.  It is typically used in desktops, servers and storage systems built around hard disk drives (HDD).  This form factor is commonly associated with the term U.2 and is sometimes referred to as the U.2 form factor.  U.2 is defined as compliance with the PCI Express SFF-8639 Module specification, and no longer typically references SAS or SATA SSDs.

Name
Description
Use Cases
Dimensions (W x L x H, mm)

2.5-inch (7 mm)
Typically x4 NVMe, slim form factor, capacities up to 3.84TB
NVMe interface, PC or Server, Hyperscale environments

69.85 x 100 x 7

2.5-inch (7 mm)

Typically 6Gb/s SATA, slim form factor, capacities up to 3.84TB

SATA interface, PC or Server, Hyperscale environments

69.85 x 100 x 7

2.5-inch (15 mm)
Typically x4 NVMe, dual-port support, capacities up to 30.72TB
NVMe interface, Server or Storage, Enterprise environments

69.85 x 100 x 15

2.5-inch (15 mm)

Typically 12Gb/s SAS, dual-port support, capacities up to 30.72TB

SAS interface, Server or Storage, Enterprise environments

69.85 x 100 x 15

Add-In Card (AIC)

An Add-in Card (AIC) is a solid-state device that utilizes a standard card form factor such as a PCIe card. The AIC would usually use an interface such as PCIe, or possibly a mezzanine card of a standard form type.  Given the larger physical size over an SSM, the AIC would typically have larger capacity and potentially higher performance.  In addition, the larger size allows for the potential to add computational function to the storage device. Because of the versatility of the form factor, the AIC is a form factor that likely will constantly evolve for solid-state storage.

Name
Description
Use Cases
Dimensions (in/mm)

Full Height
PCIe
Enterprise and cloud deployments, server deployments, large capacity, additional processing for security, storage functionality, and/or future expansion. Support of higher range of power options.

6.6 in/167 mm

Half Height

PCIe

Enterprise and cloud deployments, server deployments, large capacity, additional processing for security, storage functionality, and/or future expansion. Support of higher range of power options.

4.3 in/ 111 mm

Low Profile
PCIe
Enterprise and cloud deployments, server deployments, large capacity, additional processing for security, storage functionality, and/or future expansion. Support of higher range of power options.

2.5 in/64 mm

Full Length
PCIe
Enterprise and cloud deployments, server deployments, large capacity, additional processing for security, storage functionality, and/or future expansion. Support of higher range of power options.
12.2 in/312 mm

Half Length

PCIe

Enterprise and cloud deployments, server deployments, large capacity, additional processing for security, storage functionality, and/or future expansion. Support of higher range of power options.

6.6 in/167 mm

Actual SSC dimensions may be less, dependent on design.

PCIe cards can also come in multiple widths. Such a configuration allows mating with adjacent motherboard connectors, enabling increased performance by supporting more than 16 PCIe lanes.