Hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter

Abstract

Embodiments of the inventive concept include 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters that can include multiple M.2 solid state drive cards, which can be incorporated into existing enterprise servers without major architectural changes, thereby enabling the server industry ecosystem to easily integrate M.2 solid state drive technology into servers. Multiple M.2 solid state drive cards and a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) switch can be included within a 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter. The solid state drive multi-card adapters can be attached to or seated within drive bays of a computer server that supports non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 2.5 inch drives without any changes to the server architecture, thereby providing a straight-forward upgrade path.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION DATA[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 127,203, filed Mar. 2, 2015, and claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 161,635, filed May 14, 2015, which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]The present inventive concepts relate to enterprise server solutions, and more particularly, to hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters for use with enterprise servers.[0003]Enterprise servers provide computing and storage power for the Internet, the emerging Internet of Things, and myriad business intranets and applications. To some extent, enterprise servers make possible the conveniences of modern civilization. For example, trucking and transportation logistics rely heavily on enterprise computer servers. Internet searching, social networks, and social media also depend directly on a robust enterprise server infrastructure. These are but a few of the many industries that depe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a new product called a hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, which can be used in computer servers to increase storage capacity. The adapter has a circuit board with a hard disk drive form factor connector and interfaces with one or more M.2 solid state drive cards. The adapter can be used in a computer server system that has hard disk drive bays for the cards. The method for using the adapter involves expanding the upstream port of the motherboard to the downstream ports of the adapter, associating each port with a different M.2 solid state drive card, and storing information from the cards in the associated M.2 solid state drive chip. The technical effect of this invention is to provide a more efficient way to increase storage capacity in computer servers without compromising performance or stability.

Problems solved by technology

But traditional enterprise server implementations lack density and performance-centric storage capabilities, and have limited or no support for recent developments in solid state drives (SSDs).

Developments in the SSD field have advanced storage technologies in general, but are not easily adaptable to existing enterprise server applications without major architectural changes and large investments in infrastructure updates.

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