What type of connector is this? (laptop)

Pawnless Endgame · 3 Apr 2020 at 23:47

Hey guys.

I opened up my laptop to check my SSD upgrade options. The main drive is an M2 2242, and surprised I was to see an empty tray/slot for a standard SATA SSD drive. I could do with the extra space! However, I not sure what type of cable I would need. Can you please check and let me know if it's a widely available type? That would be at the motherboard end, and then I guess it would be standard SATA at the drive's end.

Thanks :-)

b00merang69 · 3 Apr 2020 at 23:52

Possibly like the ASUS Rog add in card a few Gens ago.

b00merang69 · 4 Apr 2020 at 00:06

The Mini-PCI-E is/was very common on Laptops, in the case of my Z87 Rog that card lets me have BT and WIFI and if I did add a m2 card for storage it would disable one of my SATA ports (port6) but on Rog Z97 it disables 2 ports as its higher bandwidth again AFAIK where as I will be limited to the same speed as a SATA SSD so 6Gb/s.

I have upgraded mines to a Intel M2 WIFI 6AX/BT 5.1 card in mine via an adapter this runs over SATA/USB (internal not a cable) so I do not loose any port as nothing in that NGFF slot.

Pawnless Endgame · 4 Apr 2020 at 00:25

Ahh what it is - I already have the M.2 drive as per factory, What I found though is a spare slot for a normal 2.5" SSD. That's what I want to add. It seems like what I need is standard SATA at the drive's end and some sort of ribbon connector that goes into the motherboard. So I was checking what sort of cable I need to buy. The drive's (empty) caddy is already provided, just no cable. Are these cables generic or would I need to buy a model-specific one? Laptop is a Lenovo Legion Y540 15".

b00merang69 · 4 Apr 2020 at 00:59

Your photo is too blurry to tell, not got a manual in .pdf format?

I just looked at big manual but nothing inside.

Pawnless Endgame · 4 Apr 2020 at 11:21

Thanks again guys. I was told to look inside my laptop box, which I'd never had thought of. It contains the part that I needed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/cez3z3/what_is_this_thing_that_came_with_my_y540_today/

It's a bracket for a standard 2.5" drive. I looked inside, and indeed, there it was. Part number PK37A007X00.

Cyber-Mav · 8 Apr 2020 at 09:58

pic is blurry so cant see the details but looks like its a socket that takes a ribbon cable. you can get those ribbon cables that have a sata connector on one end.

Deleted member 77746 · 8 Apr 2020 at 10:05

Cyber-Mav said:
pic is blurry so cant see the details but looks like its a socket that takes a ribbon cable. you can get those ribbon cables that have a sata connector on one end.

Indeed I believe you are right. I have fixed a number of laptops with said SATA connection on the end of the ribbon cable. This is for an extra HDD or a SATA DVD drive.

You can just say see it inside this picture for a lenovo laptop;
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Lenovo+Ideapad+320-15ABR+Hard+Drive+Replacement/116452

Cyber-Mav · 8 Apr 2020 at 13:24

those cables cost less that 2 quid so get on with it man!