220-1101 Question 249
Single answerM.2A technician is upgrading a laptop with a new 1 TB M.2 SSD. The laptop's service manual states: "Supports M.2 2280 SATA SSD only." The technician installs an M.2 2280 NVMe drive, but the system does not detect it in BIOS or during OS installation. The drive works in another newer laptop. Which of the following is the MOST likely reason?
- A
The laptop supports only SATA-based M.2 drives, but the installed drive is NVMe/PCIe
- B
The M.2 drive must be formatted before the BIOS can detect it
- C
The technician installed a 2280 drive, but the laptop requires a 2260 drive
- D
The laptop cannot use any M.2 SSD larger than 512 GB
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question tests a key A+ Core 1 concept: M.2 refers to the connector and physical card format, while SATA and NVMe refer to the communication interface/protocol. A common real-world mistake is assuming any M.2 SSD will work in any M.2 slot. In practice, technicians must verify both the supported keying/form factor and the supported interface in the device documentation. Manufacturer service manuals and motherboard/laptop specifications are the best sources for confirming whether a system supports M.2 SATA, M.2 PCIe/NVMe, or both. In this case, the laptop explicitly supports only M.2 2280 SATA SSDs, so installing an NVMe drive results in no detection even though the module physically fits.
- A. Correct.
Correct. M.2 describes the physical form factor, not the storage protocol. An M.2 slot can support SATA, PCIe/NVMe, or both, depending on the system design. If the service manual specifies M.2 2280 SATA only, an NVMe drive may physically fit but will not be recognized because the slot does not provide the required PCIe/NVMe support.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Formatting is not required for BIOS-level hardware detection. BIOS/UEFI detects the presence of supported storage hardware regardless of partitioning or filesystem. A blank or unformatted drive should still appear if it is electrically and logically compatible with the slot.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A 2280 drive size is specifically listed as supported in the service manual, so the length is not the issue in this scenario. While M.2 size compatibility matters, the installed drive matches the documented form factor requirement.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Capacity limits can exist on some older systems, but the scenario provides direct evidence that the problem is protocol compatibility, not size. The manual states SATA-only support, and the NVMe drive works elsewhere, making interface mismatch the most likely cause.