I’m quite confused by the possibility of adding storage inside the Mox. Module B has a mini-PCIe slot but today, it seems impossible to find a mPCIe disk. Most small SSD for similar machines use M.2 (for instance, this Kingston) which does not seem compatible.
Is there a realistic option to buy and connect a disk in the Mox? Or should I use an external USB drive?
There are mPCIe to m.2-adapters available, so you have options to install m.2-SSDs.
The only downside is the bandwidth of mPCIe is limited to 2,5Gbit, you will not make much use of faster SSDs (PCIe3.0x4 → 32gbit, PCIe4.0x4 → 64Gbit, etc). But as the fastest way you can connect to your MOX is also 2,5Gbit (via SFP-port /module D), the SSD is not the limiting factor.
As I have quite a while searched for the most efficient mSATA-SSD, I know there are 1TB-SSDs available. But for sure there is no further development, energy consumption of mSATA vs. m.2 is really bad and you can get m.2-SSDs up to 8TB maximum storage…
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Did you try that (the adapter)? Which model? Does it fit in the Mox? Does it work (the performance issue is not really a problem)?
I didn’t try with a MOX, I installed it in one of my TOs: New For M.2 NGFF NVME M-key/B Key SSD to Mini PCI-E Adapter Card M.2 B/M Key SSD | eBay (and as it doesn’t really fit in there it is a little bit inclined what doesn’t matter as long as the connectors sit tight; I installed a m.2 2280 in it).
Regarding the length just measure within your MOX’ enclosure if it fits - total length is 9,5cm (without connectors of the adapter). If it doesn’t fit, you can try to use a riser card in between.
It does work, yes:
root@turris:~# lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mtdblock0 31:0 0 1M 0 disk
mtdblock1 31:1 0 7M 0 disk
mmcblk0 179:0 0 7.3G 0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 7.3G 0 part /
mmcblk0boot0 179:8 0 4M 1 disk
mmcblk0boot1 179:16 0 4M 1 disk
nvme0n1 259:0 0 931.5G 0 disk
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