StarTech.com Dual M.2 PCIe SSD Adapter Card - x8 / x16 Dual NVMe or AHCI M.2 SSD to PCI Express 3.0 - M.2 NGFF PCIe (M-Key) Compatible - Supports 2242, 2260, 2280 - JBOD - Mac & PC

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

At £138.40 ex-VAT, this is one of those “useful when you have a very specific problem” bits of kit rather than a general upgrade you’ll love. A dual M.2 to PCIe adapter is ideal if you’ve got an older server/PC/workstation with limited M.2 slots but decent PCIe lanes, and you want to add two NVMe drives without replacing the whole platform. It’s also sensible if you’re doing mixed storage work (e.g., one drive for scratch/VMs and another for data) and you don’t want to faff with external storage or expensive add-in NVMe chassis. Because it supports JBOD, it’s typically less of a headache for straightforward “two separate drives” setups.

That said, I wouldn’t buy it if you’re expecting it to “magically turn any system into a NAS” or if your box is very lane-constrained—dual adapters are where PCIe bandwidth and thermals can become real-world bottlenecks, especially under sustained writes. Also, depending on your host’s BIOS/OS, you may find oddities around booting or driver/recognition (though NVMe support is usually fine). If you’re doing anything mission-critical, factor in airflow and plan your drives accordingly; otherwise you’ll pay £138 and still end up chasing throttling. Overall: good value when you need two internal M.2 slots from one PCIe slot path—avoid it when you just want “the simplest NVMe upgrade” or when your platform can’t comfortably support it.