Whats an M.2 SSD & why does it matter? As systems & devices become increasingly space constrained, demand is increasing for smaller SSDs. Enter the M.2 form factor thats designed for ultrabooks & tablets. Unlike m SATA, M.2 allows NAND components to be fitted to either side of the PCB, enabling significantly larger capacities in a smaller form factor. The M.2 standard also moves beyond the space & design limitations of the m SATA single lane I/O interface, while offering support for both SATA & PCIe configurations. Micron Quality Crucial is a brand of Micron & our SSDs are designed & developed in-house by one of the largest NAND manufacturers in the world. This means four things: hundreds of SSD qualification tests, over a thousand hours of prerelease validation testing, 1.5 billion dollars invested in R&D, & more than 30 years of industry expertise. Adaptive Thermal Protection Greater thermal management enables the Crucial M500 to work with the host computer to dynamically adjust power consumption based on usage demands, which helps address the cooling challenges of ultra-small, thermally constrained systems. Hardware Data Encryption The Crucial M500 SSD offers top-level hardware-based encryption, enabling enhanced data security. Our AES 256-bit hardware encryption engine & TCG Opal 2.0 compliant firmware allow the drive to operate at full speed without the performance loss thats typically found in drives that use software-based encryption technology