# US 2016/0259754 A1 · Hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2016/0259754 A1 - Document ID: US20160259754A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/918,556 - Filed: 2015-10-20 - Published: 2016-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-03-02 - Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Zhan PING - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20160259754A1 ## CPC - G06F 3/0661: {Format or protocol conversion arrangements} - G06F 3/0613: {in relation to throughput} - G06F 3/0629: {Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems} - G06F 3/0632: {by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems} - G06F 3/0658: {Controller construction arrangements} - G06F 3/0683: {Plurality of storage devices} - G06F 3/0688: {Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays} - G06F 13/4022: {using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network (G06F13/4009 takes precedence)} - G06F 13/4081: {Live connection to bus, e.g. hot-plugging (current or voltage limitation during live insertion H02H9/004)} - G06F 13/4282: {on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247)} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Embodiments of the inventive concept include 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters that can include multiple M.2 solid state drive cards, which can be incorporated into existing enterprise servers without major architectural changes, thereby enabling the server industry ecosystem to easily integrate M.2 solid state drive technology into servers. Multiple M.2 solid state drive cards and a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) switch can be included within a 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter. The solid state drive multi-card adapters can be attached to or seated within drive bays of a computer server that supports non-volatile memory express (NVMe) 2.5 inch drives without any changes to the server architecture, thereby providing a straight-forward upgrade path. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, comprising: a hard disk drive form factor connector; an interface section electrically coupled to the hard disk drive form factor connector; and one or more solid state drive connectors electrically coupled to the interface section, and configured to receive one or more solid state drive cards. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 1, wherein: the one or more solid state drive connectors include one or more M.2 solid state drive connectors; the one or more solid state drive cards include one or more M.2 solid state drive cards; and each of the one or more M.2 solid state drive cards are configured to be seated in a corresponding M.2 solid state drive connector from among the one or more solid state drive connectors. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more solid state drive cards includes one or more solid state drive chips configured to communicate via the interface section and the hard disk drive form factor connector. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 1, further comprising: a first solid state drive connector, from among the one or more solid state drive connectors; and a second solid state drive connector, from among the one or more solid state drive connectors. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 4, further comprising: a first solid state drive card, from among the one or more solid state drive cards, seated in the first solid state drive connector; and a second solid state drive card, from among the one or more solid state drive cards, seated in the second solid state drive connector. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 5, wherein the interface section is electrically coupled to the first solid state drive card, and electrically coupled to the second solid state drive card. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 1, wherein the one or more solid state drive cards include a plurality of solid state drive cards, and wherein the interface section is configured to expand an upstream port to a plurality of downstream ports, each downstream port being associated with a corresponding solid state drive card from among the plurality of solid state drive cards. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 7, wherein: the hard disk drive form factor connector is an SFF-8639 connector; the interface section is a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) switch; the upstream port is a PCIe X4 upstream port; and each of the plurality of downstream ports is a PCIe X4 downstream port. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter of claim 7, wherein the interface section, the plurality of solid state drive cards, and the one or more solid state drive connectors are configured to substantially fit within a hard disk drive form factor. ### Claim 10 A computer server system, comprising: an enclosure including one or more hard disk drive form factor bays; and one or more hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters configured to be seated within the drive bays, at least one of the solid state drive multi-card adapters having one or more of solid state drive cards. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The computer server system of claim 10, wherein each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters comprises: a hard disk drive form factor connector; an interface section electrically coupled to the hard disk drive form factor connector; and one or more solid state drive connectors, electrically coupled to the interface section, and configured to receive the one or more of solid state drive cards. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computer server system of claim 11, wherein: each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters is a 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter; the hard disk drive form factor connector is a 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor connector; the one or more solid state drive connectors include one or more M.2 solid state drive connectors; the one or more solid state drive cards include one or more M.2 solid state drive cards; and each of the M.2 solid state drive cards are configured to be seated in a corresponding M.2 solid state drive connector from among the one or more M.2 solid state drive connectors. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The computer server system of claim 11, wherein each of the one or more of solid state drive cards includes one or more solid state drive chips configured to communicate via the interface section and the hard disk drive form factor connector. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The computer server system of claim 11, wherein each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters further comprises: a first solid state drive connector, from among the plurality of solid state drive connectors; and a second solid state drive connector, from among the plurality of solid state drive connectors. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The computer server system of claim 14, wherein each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters further comprises: a first solid state drive card, from among the plurality of solid state drive cards, seated in the first solid state drive connector; and a second solid state drive card, from among the plurality of solid state drive cards, seated in the second solid state drive connector. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The computer server system of claim 14, further comprising: a motherboard including a one or more of upstream ports, wherein each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters includes one or more downstream ports each associated with a corresponding one of the one or more solid state drive cards, and wherein the interface section of each of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapters is configured to expand an upstream port from among the one or more upstream ports to the one or more downstream ports. ### Claim 17 A computer-implemented method for increasing storage capacity density in a computer server, the method comprising: receiving, by a hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, information from an upstream port associated with a motherboard of the computer server; expanding, by an interface section of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, the upstream port into one or more of downstream ports; and associating, by the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, each of the downstream ports with a corresponding solid state drive card from among a plurality of solid state drive cards. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising: storing, by plurality of solid state drive cards, the information to one or more solid state drive chips associated with the plurality of solid state drive cards. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising: communicating, by the one or more solid state drive chips, via the interface section and a hard disk drive form factor connector of the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter is a 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, the one or more solid state drive chips include one or more M.2 solid state drive chips, and wherein expanding further comprises: expanding, by the interface section of the 2.5 inch hard disk drive form factor solid state drive multi-card adapter, the upstream port into one or more of downstream ports associated with the one or more M.2 solid state drive chips.