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February 17th, 2025 13:33
Ordered a small NVMe drive for the WWAN slot but looks like my plan won't work?
Latitude 5491
I run a very disk-intensive software program on my Latitude 5491. I have a 2.5" SATA SSD in my hard drive bay which certainly helps but I was hoping to install a NVMe drive in the WWAN slot to speed up disk operations even further (I know the WWAN slot is only PCIe x2 but that should still be approx. 2.5x faster than disk operations to the SATA SSD). I ordered a small, 256GB, 2230 NVMe that will fit the WWAN slot, but further reading suggests my plan isn't going to work. Strike one: I planned this based upon a manual for the 5491 that I found online, but when I look at the manual on the Dell site, the columns where it talks about a dual disk system with a secondary drive in the WWAN slot have a prominent warning that dual-drive must be set up at purchase and can't be added later. However, I've seen posts for the 5490 where a NVMe drive in the WWAN slot was recognized, so I'm not sure if the BIOS will see the drive or not. Strike two: elsewhere I read that even if my 5491 recognizes the NVMe drive in the WWAN slot, the NVMe drive must be the boot disk (I want to keep the SATA SSD as my boot disk and use the NVMe drive for software disk swap operations).
It's probably not too late to cancel my order for the NVMe drive if I'm sure this plan isn't going to work. Should I cancel, or is it worth trying the drive in the WWAN slot?
MycoAstro
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February 27th, 2025 11:46
Well I have my answer - it doesn’t work. The WWAN slot doesn’t have a standard M.2 connector with 5+Notch+29 pins, it has a connector with 5+Notch+28 pins, so the card is one pin too wide and won’t even fit into the connector. Perhaps that’s why they say it must be ordered at time of purchase - then they give you a motherboard with a standard M.2 connector?
ann_droid
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February 18th, 2025 10:56
Hi
Hope this helps...
The Latitude 5491 supports an M.2 2230 NVMe SSD in the WWAN slot with up to 256GB capacity.
The WWAN slot is limited to PCIe 3.0 x2 speeds.
The NVMe drive in the WWAN slot cannot be used as a boot device.
So ????????
MycoAstro
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February 18th, 2025 11:17
Glad to hear the NVMe in the WWAN slot doesn’t have to be the boot drive. In the official manual on the Dell site it says that the SSD must be installed at time of purchase and can not be added as an aftermarket item so I guess I’ll just have to try it and see if it is recognized.
ann_droid
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February 27th, 2025 12:44
Hi
Apologies for this being too late, but the 5 and 6 pin contacts seem to be slightly different pitch as well, so even if it fitted the slot it may still not work.
I cannot find anything that states whether DELL use the M with 5 or B with 6 contacts anywhere.
Hopefully you can return it to Crucial? as it is not compatible.