M.2 slot apprears missing

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Lenovo Ideapad 120s-14IAP

Combining an elegant design, long battery life and performance that beats that of similarly priced notebooks, the IdeaPad 120s offers great value for the money. Coming out in 2017, following Lenovo's 110 series, Lenovo makes it easier than ever to have an enjoyable user experience

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Finn @solonofathens

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发帖于: 2020年11月5日

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M.2 slot apprears missing

I bought a SATA M.2 SSD which the retailer guaranteed would be compatible with my system. However, when I look at the space where the SSD should go, I can’t see the requisite M.2 shaped slot.

I was expecting to see something like this (from the hardware manual):

Instead I see roughly this:

There are what look like connectors of some sort, but no actual slot. This image is from a guide on this site, so it seems it’s not just my machine that looks like this.

What am I missing? Any help is much appreciated!

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I think perhaps your model simply does not have the M.2 connector.

Does any one else know?

由 mike 完成的 2020年11月5日

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jayeff @jayeff

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发帖于: 2020年11月6日

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Hi @solonofathens ,

I'm wondering if you got a model with the eMMC storage that is soldered directly onto the motherboard as there seems to be a lot of different motherboards available for the model.

You may have to enter the serial number and find out the specifications for your exact motherboard variant. (see Item #4 p.73 of the hardware manual) as some that I searched for had either 32GB eMMC or 64GB eMMC flash storage hard mounted and therefore maybe there is no M.2 slot provided.

What capacity SSD is installed now or what capacity is the storage in the laptop?

On p.66 (see also p.74) Item #7 in the hardware maintenance manual it shows the minimum SSD capacity which may already be installed is 128GB depending perhaps on which motherboard you have.

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Thanks @jayeff - this was really helpful. On closer investigation it turns out that my specific variant has the snappily-named 3N 81A5 N3350WIN UMA R4G32G motherboard, which comes with 32GB of eMMC storage soldered on... but no M.2 slot. Hopefully the company that sold me the SSD will take it back, since they promised it was compatible; but I understand how they got confused, since Lenovo hardly make it clear how many minor variants there are and what the differences are between them.

It may be a long shot, but do you know if there's anything else I can do to improve my measly 32GB of storage? Should I, for instance, consider replacing the motherboard with one with an M.2 slot? Several of the variants seem to be compatible. But maybe that's a can of worms to avoid opening.

由 Finn 完成的 2020年11月6日

Hi @solonofathens

The manual shows that the laptop has a micro SD card slot so if that is the case with your model then perhaps a cheaper and easier option to consider rather than replacing the motherboard is to permanently insert the largest capacity micro SD Card that you can afford or wish to have and configure it as the storage drive and use the onboard storage as the drive for the OS and programs only

Doing this has its advantages:

There is not too much of a speed differential when accessing the card or the onboard storage.

Your data is safe from board failures (or even OS failures that may need an OS reinstall) because the card is easily removed and your data can be accessed elsewhere if necessary.

It is reasonably secure as you can take it with you when leaving the laptop unattended in libraries for example - just don’t forget to unmount it first before removing if the laptop is still turned on.

You don’t have to constantly remember to perform regular backups if your data is not set to auto back up, although having a recent backup is always advisable as even SD cards can fail

It is unobtrusive so it can be left in there, without interfering with the laptop usage (handling) or storing, if in a bag or case etc i.e. sits flush and is not protruding.

The disadvantages are:

It can be argued that your data is not as safe from physical theft as it would be if stored in the laptop (easier to take the card than the laptop) but others would have to know about the card being there.

You can easily misplace or even damage a small SD card if you remove it and handle it too often

Another downside is if you regularly wish to use the slot for something else e.g. copy and transfer data to the laptop from a SD card (camera?) or to another device using another SD card, but then I suppose you could copy it to the same card and then insert it in a card reader or slot connected with another device etc.

由 jayeff 完成的 2020年11月7日

Hi @jayeff thanks so much for taking the time to write this out, I appreciate it. I'll have a think about that solution; seems like it might be the way to go.

由 Finn 完成的 2020年11月8日

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I think perhaps your model simply does not have the M.2 connector.

Does any one else know? — mike
Thanks @jayeff - this was really helpful. On closer investigation it turns out that my specific variant has the snappily-named 3N 81A5 N3350WIN UMA R4G32G motherboard, which comes with 32GB of eMMC storage soldered on... but no M.2 slot. Hopefully the company that sold me the SSD will take it back, since they promised it was compatible; but I understand how they got confused, since Lenovo hardly make it clear how many minor variants there are and what the differences are between them.

It may be a long shot, but do you know if there's anything else I can do to improve my measly 32GB of storage? Should I, for instance, consider replacing the motherboard with one with an M.2 slot? Several of the variants seem to be compatible. But maybe that's a can of worms to avoid opening. — Finn
Hi @solonofathens

The manual shows that the laptop has a micro SD card slot so if that is the case with your model then perhaps a cheaper and easier option to consider rather than replacing the motherboard is to permanently insert the largest capacity micro SD Card that you can afford or wish to have and configure it as the storage drive and use the onboard storage as the drive for the OS and programs only

Doing this has its advantages:

There is not too much of a speed differential when accessing the card or the onboard storage.

Your data is safe from board failures (or even OS failures that may need an OS reinstall) because the card is easily removed and your data can be accessed elsewhere if necessary.

It is reasonably secure as you can take it with you when leaving the laptop unattended in libraries for example - just don’t forget to unmount it first before removing if the laptop is still turned on.

You don’t have to constantly remember to perform regular backups if your data is not set to auto back up, although having a recent backup is always advisable as even SD cards can fail

It is unobtrusive so it can be left in there, without interfering with the laptop usage (handling) or storing, if in a bag or case etc i.e. sits flush and is not protruding.

The disadvantages are:

It can be argued that your data is not as safe from physical theft as it would be if stored in the laptop (easier to take the card than the laptop) but others would have to know about the card being there.

You can easily misplace or even damage a small SD card if you remove it and handle it too often

Another downside is if you regularly wish to use the slot for something else e.g. copy and transfer data to the laptop from a SD card (camera?) or to another device using another SD card, but then I suppose you could copy it to the same card and then insert it in a card reader or slot connected with another device etc. — jayeff
Hi @jayeff thanks so much for taking the time to write this out, I appreciate it. I'll have a think about that solution; seems like it might be the way to go. — Finn

Lenovo Ideapad 120s-14IAP

M.2 slot apprears missing

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