A technician is tasked with upgrading a client's laptop with a new M.2 NVMe solid-state drive. To ensure the new drive will work, which of the following must the technician confirm first?
The motherboard has an M.2 slot that supports the NVMe protocol.
The laptop's UEFI/BIOS firmware is the latest version.
The laptop has enough physical space for the M.2 drive's length.
The operating system has the necessary drivers for the NVMe drive.
The essential first step is to confirm the laptop's motherboard has an M.2 slot that specifically supports the NVMe protocol. Not all M.2 slots support NVMe; some are designed only for SATA-based M.2 drives. Without the correct physical and electrical interface, the drive cannot be installed or recognized, making all other checks irrelevant. While physical space (form factor length), firmware updates, and OS drivers are valid considerations in a storage upgrade, they are all secondary to the primary check of interface compatibility.
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What is the difference between NVMe and SATA in terms of M.2 drives?
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How can you check if a motherboard's M.2 slot supports NVMe?
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Why is NVMe compatibility more important than physical form factor or firmware updates?