I have been using it for about a month. I installed a Samsung 970 Evo Plus SSD-500GB M2 NVMe PCI Express 3.0 and placed it in the PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot of the motherboard (AsRock Z77 pro 3). It fit well and then I installed Windows 11. Measuring the speed of the Samsung with crystal disk mark: Read 1850 MB/s, Write 1750 MB/s. On another computer that has an M2 slot (MSI A320M BAZOOKA), I have installed the same Samsung and the speeds are approximately twice as fast. That's why I gave it three stars. It hasn't had any issues and I recommend it for purchase mainly because of its low price.

As you read my review, take a look at the photos I have uploaded for the product. I also have an M.2 NVMe SSD to give you a comparative idea of the size and assembly.

As shown in the photo, the product packaging is a simple bag, similar to those commonly used for cables, etc. Inside the bag, the adapter was sealed with an anti-static bag, similar to those used for HDDs or motherboards.

The M.2 SSD easily plugged into one side of the adapter and was secured with the adapter's screw, which fortunately was provided, so I didn't have to look elsewhere to find it.

Next, the adapter easily fit into the PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard, and even though it didn't rely on an additional bracket, it was very stable due to its lightweight. In the image, you can see that the M.2 SSD is facing downwards. If you have this question, in case you are interested in adding a heatsink, it also appears to have a small volume-surface area and does not affect the airflow of the case.

When I turned on the computer, I noticed that the adapter has a small red light (see photo) in the corner next to the screw. It continuously lights up when it is simply in operation and blinks when performing various tasks such as file transfers, etc.

It worked perfectly, and in the crystal disk mark measurements, it gave 1600 read / 1500 write on my system with Gigabyte B450 M Aorus, Ryzen 2600x, and DDR4 3000 MHz.

In the manual of my motherboard, it states that the second PCIe x16 slot, where I connected the adapter, operates at PCIe x4 speed, NOT at x16 speed, even though it visually appears as an x16 slot. Nevertheless, the adapter worked fine, and I think that even if the slot operated at x16 speed, I would still have the same result overall because, as I read on the internet and in a previous comment here on Skroutz, all NVMe drives require and use only x4 speeds. Therefore, the remaining part of the adapter for x16 is there for connection purposes but is non-functional. Personally, I chose the x16 adapter because the PCIe x4, due to its fewer "teeth" to be sufficiently stable, has an additional metal bracket with screws, similar to those of graphics cards. This way, I avoided the hassle and the unaesthetic visual result, and I also have better airflow as there is no closed cavity formed by a screwed bracket on the back of the case. Additionally, the SSD is better cooled along with the rest of the system. You can see in the photo with the entire image of the case that the adapter takes up minimal space and aesthetically does not ruin the image of a modern and "clean" internal system. Now, if someone prefers to use the adapter for PCIe x4 and to remove the bracket's port from the back to screw it elsewhere and make the computer look like it has a 90s PSTN modem and then rate this product with four stars, well, what can I say, it's a matter of personal preference.

In response to the question of whether the purchase is ultimately worth it, with a Skroutz price of around 4 to 5 euros, you can install this useful adapter in a PCIe x16 slot on your motherboard and have a second M.2 NVMe SSD with triple or quadruple the speed of a regular SATA SSD, and moreover, in an elegant way without SATA connection cables and power supply. And also with a price now (June 2021) many M.2 nvme drives are the same and cheaper than many regular 2.5-inch sata ssd drives, I don't think there is a reason to go for the latter unless you are unaware of such cheap adapters that solve your hands. Personally, I got it because I don't have a second M.2 drive slot on my motherboard and I want to clone the Windows drive in a future upgrade, so if you are in the same situation as me, then this purchase is probably the only option for this job, otherwise you will need to buy an external nvme case with a USB connection which costs around 20 or 30 euros and more. Instead of spending that money, I preferred to add a little more and buy the Kingston A2000 500gb for about 50 euros, which has over 100 reviews with 5 stars and runs like a bullet compared to regular sata ssd drives, and also has reliability with a 5-year warranty like almost all nvme drives, unlike most slow ssd drives that usually only offer a 3-year warranty.

Finally, let me add my own experience with recognition in Windows, as I am not a computer expert, and maybe I can help those who are at the same level as me. When I opened the computer, I had the hard disk sentinel starting immediately with the Windows startup, and so the first image I saw for the M.2 ssd disk of the adapter was a red-pink indication in the hard disk sentinel instead of the green that all my other disks had, and also that the health was 0. I was initially worried but I searched on the internet and found a question on a forum with the same problem for a new disk in the hard disk sentinel and the answer was that it may not have been updated in the hard disk sentinel and that's why it couldn't diagnose the new disk. Finally, after first formatting the disk from Windows, I then did the update and it showed me green color with 100% health.

I personally struggled a bit to get Windows to recognize the disk and it showed in file explorer, I had to first open Computer Management with administrative privileges, from there I think I chose disk management-storage and it showed me all the disks. This particular one said that it has not been allocated or something like that, so I proceeded with the necessary actions, I think I right-clicked and then clicked on prepare disk which asked me to choose between mbr and gpt style and after that I proceeded with disk formatting, etc. Sorry if I'm not describing it well, but I did the whole process by reading and watching tutorials, step by step, and I don't remember the terminology well now.

Yes, the above actions were needed because although the disk was visible in the hard disk sentinel even with zero health, it did not appear in file explorer, so it was as if it didn't exist.

One last "issue" I encountered was that immediately after the process I did for recognition and the disk appeared in file explorer, although the disk had 100% health after the update in the hard disk sentinel, when I opened "My Computer" in file explorer, this new disk appeared, but it had a red "X" indication in the lower left corner of its icon. I searched again for this on Google and found many similar topics titled "red x icon on files or hard drives," and from what I understood, it may have appeared because the disk was not synchronized with OneDrive or something like that. Anyway, when I returned to the computer after a while to solve the problem according to various suggested actions I found on Google, I saw that it disappeared, something that I had read on Google that it can happen on its own, meaning the red "X" when you open and close the computer or when it "takes its time" until Windows synchronizes it. Now it works perfectly and goes smoothly, but maybe if you are not familiar with such small issues, you might worry a little at first and struggle.

edit: 21-01-2022, the adapter continues to work flawlessly.

edit 02-08-2022, it still works great

The SSD plugged in well, as well as the card in the PCIe slot, and it works properly without any issues.

The 4 stars because, although SSDs use 4 lanes (PCIe x4) and there is no reason for the existence of the remaining pins other than better support (the remaining pins are disconnected and irrelevant in this case), in this specific one there is no cut at the end of the necessary pins, resulting in the need for an x16 slot to connect. Prefer another one with cuts or no extra pins so that it can fit into smaller slots for greater flexibility, unless you are sure that you will always have an x16 slot available. The operating speed of the SSD will be exactly the same from x4 and above.