There is important circuitry on the board where holes for 2230 or 2242 M.2 drives would go. If we increased the size of the board to accommodate those drives, it wouldn't fit a 3.5" drive without also increasing the form factor of the whole product. Since we wanted it to match the footprint of the Mac Studio and Mac Mini, we decided against it. We do offer a separate product that will allow these smaller M.2 drives to fit into the enclosure. eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/2280M2EX/