Nope, you can't, only a PCIe M.2 SSD would work. Even the same M.2 key type, both SATA M.2 SSD and PCIe M.2 SSD has different bandwidth interfaces (PCIe SSD would definitely offer much higher READ / WRITE speed, than a SATA SSD). The M.2 interface (NVMe SSD Slot) of our Mac Mini Dock only supports the M.2 SSD of PCIE protocol, and it does not support the M.2 SSD of SATA protocol. SATA SSD would not work in this product.
The difference between the two can be seen here: https://bit.ly/3NVKHFS
Also, do make sure you take a look at the below links to some of the important forum posts before you decide which PCIe SSD to get for your Mac Mini Dock. NVMe Slow WRITE speed on M1 computers - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/technical-support/nvme-slow-write-speed-on-m1-computers DO NOT use Sabrent SSD in MacOS environment - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/technical-support/do-not-use-sabrent-ssd-in-macos-environment Tested the speed of the internal SSD of a Mac Studio with M1 Max chip - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/tested-the-speed-of-the-internal-ssd-of-a-mac-studio-with-m1-max-chip Mac Mini Dock User Manual - https://www.trebleet.com/forum/tb3-mac-mini-dock/mac-mini-dock-user-manual