Questions tagged [m.2]

A form factor for solid state drives (SSD) without a shell like classic SSD's. Typically 22mm wide, and either 42mm, 60mm, or 80mm in length. Utilize either SATA or PCI Express BUS types.

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Addition of PCIEX4 NVMe M.2 expansion card disables graphics card

Problem Purchased HP EX950 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD and Orico NVME M.2 EXPANSION CARD (PCI-E 3.0 X4) When installed into PCI-E slots, graphics card seems to be disabled Display only comes from onboard/...
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Why are SSDs usually screwed in place in external cases? [closed]

It seems most external (USB) cases/readers for M.2 SSDs seem to opt for the design of screwing the SSD in place. It is also seemingly, somewhat irritatingly, often pointed at an angle away from the ...
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Replacing an NVMe SSD with a M.2 SATA drive in an Alienware Aurora R8

I bought a 2TB Samsung 860 EVO M.2 SATA SSD to replace a 512GB NVMe drive in my Dell Alienware Aurora R8 to get larger storage capacity. Will it work properly?
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PCIe 4.0 NVMe Bottleneck on Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VIII

I have an AMD RYZEN 5800x and AMD RADEON 6900 XT atop an Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VIII occupied with one M.2 SSD in the top M.2 slot and four 2.5" SSDs in the top 4 of 8 SATA ports.    Also, I ...
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Why is Lenovo P620 slow when compiling MSVC 2013 C++ ARM project on M.2 drive?

Update [Jan 20, 2021]: I reported a drop in the PCIe SSD performance -- this was user error and I posted correction below. I opened a new question regarding how to verify compiler performance and will ...
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I need to choose an SSD to suit my motherboard, either M.2 or SATA III [closed]

I admit upfront my ignorance of modern PC architecture, I stopped building a few years ago, but I want to add an SSD to my own system, either M.2 card (SAMSUNG 970 EVO 'MZ-V7E1T0BW' NVMe 1TB, or a ...
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Is there any performance difference between Gigabyte AORUS m.2 NVMe SSDs with & without heat-sink [closed]

I have one doubt regarding AORUS NVMe SSDs. I would like to purchase 1 TB Gen 4 m.2 NVMe, and I came though AORUS. I was able to see two SSDs, one with a copper heat sink and other without. I would ...
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Is ASUS X99 Deluxe motherboard compatible with a WD 2280 M.2 SSD?

I have a WD Blue™ 1TB M.2 2280 SSD, and an Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard. I noticed the M.2x4 slot on the motherboard and have read the specs, so I called the manufacturer and they confirmed that it ...
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NVMe PCIe x4 SSD on M.2 PCIe x2 slot?

i'm about to get a new SSD for my PC, and before spending the money i have some doubts about my decision i would like to clarify First, my mobo is a B450 Aorus Pro Wifi, it has 2 M.2 slots, one of ...
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Do adaptors exist to connect SATA hard drives to M.2 slot

Do adaptors to connect a classical spinning hard drive, such as Seagate IronWolf NAS drives, to an M.2 slot exist? I am looking to the motherboard ASRock A520M-ITX for an upgrade of my NAS/VM server. ...
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What do M.2 storage slot specs (AxB/C) mean?

E.g., M.2 Card Slot (storage): 22x42/80 - what means 22, 42 and 80? (That's from NUC spec page.) I've read that M.2 cards vary in width and length but I can't find any information what that third ...
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300GB of phantom data on my Samsung 970 EVO M.2 and no option to format: Is there anything else I can do?

The problem: So something really weird is going on with my Samsung 970 EVO M.2 SSD. Opening the drive and ensuring hidden files are shown, it's empty: but looking in the properties panel it's also ...
openwindows's user avatar
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Samsung 970 EVO NVMe only using 2x PCIe gen3 lanes

Today I bought a Samsung 970 EVO 500gb NVMe drive, installed it and everything went smooth. Drive showed up, and works. However, when I went to benchmark it, I saw it was only pulling about half of ...
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Why my M.2 NVMe Drive isn't being detected on BIOS after a BSOD?

I'm having an issue with my M.2 NVMe SSD of my laptop. I have an Acer Aspire A515-43 R19L, and the NVMe Drive is the default one, SK Hynix 128GB. The thing is, it's not being detected on the BIOS. ...
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Is there a way to convert a M.2 SSD slot on a motherboard to a normal SATA port?

On my Dell Optiplex tower PC it has a spare M.2 slot on the motherboard for a small SSD and I need to install an additional hard drive. I already have a SATA drive but the only slot free is the M.2 ...
George's user avatar
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Does the number of available PCIe lanes affect M.2 speed?

Situation I'm currently looking to use SBCs to fill a few server roles I want available on my home network. While looking at different SBC options I came across KHADAS, a group that sells SBCs that ...
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How to receive phone calls using a data only card without using third party online service?

I’m needing a 5G nsa card for my laptop no larger than 42mm×30mm. The only one I found is the MV31‑W from Gemalto (the manufacturer). But there are maybe other options. After a call to the ...
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SATA M.2 drive on non NVMe enabled bios

Can you boot a SATA M.2 drive from old mainboard? The thing is, that I don't use this SATA M.2 anymore for my drive, and wanted to put it to my NAS box. But I know for sure, that my NAS box doesn't ...
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Can you use virtual memory like you can physical RAM if you have an NVMe drive? Are there limitations to this?

I have a program that needs LOTS of RAM to for a computation project I need to run for a weekend. Obviously I don't have supercomputer ram and my limits as a consumer is 32GB. Windows has memory ...
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Will an M.2 NVMe SSD take up PCIe lanes used by PCIe ports on my motherboard

As for my specific situation: I'm running an Asrock B450-HDV R4.0 with a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and a Geforce 1080 GPU. As the board does not come with onboard WiFi, I intend to install a network card in ...
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Why when I undo deleting a folder the contents disappear?

Lately I have moved some of my documents (using a junction link mklink /j "link" "target") on a faster m.2 drive and I notice that when I delete a folder in there and I later undo it, then go inside ...
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Can I use PCIe SSD card in my motherboard?

My motherboard Name: GA-H61M-S2PV (rev. 2.2) Detail link: https://www.gigabyte.com/bd/Motherboard/GA-H61M-S2PV-rev-22/sp#sp Expansion Slots: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (The PCI ...
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Diagnose failure of motherboard to recognize an M2 drive

I have a WS C422 Sage/10G motherboard which supports two M.2 slots. I got 2x Inland Premium 1TB SSD 3D NAND M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drives to go into those slots. According to ...
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NVMe drive not detected after changing GPU

I have a custom built PC that has been working properly for a couple of years, the OS is installed in an NVMe M.2 that I remember was complicated to setup with Secure Boot back when I built it, but it ...
Alejandro Urbano Alvarez's user avatar
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X570 mainboard (ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4) has two M.2 slots. Where to install system SSD?

The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 mainboard has two M.2 slots specifically for SSD. Which should I use for the system boot SSD? One is close to the PCIe slot for the graphics card. Is there any ...
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Upgrading wifi card killed m.2 e key slot

I tried upgrading my intel wireless-ac 7265 to a ax200ngw and only bluetooth worked. After swapping them back, still only bluetooth worked, when wifi was working before. The wifi half of the cards do ...
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Hardware shopping: Can all M Key Slot work with NVMe?

I have a NP500R5H-XD3BR (Expert X50) Notebook from Samsung. It's the 2015 model, with I7 5500. I didn't get this information from Samsung, however I know that it has a Key M slot for SSD M.2. My ...
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Cloned M.2 SSD drive on a Dell E7270 to a new M.2 SSD drive but the new drive is not recognized by the BIOS

I have a Dell Latitude E7270 (Windows 10 Pro) with 256GB of M.2 SATA SSD and I replaced it with a compatible M.2 SSD (from Crucial). The only difference is capacity: I used Crucial's website to check ...
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How to resolve the issue when Windows 10 Pro OS, pre-installed in my BMAX B1 Mini PC, does not detect M.2 2280 M Key SSD in it?

My new BMAX B1 Mini PC, with pre-installed Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, has a M.2 2280 SSD with M Key Slot in it. Accordingly, I have purchased and inserted a 256GB Transcend M.2  2280  NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 ...
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2 answers
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EFI (Legacy) BIOS Doesn't Detect SATA-Based NVME M.2 SSD

So, I'm a terrible planner. I'm a high-level software engineer, so obviously I think hardware is just pure magic. So I go out and buy a Seagate Barracude 510 NVME SSD & a M.2 -> PCIe x4 adapter. ...
Carter Reeb's user avatar
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1 answer
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Wanted: SATA SSD cable to m.2 slot

As a Christmas present, I received two Samsung Evo SSDs that plug into SATA ports. Due to them being Samsung, if I was to want to clone data from one drive to another, I must clone the data on my ...
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7 votes
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What's the purpose of the 1x2 header on m.2 SSDs?

On some m.2 SSDs, there is an unpopulated spot for a header at the screw end of the drive (as opposed to the edge connector end of the drive). What is the purpose and the pinout for this header? See ...
Alexander M's user avatar
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Lenovo Legion Y520 boot media failed or missing even after replacement

Over the past few weeks I had some trouble with my Lenovo Legion Y520. Multiple BSOD with exceptions that lead to my storage and my laptop not booting up with the message 'boot failed or missing' for ...
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How to a access nvme ssd with raid mode in bios settings?

I know the real answer is to set ahci in uefi settings, but in my case, the uefi is password protected (the problem is not removing the password but actually keeping it). I can also add that the ...
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Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero does not detect m.2 - how to debug

I am a bit lost here: I'm building a new PC from scratch, using a Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero with an m.2 SSD "Corsair Force Series MP600" (NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD). The SSD is plugged into M2_1 ...
Matthias's user avatar
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Non-storage device in M.2 M-Key port not working, how to debug?

I've got an 51nb X210 Thinkpad with an M-keyed M.2 slot. My ultimate goal is to add a Thunderbolt 3 port via the GC-Titan Ridge card, but for now I want to start with a USB-C port. To that end, I got ...
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SSD - Exceed manufacturer maximum capacity

My Laptop has an unused M.2 slot. I contacted the manufacturer of my laptop and they said it supports up to 512 GB of SATA type SSD (actually they said just 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB) for expansion of ...
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3 answers
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ASUS PRIME B350-Plus motherboard cannot detect M.2 2280

Motherboard ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS with Ryzen 1700 cannot detect M.2 2280 ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro (NVMe). OS (Windows 10) - the same. My steps were: I've removed any SATA cables from SATA5/SATA6 ports (as ...
Viktor Tomilov's user avatar
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1 answer
87 views

Merge two physical drives into one logical and automatically move frequently used files

Hello Ive got a question regarding my drives, Ive just bought a M.2 drive (PCIe) and now I want to merge this quite fast drive with my hdd. My goal is to configure them like that so that the os can ...
Ole's user avatar
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Finding out specific disk/SSD/M.2 capacity and structure

I am trying to dd from one disk (SSD 1TiB) to a new M.2 of same size (allegedly 1TiB). The source SSD contains 3 partitions, UEFI, / OS (Ubuntu 18.04.x latest) and /home, hence I don't want to create ...
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Can Windows Server 2012 R2 be installed onto M.2 SSD drive?

I'm about to build a server machine based on XEON E-2246G placed most probably into ASUS WS C246 PRO and I want to have a M.2 SSD drive as primary for the OS Windows Server 2012 R2. The M.2 SSD disk (...
crysman's user avatar
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How do I upgrade m.2 ssd to larger m.2 NVMe ssd with one slot (Laptop)

I just bought an m.2 ssd of greater volume and didnt realize i cannot have both of them plugged in. I struggled founding the answer on net. So the question is how do i migrate/clone, my current ssd to ...
Blue Print's user avatar
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2 answers
9k views

Will M.2 SATA SSD Work In A Motherboard M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4?

I need to understand whether or not an M.2 SATA SSD will work in a motherboard M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 connector? I recognize I won't get the speed on the SATA SSD that 4 lanes of PCI-E 3.0 can deliver - ...
Bill Vallance's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

Windows 10 Slow Boot Time, require help to check Windows Performance Analyzer Logs

I recently migrated (cloned) Windows 10 from a SSD to a M.2 PCIe SSD. Everything works and runs fine, but I realized Windows requires ~85 to 115 Seconds to boot. I'm not sure if it takes so long only ...
Blank's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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M.2 SSD is showing up in Windows but not in bios

So basically title. I've bought an M.2 SSD, plugged in, booted from main one and it is showing up in a disk manager. Then I used easy partition to clone my system to a new SSD, everything went fine. ...
WardS's user avatar
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2 answers
8k views

How to install M.2 SSD in GigaByte B360M Gaming HD motherboard (strange looking clip)?

I bought a GigaByte B360M Gaming HD motherboard. (link) It has a weird looking M.2 connector instead of the usual screw type. I need help in figuring out how to install the drive; Hopefully, a link ...
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1k views

M.2 SSD Partitioning

I understand that very M.2 SSD is made of a few NAND chips. They are seen discrete on them by naked eyes. Eg: a 256 SSD will have 4 Nos of 64GB NANDs. If I chose to partition the M.2 SSD to a 128 one ...
Dr Abdul Rasheed's user avatar
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1k views

Add FireWire support using M.2 to PCI Express x4

I want to add FireWire support to my computer (to capture some DV footage). The motherboard (Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Pro mITX) has the following PCI/M.2 interfaces (as according to the manual): ...
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3 votes
0 answers
391 views

Linux Debian-derived OS NVMe write speeds capped around 600 mb/s

Hello I have tried multiple Debian-derived Linux OS (Ubuntu and MX Linux) and all have resulted in the same thing. My Samsung 970 EVO+ M.2 write speeds are capped around 600~ , give or take 5%. I ...
Andrew Shear's user avatar
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1 answer
955 views

Disk shows wrong size after clone from 64GB SSD to a 1TB SSD

I'm trying to understand the permanently reduced capacity after disk clone. We cloned from a 64GB SSD to a Transcend M.2 1TB SSD (with SATA adapter) using an Addonics Disk Duplicator (I guess it does ...
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