Installing M.2 Sata

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Mthr1

Weaksauce
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Dec 16, 2007
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Hello,

I wanted to use a M.2 drive on one of my builds for the first time this week. I've used 2.5" ssds for the last several years.

Got myself a Crucial MX500 SATA, popped it into my new ASRock B450M Pro4. Fired it up and Bios doesn't see the drive. Removed and reseated. Still didn't see it. The activity led on the drive glowed steady when installed. Tried it in the nvme M2 (for giggles) and nothing. Tried playing around with screw tensions. Nothing.

Finally, took it out, reseated again, and this time it fired up and bios now sees the drive. Activity led light this time stayed off until actual drive activity.

My question. Are these M2 drive installs fickle?
 
Mthr1 said:
Hello,

I wanted to use a M.2 drive on one of my builds for the first time this week. I've used 2.5" ssds for the last several years.

Got myself a Crucial MX500 SATA, popped it into my new ASRock B450M Pro4. Fired it up and Bios doesn't see the drive. Removed and reseated. Still didn't see it. The activity led on the drive glowed steady when installed. Tried it in the nvme M2 (for giggles) and nothing. Tried playing around with screw tensions. Nothing.

Finally, took it out, reseated again, and this time it fired up and bios now sees the drive. Activity led light this time stayed off until actual drive activity.

My question. Are these M2 drive installs fickle?
Click to expand...
only done a couple and you need to make sure they are fully into the slot and not cockeyed but its still pretty straight forward.
 
I use them in a SFF NAS and have never had issues, but then I double check that it is in straight and fully seated/secured because taking this beast apart is a PITA.
 
I'm chalking it up to a case of improper seating. I'll make more attention to this detail in future installs.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing any simple mistakes related to this style of storage.

Is heat an issue with these drives?
 
The one issue that I noticed is a minor note, you decided to purchase and M.2 that is SATA, not NVMe. I would have preferred the performance difference of NVMe over SATA any day, personally; and another reason as to why shortly explained later.

As for the configuration, when I looked at the manual it notes that the connectors are as M2_1 (closest to processor) is NVMe and SATA. M2_2 is SATA only. Note, that with supporting processor the PCIe x4 from processor (Summit, Raven , and Pennacle) for NVMe is prefered, so SATA should be installed into M2_2.

In the manual there is also a very informative and important bit. Most core logics from AMD and Intel have a flexible I/O, so some lanes are utilized when particular connectors are utilized and are not available, or do not exist at all dependent on core logic and processor-even if the connection is there physically. So, pg 4: M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.

If you have a drive connected to SATA3_3 then this perhaps is the reason why. This is also another reason as to why the NVMe would have been better because it would allow more peripheral support and over performance.



Manual notes:

Page 4

* M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.

• 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) (with Summit Ridge, Raven Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge)**

• 1 x M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module** ** Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks ** Supports ASRock U.2 Kit


Then pages 35 to 40 explain installation, support, and QVL
 
Shikami said:
The one issue that I noticed is a minor note, you decided to purchase and M.2 that is SATA, not NVMe. I would have preferred the performance difference of NVMe over SATA any day, personally; and another reason as to why shortly explained later.

As for the configuration, when I looked at the manual it notes that the connectors are as M2_1 (closest to processor) is NVMe and SATA. M2_2 is SATA only. Note, that with supporting processor the PCIe x4 from processor (Summit, Raven , and Pennacle) for NVMe is prefered, so SATA should be installed into M2_2.

In the manual there is also a very informative and important bit. Most core logics from AMD and Intel have a flexible I/O, so some lanes are utilized when particular connectors are utilized and are not available, or do not exist at all dependent on core logic and processor-even if the connection is there physically. So, pg 4: M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.

If you have a drive connected to SATA3_3 then this perhaps is the reason why. This is also another reason as to why the NVMe would have been better because it would allow more peripheral support and over performance.



Manual notes:

Page 4

* M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.

• 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) (with Summit Ridge, Raven Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge)**

• 1 x M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module** ** Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks ** Supports ASRock U.2 Kit


Then pages 35 to 40 explain installation, support, and QVL
Click to expand...

Very helpful insight.

I actually did notice the note rafrind the shared SATA lanes. However, I have no sata ports in use during my struggles.

I will consider a NVMe drive in future builds, but being that I wanted to dabble a bit, I went for the lower price point - however perhaps I'll use this as a necessary rung when understanding first hand the differences between the two from a performance standpoint.
 
Mthr1 said:
Is heat an issue with these drives?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think you'd have much of a heat issue with a SATA drive unless you have hot air blowing right on top of it. A NVMe drive can have heat issues depending on the controller (e.g. a lot of Phison E16 PCIe 4.0 drives have heatsinks where a lot of PCIe 3.0 drives do not).
 
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