Help finding compatible M.2 drive

aliaskary77

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
439
I have an Asus Z97I-PLUS.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97IPLUS/specifications/
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...28.1818277080.1556205172-930815531.1556205172

Storage Spec:
4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
1 x M.2 Socket 3, , with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode) (Manual says upto 10 Gb/s and shares bandwidth with PCIE x2 slot, which I dont see. It only has the x16 GPU slot)


I am using all 4 x SATA ports: 2 850Pro in Raid 0, 1 850EVO and 1 Seagate 4TB spinner

I was thinking of getting a larger M.2 drive since the prices have come down. However, support was not able to answer a few things.
1. Can I use it in addition to the 4 drives, or will I have to give up 1 SATA port
2. Can I boot of it or no

The other is what drives can i use on it? I assume NVMe will not work on it, or will it? Any specific drives recommendations that would be compatible?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I have an Asus Z97I-PLUS.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97IPLUS/specifications/
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...28.1818277080.1556205172-930815531.1556205172

Storage Spec:
4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
1 x M.2 Socket 3, , with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode) (Manual says upto 10 Gb/s and shares bandwidth with PCIE x2 slot, which I dont see. It only has the x16 GPU slot)


I am using all 4 x SATA ports: 2 850Pro in Raid 0, 1 850EVO and 1 Seagate 4TB spinner

I was thinking of getting a larger M.2 drive since the prices have come down. However, support was not able to answer a few things.
1. Can I use it in addition to the 4 drives, or will I have to give up 1 SATA port
2. Can I boot of it or no

The other is what drives can i use on it? I assume NVMe will not work on it, or will it? Any specific drives recommendations that would be compatible?

Thanks.

Stupid question. Can you get an add-on SATA ports card?

x509
 
BASED on ASUS's website, you won't need to give up any SATA ports for this.

NVME booting was spotty on Z97 boards. SATA *may* do better. I am not quite sure.
 
Stupid question. Can you get an add-on SATA ports card?

x509

no, only 1 PCIeslot on this board...used by GTX970. had to double check when i saw posts about sata pcie adapters.
Next build I will likely not go this small, but has been nice.
 
BASED on ASUS's website, you won't need to give up any SATA ports for this.

NVME booting was spotty on Z97 boards. SATA *may* do better. I am not quite sure.

Booting not really a concern on this build. was thinking using a 2TB intel QLC drive with prices this low, i could remove the 4TB seagate, opening up the inside for better airflow/cabling.
 
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