Never installed or used an M2 before. I was given an MSI Z170A plus SLi board a few years back for my lad. He has a 6600K and 16gb of ram and 2 or 3 SSD's and a 500GB HDD. I bought a cheap 256gb m2 SSD on here a while ago and its sat around unused until my lad started complaining about lack of storage space so I decided it may as well be used. I installed it but it doesn't show up, I have literally just updated to the latest bios but still no dice. What am I doing wrong?, can these things be put in the wrong way round or not fully inserted?, I have the little screw in tight. Its a san disk X400.
m.2 SATA or NVME? Could be a compatibility issue - does the board's slot support that type of m.2? I've seen boards with dual purpose m.2 slot that are very picky despite being designed to support both types. Also sometimes the SATA ones don't show up until you switch to AHCI sata mode.
Neither Not a clue mate, as mentioned I've never used one or delved into them, I know they can be a bit awkward though as there is different types. 1x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4) specs for the board SanDisk X400 SSD Product Features and Specifications Specifications are subject to change Device SanDisk X400 SSD Form Factor 2.5”/7mm cased, M.2 (2280) Both 2280 if that helps.
Just been trying to get my head around that boards manual. Does it actually support m.2 sata cards and not just m.2 nvme? Edit: phone battery dying, not ignoring.
Hmm ill give that a go tomorrow thanks. @Dan I don't really know but I thought the keys on the contacts were different?
This review appears to suggest that the board only accepts NVME m.2 drives: https://techreport.com/review/30030/msis-z170a-sli-plus-motherboard-reviewed/ Whereas the X400 is a SATA m.2 drive. I'm on my phone so investigating is slow but are you able to check MSI compatibility?
Right, the issue is that SSD is SATA but the physical connector on the the SSD has the B+M keying while the motherboard is PCIe with M key socket, so the SSD can fit but the interface won't work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2#Form_factors_and_keying Edit: although now I read it M can do SATA. This is the pain of the early days of M.2 on this gen of boards, mine was the same, took a lot of googling to figure out if it'd work!
@CrapBag that's crappy but as @sandys says you can get adapters that I don't think are too expensive. Somebody, not me i'm afraid, may have one kicking around.
You can use it, just not at intended spot. You can still get adapters for it tho. You can convert it to SATA using things like: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELUTENG-Adapter-SATA-Based-Converter-Desktop-M-2-SSD-New/dp/B07VX615T9/ (smaller) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Aluminum-Enclosure-EC-M2SA/dp/B01N6PMZLW/ (converts it to a standard 2.5" looking drive) There are also PCI-E slot adapters which convert 4 PCI-E lanes to a PCI-E NVMe SSD slot, but also usually have another slot for SATA drive, which you need to connect via SATA cable to your SATA connectors on the motherboard (but power is delivered via PCI-E), example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MZHOU-Dual-SATA-PCIe-Adapter/dp/B07NSYM2TJ/ (the links are just examples of such products and are not in any way meant to be a recommendation)
Some boards support both msata and nvme but you need sata ports empty as it routes the sata to two ports. Manual should tell you about this, If it supports it. If not you can get a sata 2.5 shell with an adapter in it I've got two.
