[SOLVED] 2 SSD's, Dual boot (One OS per SSD)

[MBSMGW]

Heya yall. Just had a quick question regarding using multiple M.2 sockets. I'm trying to set up dual boot (Win10 + Ubuntu) atm, and my current drive, which is in the ASRock b360 Pro4 'ultra M.2' socket will be getting prrreeettty close to full if i shrink it enough to have comfortable swap memory etc for linux distrib. There is a second M.2 socket on the board, currently empty, i should be sweet to chuck another SSD into it and use different drives for the individual OS right? So i'd run Win10 on the SSD which is currently in there and then i'd install and boot Ubuntu from the additional SSD? I have had a look at the search and a flick through the board manual, there is a few notes about various protocols being disabled if a card is in a certain slot: 1. ' If M2_1 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_5 will be disabled'
2. 'If M2_2 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_0 will be disabled' i cant see any major issues, but wanted to make sure that it will behave as anticipated.

Thanks in advance. If i havent given enough info or something please let me know. This is my first post on the forum.

 

[MBSMGW]

Also, am i required to use the same type of SSD in the second socket? The existing card is SATA, so the new card needs to be SATA or can it be PCI Express?

 

[MBSMGW]

I didn't google hard enough! The question of 'can i?' has been definitively answered. I still would like some clarification regarding best practice for this set up. If anyone has any links or guides or info, that would be greatly appreciated. I am comfortable with the procedure regarding installing to separate drive etc but haven't found much info on which drive should be where or what interface is best for this setup. TBH i'm not even sure that the 'ultra' designation is that significant, my current understanding is that it doesn't matter as far as booting goes, either drive in either socket would be fine. I am still trying to determine the lane sharing situation. Do i need to consider this?

 

[mamasan2000]

The second m.2 slot will run at PCIE gen 3 x2. So it will be slower than the first slot by half.
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360 Pro4/index.asp
"1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3), 1 M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x2 & SATA3) "

If you want dualboot selection screen when you bootup the PC, install Ubuntu after win10. Win10 likes to overwrite any boot screen.
You can still boot to Ubuntu but you would have to enter BIOS/UEFI and boot from the disk that has Ubuntu. In the case of installing win10 last it's either always boot Ubuntu/always boot Win10 OR boot Ubuntu/Win this run by going to UEFI. It gets tiring.

 

[MBSMGW]

OK so if i were to buy an NVMe ssd, the ideal way would be to move the existing drive (SATA3) from M.2_1 to M.2_2, since its speeds aren't affected, and put the new NVMe in M.2_1?

Win10 already installed on the existing drive, so Ubuntu on the new drive shouldn't play with boot screens?

Thanks