Question Asus Z97 A not detected M.2 drive

[ChadEO]

Currently running an i7 4770 on an Asus Z97 A and I installed a 1TB WD Green Sata M.2 drive intending to make it my boot drive as my current 240GB SSD has less than 10GB of space left. Problem is I can't detect the M.2 drive in the bios or disk management so I can't do anything with it. The red light on the M.2 stays solid red but I can't detect the drive at all. Bios settings have been changed to M.2 mode but still nothing. Tried disconnecting all other drives and I still can't see it in the bios. Do I just have a dead drive?

 

[USAFRet]

At the Z97 level, M.2 support was very spotty. A LOT of those boards did NOT support booting from a drive in that port.

Secondary drive, yes. Boot drive, maybe not.

In addition, that M.2 port may not be SATA capable. Only NVMe.

 

[Bob.B]

Currently running an i7 4770 on an Asus Z97 A and I installed a 1TB WD Green Sata M.2 drive intending to make it my boot drive as my current 240GB SSD has less than 10GB of space left. Problem is I can't detect the M.2 drive in the bios or disk management so I can't do anything with it. The red light on the M.2 stays solid red but I can't detect the drive at all. Bios settings have been changed to M.2 mode but still nothing. Tried disconnecting all other drives and I still can't see it in the bios. Do I just have a dead drive?

The manual shows pcie m.2 only.

 

[ChadEO]

The manual shows pcie m.2 only.

Now I'm confused cause I chose a Sata M.2 because I read a thread on here that the Z97 A only supported Sata drives

 

[ChadEO]

At the Z97 level, M.2 support was very spotty. A LOT of those boards did NOT support booting from a drive in that port.

Secondary drive, yes. Boot drive, maybe not.

In addition, that M.2 port may not be SATA capable. Only NVMe.

I'll keep that in mind but any idea as to why I can't see the drive at all?

 

[USAFRet]

Now I'm confused cause I chose a Sata M.2 because I read a thread on here that the Z97 A only supported Sata drives

As said, M.2 support in the Z97 era was spotty.
Some were SATA, some were NVMe, some were both.

 

[USAFRet]

I'll keep that in mind but any idea as to why I can't see the drive at all?

If the port only supports NVMe, your WD Green won't be seen.

From your manual, (english pg. 1-31):
"This socket supports M Key and type 2260/2280 storage devices."

M key = PCIe/NVMe

 

[ChadEO]

If the port only supports NVMe, your WD Green won't be seen.

From your manual, (english pg. 1-31):
"This socket supports M Key and type 2260/2280 storage devices."

M key = PCIe/NVMe

Alright thanks, guess I'll just look to swap this drive with someone else

 

[faalin]

The manual is very vague on the slot, page 1-31 says you need to go int the bios and configure onboard devices to enable the slot.

 

[USAFRet]

Alright thanks, guess I'll just look to swap this drive with someone else

And for future reference, the WD Green is the worst drive from one of the major manufacturers.


For your current system?
Just get some larger 2.5" format SATA III drive. Plug it into one of the SATA ports.
Don't worry about compatibility with the M.2.

 

[ChadEO]

And for future reference, the WD Green is the worst drive from one of the major manufacturers.


For your current system?
Just get some larger 2.5" format SATA III drive. Plug it into one of the SATA ports.
Don't worry about compatibility with the M.2.

Wasn't really too worried about the quality of the drive since I mostly use my rig for gaming. Work and school stuff goes to online storage.

 

[ChadEO]

And for future reference, the WD Green is the worst drive from one of the major manufacturers.


For your current system?
Just get some larger 2.5" format SATA III drive. Plug it into one of the SATA ports.
Don't worry about compatibility with the M.2.

Also just went for the m.2 cause I didn't want to have to deal with another cable since I already have 3 drives and a DVD reader haha. Mid size case but terrible cable management.

 

[CelicaGT]

Make sure you are on a later or latest BIOS, NVMe/PCIe boot was added later on to many Asus Z97 boards though it is quite tricky to get it working. IIRC you need to boot from another drive to install a driver in order to make the drive both visible and accessible. I owned an Asus Z97-P and used both M.2 SATA and NVMe boot drives, both were bootable when I had them installed (I upgraded to the NVMe drive after they enabled boot). As an aside an M key socket can accept both M key drives AND B+M key drives. Almost all SATA M.2 drives are B+M key so if you can find a SATA M.2 drive it will work as a drop in. They are still around if you look.

Edit: To add, the M.2 slot is often disabled in situations where enough SATA ports or PCIe slots are in use. It will depend on your specific board and what onboard devices you are using. Check your manual as well as descriptions in BIOS releases for any changes. Now all that said, if your current drive is B+M (2 slots on the edge connector) I'd give it a try again for fun but otherwise follow the advise of the others, there's SATA 2.5" drives up to 2TB readily available.