Asus Z97 mobo M.2 socket question

[The Original Ralph]

i've got an asus Z97M-Plus mobo with a 2 lane M.2 socket. Because it didn't allow my xp941 SSD to hit the spec'd read/write speeds, I moved the xp941 to an addionics expansion card

Now i'm getting ready to grab a 2nd M.2 SSD, either SM951 NVMe SSD or the samsung 950 Pro that johnnylucky posted about.

The mobo owner's manual indicates when a M.2 device is installed in the M.2 socket, it automatically de-activates sata ports 5 & 6, and it does, which is another reason i opted for the expansion card route. But with the 2nd M.2 SSD i'll be picking up, i'd like to move the xp941 to the board's M.2 socket just for use as a clone target drive. My question is, in BIOS i see the option, under CSM > PCH storage, to choose "Auto", SATA or M.2.

Once i've cloned the OS drive (which is a weekly event), i'd like to isolate the SSD in the M.2 socket and regain use of the two sata ports (5 & 6) - will changing the selection in BIOS to SATA regain me those two ports and de-activate the M.2 socket?

TIA

 

[geofelt]

I can't answer your question, but I have two for you:

1. I can find no reference to a Samsung 950 PRO. Do you have more info on it?
2. I like the idea of using a clone as a verified non destructive "C" backup. But, so far as I know, the excellent Samsung ssd migration utility does not support the M.2 drives.
What clone utility are you using?

 

[The Original Ralph]

johnnylucky posted about it here
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2788174/samsung-950-pro-nvme-ssd-info.html

and link to the french vendor that apparently has "jumped the gun" http://www.pc21.fr/fiche/mz-v5p256bw-ssd-950-pro-256-go-nvme-i1404310.html. Up until yesterday that website was showing "O" as quantity in stock, and that was removed last night and when i tested it, it would accept my order (i didn't go thru with it as i'd rather buy in-country).

it appears to be a retail version, presumably, of the SM951 - folks have only suggested that as the part number and the "950 Pro NVME" model designation follow in line with the 840 & 850 Pro model designations

johnny also mentioned in another forum he had been and apparently still was bound under a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) not to discuss it i guess until samsung announces it. But he had hinted at it in an earlier post indicating that those waiting for the SM951 NVMe were in for a pleasant surprise in september.

And EaseUS ToDo Backup (freeware version) - i've been using it to clone the xp941 to a 840 Evo SSD - the 840 was partitioned as GPT before the clone, but even so, while i'm not too terribly computer literate, i figured there'd be some sort of glitch cloning from a PCIe SSD to a SATA connected SSD. I tested one clone by cloning back to the xp941 and it initially wouldn't boot, but installing the windows 7 x64 dvd to "repair" the installation corrected whatever was corrupted in the cloning - suspect something in the boot files but again, i'm limited in computer knowledge

and fwiw, with EaseUS, i always select "sector by sector" before cloning

 

[geofelt]

Thanks, Samsung has been having ssd promotions, perhaps in anticipation of mew drives capable of using the bandwidth of the new Z170 chipset.

 

[The Original Ralph]

and johnnylucky just updated on the 950 PRO on another forum

Quote: UPDATE:

A few more French vendors published web pages yesterday featuring the Samsung 950 Pro. Like the first one they are not yet available and there are no photos or technical specifications. Here is a link to one of particular interest:

http://estock.fr/basketadd.php?partnumber=MZ-V5P256BW&eStockSID=36ac3c51275f0e6ea0410bb865909378

According to that vendor the 950 Pro should be available in 8 to 12 days. The page appeared yesterday so that would mean availability sometime between the 24 and 28th of September.

In addition, an Australian vendor reported a shipment of the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe ssd is expected to arrive before the end of the month.

Finally two different sources in the USA confirmed the 950 Pro exists and that they would be available soon. There was no mention of a release date.

Samsung usually makes their ssd announcements during big conferences and shows. I'll have to check for major events next week. (end quote)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37707677&postcount=23

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Another Update:

Two days ago I contacted a customer service representative at Newegg and asked about the Samsung 950 Pro. The representative stated that the Newegg representatives were not permitted to discuss future products. However, the rep provided a link to a newegg web page that had a form for suggesting new products. I filled out and submitted it. The first reply was simply an automatic message acknowledging receipt of the form. Next I received a message from the customer service department saying my request was forwarded to a department responsible for future products. This morning I received a third message. Here is the exact reply:

"As to your request as below, I got the feedback from our product management department: the new one should be the retail version, it is not available in US but other country for now, US will be coming soon. Once it is available, we will post it online. "

That is definitely good news despite the fact that the 950 Pro will be available in Europe and Australia before North America.

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for the update. Sorry this thread has migrated from the original question.
Perhaps a new thread should be started.

Is there anything more on what the Samsung 950 pro will bring?
NVMe, by itself is not of that much interest to me since it would be only a minor tweak to current performance.
Of more interest would be something like sata express attachment or faster q1 latency.
I am not about to reload windows and reinstall a bunch of games, so support from the ssd migration aid is essential to me.

 

[The Original Ralph]

spoke to asus tech support and the answer i got was that once a device is installed in the M.2 socket, the two sata ports are de-activated, regardless of bios settings.

Looks like i'm going to have to buy a M.2 extender cable so i can remove the xp941 after cloning without having to pull my GPU card to get to it

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Ralph - Choosing SATA will deactivate the M.2 port and make the two SATA ports available. Choosing M.2 will deactivate two SATA ports and make the M.2 port available. There is no BIOS option to activate both the M.2 port and the two SATA ports simultaneously. Depending on the motherboard it is also possible that using an M.2 ssd with adapter card in a PCIe slot "might" reduce a video card from PCIe 3.0 x 16 down to 3.0 x 8. The big problem is that Intel never provided for a sufficient number of PCIe lanes to satisfy demand. That has changed with the newest motherboards.

geofelt - excellent idea. I'll start a brand new thread just for the 950 pro later today.

Technical specs are still lacking but it is supposed to be a retail M.2 3.0 x 4 NVMe ssd with Samsung's newest 3D V-Nand flash memory.

 

[geofelt]

The motherboard has 6 potential sata ports.
If M.2 is selected, there will still be 4 sata ports available which should be plenty.
Exactly which ones are removed and which are left will be documented in the motherboard manual.

And... JohnnyLucky, post a link to the new thread here.

 

[The Original Ralph]

JohnnyLucky: "Ralph - Choosing SATA will deactivate the M.2 port and make the two SATA ports available." Are you certain of that?? The Asus tech i spoke to said the physical presence of any M.2 device in the M.2 socket would kill two sata ports, regardless of BIOS settings. "Choosing M.2 will deactivate two SATA ports and make the M.2 port available. There is no BIOS option to activate both the M.2 port and the two SATA ports simultaneously." My goal isn't to have all 6 sata ports AND the M.2 socket active at the same time - but to isolate the M.2 after cloning so the clone target drive couldn't be accessed by any virus etc, when not in use. "Depending on the motherboard it is also possible that using an M.2 ssd with adapter card in a PCIe slot "might" reduce a video card from PCIe 3.0 x 16 down to 3.0 x 8." That isn't my concern but that isn't the case here - i'm using the PCI x4 expansion slot (i assume it's PCI 1.0)

But i do need 5 sata ports available after the cloning and don't want to have to open the case, remove the GPU and deal with a tiny screw not much larger than an amoeba to remove the xp941 from the M.2 socket, which asus positioned between the GPU and my tower cooler.

 

[geofelt]

To keep the M.2 inaccessible to a virus or whatever, you could in windows disable or uninstall the drive.
Possibly, that could be done in the bios . If you use a m.2 extender, you could unplug it at one end.

As to needing 5 sata ports, you could install a pcie add in card to supply extra(typically 4) sata ports.
I assume you have some hard drives to connect. Hard drives are not impacted by sata speeds, so even a slower sata 2 connection should suffice .

 

[The Original Ralph]

adding a pcie sata expansion card is out of the question - the z97m-plus is a micro-atx board, no slots left available

i'll just wait and install the samsung 950 Pro (when available) and see if the M.2 does totally de-activate with SATA selected in BIOS - if not, the m.2 extender is the only other route

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I started a new thread for the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe ssd. Here is the link to the web page:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2802406/samsung-950-pro-0x4-nvme-ssd.html