[SOLVED] can I disable NVMe slot?

[Kalik212]

I'm new to NVMe drives so forgive the newbie question...after an NVMe drive is installed is there any way for me to disable it without physically removing the drive?...I want the ability to boot into another SATA SSD drive independently...meaning I want to install another copy of Windows 10 onto the SATA drive and use that...is there a setting in the BIOS that disables the NVMe slot?...can I then re-enable it and get back the drive with everything installed on it intact?...I have an MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard

with SATA SSD's (and older mechanical hard drives) it was easy to just unplug the SATA cable and plug it into a new drive

 

[Bob.B]

I'm new to NVMe drives so forgive the newbie question...after an NVMe drive is installed is there any way for me to disable it without physically removing the drive?...I want the ability to boot into another SATA SSD drive independently...meaning I want to install another copy of Windows 10 onto the SATA drive and use that...is there a setting in the BIOS that disables the NVMe slot?...can I then re-enable it and get back the drive with everything installed on it intact?...I have an MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard

with SATA SSD's (and older mechanical hard drives) it was easy to just unplug the SATA cable and plug it into a new drive

Can't you just change the boot order to boot from what disk you want?

Don't know what bios options you have in this bios I can disable m.2.

 

[USAFRet]

For disable, you'll have to look in your motherboard info.

For a second OS install, you really really want it physically disconnected.

After that, to boot into one or the other, just interrupt the boot process and choose.


But why the 2 OS's?

 

[Zodasaur]

can I disable NVMe slot?

after an NVMe drive is installed is there any way for me to disable it without physically removing the drive?...I want the ability to boot into another SATA SSD drive independently...meaning I want to install another copy of Windows 10 onto the SATA drive and use that...is there a setting in the...

hardforum.com

 

[SkyNetRising]

after an NVMe drive is installed is there any way for me to disable it without physically removing the drive?

There are some high end motherboards with multiple M.2 drives ( 4 or 5 M.2 drives).
To enable those extra M.2 drives, you have to switch PCIE_X16 slot (where graphics card goes into) to x8 operation mode. This is configurable in BIOS.
Then to disable M.2 drive, you could switch PCIE_x16 slot from x8 mode into x16 operation mode.

Anyway - your motherboard doesn't support this.

 

[geofelt]

Physical removal is certainly nasty, plan on a different approach.
If changing the boot order is not acceptable, look into the Advanced bios settings.
There may be a way to disable a specific device.

 

[Kalik212]

Can't you just change the boot order to boot from what disk you want?

Don't know what bios options you have in this bios I can disable m.2.

For disable, you'll have to look in your motherboard info.

For a second OS install, you really really want it physically disconnected.

After that, to boot into one or the other, just interrupt the boot process and choose.

But why the 2 OS's?

changing the boot order loads up the SATA drive fine but it seems to just act as a secondary drive...there's no boot partitions or anything on it...the NVMe still seems to act as the main drive...meaning the SATA will show as as Drive C: but the NVMe is still there listed as Drive D:...I'm trying to load up both drives completely independent of each other where when I load the SATA drive it doesn't see the NVMe

I used to do this all the time with SATA and older mechanical hard drives...plug 2-3 drives into my system, each into a different SATA port and install each as a separate OS...I would only have 1 drive plugged in, so anytime I wanted to switch drives I just unplugged it and plugged in one of the other ones...I like to do it because for example if I want my main drive to have Windows 10 on it and another drive to test out Windows 11

 

[geofelt]

If you had any second drive installed when you loaded windows, a recovery partition was placed on it, forever requiring you to have both drives active to boot.

 

[Kalik212]

If you had any second drive installed when you loaded windows, a recovery partition was placed on it, forever requiring you to have both drives active to boot.

so you're saying there's no way to do it with an NVMe installed in the system?

 

[USAFRet]

changing the boot order loads up the SATA drive fine but it seems to just act as a secondary drive...there's no boot partitions or anything on it...the NVMe still seems to act as the main drive...meaning the SATA will show as as Drive C: but the NVMe is still there listed as Drive D:...I'm trying to load up both drives completely independent of each other where when I load the SATA drive it doesn't see the NVMe

I used to do this all the time with SATA and older mechanical hard drives...plug 2-3 drives into my system, each into a different SATA port and install each as a separate OS...I would only have 1 drive plugged in, so anytime I wanted to switch drives I just unplugged it and plugged in one of the other ones...I like to do it because for example if I want my main drive to have Windows 10 on it and another drive to test out Windows 11

If there is not a Disable function in your BIOS, this cannot be done.

Also, it seems you installed the OSs with both drives connected?
Which did you install first? Remove or disable that one, and the other one will not boot.

 

[Kalik212]

If there is not a Disable function in your BIOS, this cannot be done.

Also, it seems you installed the OSs with both drives connected?
Which did you install first? Remove or disable that one, and the other one will not boot.

yes it'll work if I removed the NVMe but that's the entire point...it's totally annoying removing the NVMe because it's not as simple as unplugging my SATA drive which involves unplugging the SATA and power cable...to physically remove my NVMe I have to first remove my GPU in order to reach it and it's way more work to do every time I want to switch drives

 

[USAFRet]

yes it'll work if I removed the NVMe but that's the entire point...it's totally annoying removing the NVMe because it's not as simple as unplugging my SATA drive which involves unplugging the SATA and powercable...to physically remove my NVMe I have to first remove my GPU in order to reach it and it's way more work to do every time I want to switch drives

Does the NVMe boot up if you disconnect the SATA drive?


Yes, I know NVMe drives are far more hassle...I have 2 of them.
But if there is not a disable function, there is no magic to make it happen.

 

[Kalik212]

Does the NVMe boot up if you disconnect the SATA drive?

Yes, I know NVMe drives are far more hassle...I have 2 of them.
But if there is not a disable function, there is no magic to make it happen.

I currently only have my NVMe installed but when I tried it last week the whole thing was a mess...I had both the NVMe and SATA installed...both booted up fine but like I said the SATA seemed to just act as a secondary drive (it also asked me every time I booted up which Volume to select)...I ended up removing the SATA and the NVMe would no longer boot up and it asked me to Repair the OS

I ended up just doing a clean format on the NVMe and not even bothering to connect the SATA anymore

 

[geofelt]

You need to find the option in the bios that disables the m.2 drive.

What is the make/model of your motherboard?
On some, the presence of a m.2 ssd will disable a pair of sata ports.
Another thought:
You could buy a m.2 extender like this which would make it easier to remove the m.2 device:
https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-M-Key-Extention-Cable-20CMS/dp/B07DZCCGJN

 

[Kalik212]

You need to find the option in the bios that disables the m.2 drive.

What is the make/model of your motherboard?
On some, the presence of a m.2 ssd will disable a pair of sata ports.
Another thought:
You could buy a m.2 extender like this which would make it easier to remove the m.2 device:
https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-M-Key-Extention-Cable-20CMS/dp/B07DZCCGJN

my motherboard is the MSI X570 Tomahawk
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-X570-TOMAHAWK-WIFI

 

[Kalik212]

Also, it seems you installed the OSs with both drives connected?
Which did you install first? Remove or disable that one, and the other one will not boot.

this might be something to look into...the SATA drive was plugged in when I initially installed Windows 10 on my NVMe...maybe if I do a clean install of my NVMe without the SATA drive plugged in, then plug in my SATA drive, boot into my SATA and do a clean Windows install on that drive

 

[USAFRet]

my motherboard is the MSI X570 Tomahawk
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-X570-TOMAHAWK-WIFI

Looking through the manual, I see nothing about disabling that port.

 

[USAFRet]

this might be something to look into...the SATA drive was plugged in when I initially installed Windows 10 on my NVMe...maybe if I do a clean install of my NVMe without the SATA drive plugged in, then plug in my SATA drive, boot into my SATA and do a clean Windows install on that drive

Then the NVMe must always be connected, to boot from either drive.

The second install on the SATA drive will simply merge the boot info into that which is on the NVMe.

 

[Kalik212]

Then the NVMe must always be connected, to boot from either drive.

The second install on the SATA drive will simply merge the boot info into that which is on the NVMe.

so if I do a clean install of the NVMe (without the SATA drive plugged in) and then plug in the SATA drive and do a clean install of the SATA, I'll be able to have 2 completely independent Windows installs?...so the SATA will no longer see the NVMe?...but with the NVMe being connected to the M.2 slot won't it always be showing up as part of any install?

 

[USAFRet]

so if I do a clean install of the NVMe (without the SATA drive plugged in) and then plug in the SATA drive and do a clean install of the SATA, I'll be able to have 2 completely independent Windows installs?...so the SATA will no longer see the NVMe?...but with the NVMe being connected to the M.2 slot won't it always be showing up as part of any install?

Install on the NVMe, no SATA connected
Leave the NVMe connected, install on the SATA
The boot partitions WILL be merged on the NVMe.
And booting from either drive, you WILL see the other as the "D drive"

The only way to have two totally independent OSs is physical disconnection.
Both during the OS install, AND later in operation.

Any connected drive WILL be see as some other drive letter.

 

[Kalik212]

Install on the NVMe, no SATA connected
Leave the NVMe connected, install on the SATA
The boot partitions WILL be merged on the NVMe.
And booting from either drive, you WILL see the other as the "D drive"

The only way to have two totally independent OSs is physical disconnection.
Both during the OS install, AND later in operation.

Any connected drive WILL be see as some other drive letter.

thanks for the bottom line explanation...I figured there was no way of doing what I wanted without a physical removal of the NVMe...if it wasn't for the upcoming DirectStorage feature coming to PC games I might have physically removed the NVMe drive and installed multiple SATA 3 6GB drives...the performance differences between an NVMe and SATA 3 is very minimal especially when it comes to gaming

 

[dwd999]

I'm new to NVMe drives so forgive the newbie question...after an NVMe drive is installed is there any way for me to disable it without physically removing the drive?...I want the ability to boot into another SATA SSD drive independently...meaning I want to install another copy of Windows 10 onto the SATA drive and use that...is there a setting in the BIOS that disables the NVMe slot?...can I then re-enable it and get back the drive with everything installed on it intact?...I have an MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard

with SATA SSD's (and older mechanical hard drives) it was easy to just unplug the SATA cable and plug it into a new drive

The method I use for this relies on having sufficient external storage to store an image of the nvme drive: I use the free Macrium software to image the nvme drive onto a usb drive; I then use Gparted to delete all of the partitions on the nvme drive so that it is totally unallocated; then I install Windows 11 on my ssd alternate drive; finally I restore the image to the nvme drive. This allows both drives to be booted through bios and function independently, and has worked successfully for me for the last year allowing me to go through the Windows 11 beta period without any problems. Since I do not keep much on my nvme, my Macrium images are only around 30GB each and I have an old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB m.2 in a Sabrent enclosure as my usb external drive. So you could try this if you have sufficient external storage or even if you have another ssd that you're not using.

 

[Kalik212]

The method I use for this relies on having sufficient external storage to store an image of the nvme drive: I use the free Macrium software to image the nvme drive onto a usb drive; I then use Gparted to delete all of the partitions on the nvme drive so that it is totally unallocated; then I install Windows 11 on my ssd alternate drive; finally I restore the image to the nvme drive. This allows both drives to be booted through bios and function independently, and has worked successfully for me for the last year allowing me to go through the Windows 11 beta period without any problems. Since I do not keep much on my nvme, my Macrium images are only around 30GB each and I have an old Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB m.2 in a Sabrent enclosure as my usb external drive. So you could try this if you have sufficient external storage or even if you have another ssd that you're not using.

wow you really went all in to find a solution! ...going forward all motherboard manufactures should put in an option to allow M.2 NVMe slots to be disabled in the BIOS

 

[USAFRet]

I use VMs for secondary OSs.
Doesn't work well for a game system, but otherwise no problem.

Currently, my main host system is WIn 11, and a guest of Win 10.

 

[dwd999]

wow you really went all in to find a solution! ...going forward all motherboard manufactures should put in an option to allow M.2 NVMe slots to be disabled in the BIOS

Sometimes you just have to think outside of the box and having old unused storage that can be converted to usb external storage does help. I suppose I could speed this up by installing an unused ssd as a third drive to speed up the imaging process but I actually like the Sabrent external enclosures better.