Question Can I get the benefits of M2 drive speed if Windows is still on an SATA SSD?

[mrjenkins44]

I have been messing with a problem for days (Windows just will NOT boot from my M2 drive). I've seen things you people could never believe. And it's broken me.

I am content to just let my Windows 10 install to sit on my Sata SSD for now, but if I plug my M2 drive in and just use it for games and storage, will those games get the benefit of being on that drive, even though Windows is on another SATA drive?

The M2 in question is the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Will having Windows on a sata ssd bottleneck the other drive, especially in regards to games?

I would just put everything on the M2 drive if I could (its 2 TB), but nothing I can do will get Windows 10 to boot from it. Nothing. I will make another thread about that later.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes and no.

Whatever runs from the SATA drive (the OS) will run at SATA speed.
Whatever runs from the NVMe runs at that speed.

But....it is unlikely you would be able to tell the difference.

Any file copying between the two drives is at SATA III speed.
Games don't really change with the various flavors of SSD...SATA III or NVMe,

 

[Lafong]

Not all motherboards will boot from an NVMe drive like the Samsung. Most will.

M.2 is no more than a form factor, not directly related to speed.

 

[USAFRet]

What specific motherboard?

 

[mrjenkins44]

What specific motherboard?

Gigabyte z390 Aorus Master

 

[USAFRet]

Gigabyte z390 Aorus Master

That board should have NO problem with an NVMe M.2 drive as the OS location.

 

[mrjenkins44]

That board should have NO problem with an NVMe M.2 drive as the OS location.

I agree...

Basically, I was trying to install Windows 11 onto it. It would install and then it wouldn't boot. It would say no OS found. I've been at this for days.

I had to disable CSM and enable secure boot. Then it would boot into Windows....sometimes. But then randomly I would get BCD/winefi blue screen errors.

I tried Windows 10. It worked for a few reboots, then starting crashing again.