Question Can I have two M.2 SSDs on an Aorus B450 Elite V2 mb?

[dsmith43]

I have an Aorus B450 Elite V2 motherboard and I was reading that it can support up to two M.2 chips on the same board. I already have one 2 TB M.2 chip in it, but can't find out where to put the second one. I'm thinking of taking the existing one out of my current pc and putting it into a new PC, that PC will have two M.2 chips. I went to chatgpt and it said, "Slot 1: PCIe x4 M.2 (M-Key), located near the top-right corner of the motherboard", and "Slot 2: PCIe x4 M.2 (B-Key), located near the bottom-left corner of the motherboard" but I see no evidence of the second slot. Can anyone tell me where I should be looking for the second slot?

This is the motherboard I have:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1607636-REG/gigabyte_b450_aorus_elite_v2.html/overview

Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

As always, ask the manufacturer (not ChatGPT):
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-Elite-V2-rev-1x/sp#sp

Yes, you can. But, whatever is in the M2B socket will benchmark at 1/2 the speed of the other.
PCIe 3.0 x2
Depending on your use, you probably won't notice the difference.

 

[USAFRet]

Picture from gigabyte:

M2A circled in red, M2B circled in green.

 

[dsmith43]

Thank you for your quick response. I did find the other slot but it is covered by my PCIe video card (which is why I couldn't find it). So what happens if I just take one M.2 out of the old PC and put it into the new one and each one is formatted to boot to Windows? Which one takes precedence over the other?

 

[USAFRet]

So what happens if I just take one M.2 out of the old PC and put it into the new one and each one is formatted to boot to Windows? Which one takes precedence over the other?

Don't do that.

You really really don't want to try to boot from that old drive+OS.
And you also don't want it just sitting in there.

You can put the old drive in there, only if the very first thing you do with it is DELETE all existing partitions, reformat, and continue with a blank drive.

 

[dsmith43]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Does it matter if the chip slots are labelled M2A and M2B? Should the C: drive chip be in the M2A slot?

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Does it matter if the chip slots are labelled M2A and M2B? Should the C: drive chip be in the M2A slot?

What make/model drive is it?
Yes, it probably needs to go in the M2A port.

 

[dsmith43]

The one in the old PC is a Kingston SNV2S2000G 2TB, and the one in the new PC is a Kingston SNV2S1000G 1TB.

I want to put the 2TB into the new PC and have it boot from drive C: (as it would have with my old PC) and have the 1TB as a spare, extra storage.

The 2TB chip is already formatted into 3 different partitions.

 

[USAFRet]

The one in the old PC is a Kingston SNV2S2000G 2TB, and the one in the new PC is a Kingston SNV2S1000G 1TB.

I want to put the 2TB into the new PC and have it boot from drive C: (as it would have with my old PC) and have the 1TB as a spare, extra storage.

The 2TB chip is already formatted into 3 different partitions.

You want the new system to boot from the old drive+OS (the 2TB Kingston)?
That is unlikely to work.