[SOLVED] Can my "ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51BC (socket942) motherboard use a PCI Adaptor to use a M.2 SSD

[derkregin]

Hello Tom's Hardware

I've recently swapped from a Dell Laptop to an old Asus desktop and i'm trying to move my SSD over to it.
I've purchased an "M.2 to PCIE" Adaptor from Amazon and i've slotted my SSD into the desktop and it isn't appearing on the drives.
I didn't expect this to work so after some reading I was suggested 2 things: I check my drives, and I check the PCI slots in the BIOS
In the drivers there was only the standard microsoft storage driver, and in the BIOS I couldn't find the PCI slots anywhere
So as the title asked, can I use this M.2 adaptor in this motherboard, or is it too old? Or am I just missing something?
The BIOS version i'm using is: "ASUS UEFI Utility, version 0502 x64"

Thanks a lot

 

[faalin]

what adaptor did you buy and what m.2 drive do you have? What OS do you have and are you trying to boot the OS from this drive?

 

[derkregin]

what adaptor did you buy and what m.2 drive do you have? What OS do you have and are you trying to boot the OS from this drive?

Thank you for responding!

The adaptor is: EZDIY-FAB PCI Express M.2 SSD NGFF PCIe Card to PCIe 3.0x4 Adaptor on Amazon
The M.2 drive is a TOSHIBA THNSNK 128GVN8 M.2 2280
And i'm using Windows 10 which is both on the desktop and the SSD

 

[Rogue Leader]

Your problem is that most older systems cannot boot from a PCIe device. If the system can boot up into Windows on a normal SATA drive you should be able to see the drive and access it but there is no chance of you booting from it.

That sounds like a SATA SSD. If it is it Also won't work in a PCIe adapter. They sell SATA adapters for SATA M.2 drives, you need that.

 

[derkregin]

Your problem is that most older systems cannot boot from a PCIe device. If the system can boot up into Windows on a normal SATA drive you should be able to see the drive and access it but there is no chance of you booting from it.

That sounds like a SATA SSD. If it is it Also won't work in a PCIe adapter. They sell SATA adapters for SATA M.2 drives, you need that.

Ahh I see, that's a shame. I guess i'll need to get a new motherboard in the future
Is there any new budget ones you could suggest i keep my eyes out for?
My current specs are:
Case:
CPU: AMD FX-8300
RAM: 1, 4GB DDR3, 1, 8GB DDR3
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51BC (Socket 942)
Graphics: MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
Toshiba MQ01ABD100 1GB
Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 2GB

Edit 1: Or I could just get a SATA SSD and use my Laptops Windows 10 license now that i think about it

Edit 2: I didn't notice the edit, I didn't consider that, i'll look into SATA adaptors, thank you very much

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ahh I see, that's a shame. I guess i'll need to get a new motherboard in the future
Is there any new budget ones you could suggest i keep my eyes out for?
My current specs are:
Case:
CPU: AMD FX-8300
RAM: 1, 4GB DDR3, 1, 8GB DDR3
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M51BC (Socket 942)
Graphics: MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
Toshiba MQ01ABD100 1GB
Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 2GB

Or I could just get a SATA SSD and use my Laptops Windows 10 license now that i think about it

So something like this could get it functional:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-2-5in-Adapter-Converter-SAT32M225/dp/B00ITJ7U20

But transferring a Laptop OEM license to a desktop machine is a no go. It will not activate.

On top of that you DO NOT want to run a laptop drive with Windows already installed on a completely different desktop, it would run horribly if it even booted, you need a fresh install.

If I were you I'd try a new SSD or the adapter I suggested, backup your data and do a fresh Windows 10 install on it. Run it unactivated if you can't afford a license.

As for buying a new board, for that, don't waste the money. Its a dead platform you'd be wasting your money and it wouldn't fix the problem.

 

[derkregin]

So something like this could get it functional:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-2-5in-Adapter-Converter-SAT32M225/dp/B00ITJ7U20

But transferring a Laptop OEM license to a desktop machine is a no go. It will not activate.

On top of that you DO NOT want to run a laptop drive with Windows already installed on a completely different desktop, it would run horribly, you need a fresh install.

If I were you I'd try a new SSD or the adapter I suggested, backup your data and do a fresh Windows 10 install on it. Run it unactivated if you can't afford a license.

As for buying a new board, for that, don't waste the money. Its a dead platform you'd be wasting your money and it wouldn't fix the problem.

I'll look into getting SATA adaptor in the future

And thank you for the OS advice, I didn't know there was a difference between the laptop version and desktop version

 

[Rogue Leader]

I'll look into getting SATA adaptor in the future

And thank you for the OS advice, I didn't know there was a difference between the laptop version and desktop version

There is no difference in versions. The difference comes from the licensing in that Windows from your laptop is tied to an OEM laptop build. But secondly you don't want to use a drive with a copy of Windows that was installed on another machine on a completely different machine. Aside from the license issues, there is a lot of drivers and configuration integrated into it during install that will be a complete mess due to different hardware. So it will never ever run correctly, if it even runs.