Question Can someone tell me why my motherboard isn't identifying my M.2 SSD?

[Bad Skiddy]

It's a Wacom Cintiq companion 2.

My old SSD died and I've replaced with a new one, but it just doesn't want to identify it so as i result i can't create a new partition to set up my OS.

Here's what i'm working with inside (from a break down Youtube vid):

and here's the old SSD and the new one I replaced it with:

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Was the old ssd tested on another pc to make sure it has died and not the slot?

 

[Bad Skiddy]

Was the old ssd tested on another pc to make sure it has died and not the slot?

Yes I tested the old one and it's definitely out of action (although knowing my luck so would the port...).

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Is it seeing it in bios under boot menu?

 

[SkyNetRising]

and here's the old SSD and the new one I replaced it with:

What is model name of old and new SSD ?
In the picture - is it the old or new one?

 

[Bad Skiddy]

Is it seeing it in bios under boot menu?

Just a bog standard boot order menu, there are no CD drives in this tablet so I assume that "Hard Disk" is just in name only.

What is model name of old and new SSD ?
In the picture - is it the old or new one?

That is indeed the new one in the picture.
The old one was a Toshiba 512GB THNSNJ512GDNU.

 

[SkyNetRising]

That is indeed the new one in the picture.
The old one was a Toshiba 512GB THNSNJ512GDNU.

Do you know model name of the new drive?
WD has several Blue series M.2 models. Some are SATA, some are NVME.
NVME may not be supported on your device.

 

[dwd999]

What's this driver that you're supposed to download first? Is this needed when you install a new drive?

Anyway, you could boot the computer from a usb containing either a partitioning app like Gparted or a Linux Live distro and see if those apps recognize the m.2. If yes, create a GPT partition initializer and see if the windows installer will then recognize it. If neither of those apps recognize the m.2 either you may need some sort of driver preloaded or its dead or the port is dead.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Do you know model name of the new drive?
WD has several Blue series M.2 models. Some are SATA, some are NVME.
NVME may not be supported on your device.

They are both sata .

 

[Bad Skiddy]

Well Gparted wouldn't boot from a USB (which was weird). I'm going to try the live distro route now.

 

[Bad Skiddy]

Turns out that was just a bad USB, i've booted Gparted but not sure what to do next.

What's this driver that you're supposed to download first? Is this needed when you install a new drive?

Anyway, you could boot the computer from a usb containing either a partitioning app like Gparted or a Linux Live distro and see if those apps recognize the m.2. If yes, create a GPT partition initializer and see if the windows installer will then recognize it. If neither of those apps recognize the m.2 either you may need some sort of driver preloaded or its dead or the port is dead.

So I managed to get on, but i'm not seeing the SSD, is there anything I need to do on this because i'm not too familiar with linux based systems.

 

[dwd999]

Turns out that was just a bad USB, i've booted Gparted but not sure what to do next.

So I managed to get on, but i'm not seeing the SSD, is there anything I need to do on this because i'm not too familiar with linux based systems.

If you click on the down arrow on the right side of the screen, does it show another device, your m.2 disk? Or if you select the menu Gparted option and then select Devices, does it show the m.2 disk? If you can select the m.2 disk, you would want to select the Device menu and then create a GPT partition. That should be enough preparation for the Windows installer to work. The remaining space on the m.2 should be unallocated since Windows does all of the remaining partitioning and formatting as part of the install. Also the Windows installer prefers that you have only 1 drive connected at the install point; you can add more drives later after install is complete.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So I managed to get on, but i'm not seeing the SSD, is there anything I need to do on this because i'm not too familiar with linux based systems.

You still haven't told us model name of your new M.2 drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

They are both sata .

May be yes, may be no.
Old one is sata.
New one - we don't know it yet.

Photo of M.2 drive was some random image from internet.

 

[Lafong]

You still haven't told us model name of your new M.2 drive.

Reasonably sure that the earliest M.2 WD Blue series did not have a model number. It was SATA.

It was soon succeeded by the SN550 and then the SN570.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Reasonably sure that the earliest M.2 WD Blue series did not have a model number.

Every WD M.2 drive has a model number.

 

[Lafong]

Every WD M.2 drive has a model number.

Could be.

But all the advertising and vendor info I ever saw on it just described it as "Blue" with no model number. It was always shown just as the pic appears above in post 5 with no further info provided. May have been indicated otherwise in WD specs somewhere, but not in standard marketing info.

I have no idea what the OP has.

The SN550 and SN570 are marked as such right on the label.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The SN550 and SN570 are marked as such right on the label.

SN570 is not a model number. It's series name.

Model number for 500GB WD Blue SN570 would be WDS500G3B0C.
Model number for 500GB WD Blue SN550 would be WDS500G2B0C.
Model number for 500GB WD Blue SATA M.2 would be WDS500G2B0B.

 

[Bad Skiddy]

That is indeed the new one in the picture.

I did link it. It's WDS500G2B0B.

 

[Bad Skiddy]

If you click on the down arrow on the right side of the screen, does it show another device, your m.2 disk? Or if you select the menu Gparted option and then select Devices, does it show the m.2 disk?

I was afraid you were going to say that. It didn't appear in the list.

Is is possible for a broken port to corrupt a harddrive? When I tested the old Toshiba one using my desktop, windows said it was damaged and wanted to repair it in a notification that I was too late to click on. Eventually it just ended up like this:

I'm guessing recovering the data is pretty much a lost cause...

 

[dwd999]

I was afraid you were going to say that. It didn't appear in the list.

Is is possible for a broken port to corrupt a harddrive? When I tested the old Toshiba one using my desktop, windows said it was damaged and wanted to repair it in a notification that I was too late to click on. Eventually it just ended up like this:
I'm guessing recovering the data is pretty much a lost cause...

It sounds like your only alternatives may be professional data recovery services, which would be costly depending on how seriously you want the recovered data.

 

[Bad Skiddy]

It sounds like your only alternatives may be professional data recovery services, which would be costly depending on how seriously you want the recovered data.

Yeah and I don't know if these recovery tools are too good to be true either.

 

[dwd999]

Yeah and I don't know if these recovery tools are too good to be true either.

The thing is if you can't get a conventional computer to recognize the m.2 then the recovery tools most likely will also not recognize the m.2., especially if the m.2 or motherboard socket circuity are damaged.

 

[Bad Skiddy]

The thing is if you can't get a conventional computer to recognize the m.2 then the recovery tools most likely will also not recognize the m.2., especially if the m.2 or motherboard socket circuity are damaged.

Sorry I digress, that's a seprate issue. The main problem is identifying the new one.
But, yeah back to the problem at hand, I'm going to try one more thing and unless anybody else has any ideas i'm going to try and dig into my wallet.

 

[dwd999]

Sorry I digress, that's a seprate issue. The main problem is identifying the new one.
But, yeah back to the problem at hand, I'm going to try one more thing and unless anybody else has any ideas i'm going to try and dig into my wallet.

Last resort: you could buy an external m.2 enclosure (e.g. Sabrent EC-SNVE which I use) and try accessing your m.2 that way. If sucessful, you'll have your files and if not, the m.2 is probably dead.