Question Could I have broken my new SSD?

fakedad

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Jan 20, 2014
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I just bought two new Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe M.2 SSDs, and I've found that only one of them seems to be working. (Only one is detected in my laptop's UEFI/BIOS and with an enclosure I have.) I am wondering if I could have broken one of the SSDs so quickly, or if it is more likely that the SSD was defective when I got it. I'd like to know so that I don't make the same mistakes again or in case there is a possibility of returning the broken SSD.

Before I put both drives into my laptop, I cleaned their surfaces with some ArctiClean I had and applied the thermal pads. I had thought that this step might have damaged one of the drives, but I've read that ArctiClean is supposed to be non-conductive, so I'm not so sure.

I've also considered whether ESD could be the culprit. I wasn't wearing any sort of anti-static wristband, but the drives didn't come in any sort of anti-static packaging, so I am also doubting that ESD could be the cause.

Does any of this sound particularly unsafe for installing M.2 SSDs?

Thanks.
 

fakedad

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Jan 20, 2014
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What motherboard? Some motherboards have one NVMe M.2 slot and one SATA only M.2 slot.

The laptop is an Asus G752V. I believe both M.2 slots are PCIe only. I previously had two WD Black 512GB SSDs in the laptop, and the text "PCIe only" is also printed by both slots on the motherboard.

The enclosure I used (an "SHE-CS325") also has only one slot and supports only PCIe, according to the Amazon page.