Question First time using/installing M2 SSD

[milkyskinn89]

Hi all,

I am not entirely new to pc building, however, this will be my first time going into M2 territory.
Here's the deal: I want to surprise my bf with some upgrades to his pc, some extra memory and replacing his regular HDD with an SSD.

His motherboard is a Medion B360H4-EM- he bought his pc pre-built, and I'm not familiar with this motherboard and can't find much on it. Here is a link I found with all its specs and what it looks like: here
I am looking at getting either the Integral M.2 SATA SDD or the Intenso M.2 SDD PCIe premium. Main question is:
- Will the above mentioned SSD's fit the motherboard?
- I have read something about heatsinks, how do I know if I'll require one?
- I am assuming I might need some additional screws, but other than that I don't know if I need anything else to install

Any help is appreciated!

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am looking at getting either the Integral M.2 SATA SDD or the Intenso M.2 SDD PCIe premium. Main question is:
- Will the above mentioned SSD's fit the motherboard?

Yes. Both will fit.
Here it says - both NVME and SATA drives are supported.
https://community.medion.com/t5/FAQ...-Mainboard-quot-ECS-B360H4-EM-quot/ta-p/99258

- I have read something about heatsinks, how do I know if I'll require one?

Depends on M.2 drive. SATA M.2 model and PCIE 3.0 M.2 model doesn't require a heatsink.
PCIE 4.0 and PCIE 5.0 drives require a heatsink.

- I am assuming I might need some additional screws, but other than that I don't know if I need anything else to install

Obviously M.2 screw will be required.
If you intend to use M.2 drive as secondary storage, then initialize,create partition, format and assign a drive letter.

If you intend to use it as OS drive, then clone source HDD to SSD.
SSD capacity has to be larger than used space on HDD, for this to be possible.

 

[SkyNetRising]

But I wouldn't suggest doing such upgrade as a surprise (in secret).
Better gift it and then assist with upgrade, if necessary.

 

[milkyskinn89]

@SkyNetRising Thank you so much for your concise and quick reply!

It'll be the new OS drive and it's 1T bigger than his current storage, so that should be all good.

I mostly meant 'surprising' as in, I'll giftwrap the packages of the respective parts and after that, I'll help him upgrade it together. I would also be terrified if someone would just got their hands in my pc and I wouldn't know it :")

 

[mdd1963]

You'd first want to determine what kind of M.2 drive is currently being used; choosing a SATA M.2 variant over an NVME (assuming your mainboard has an available M.2 NVME slot) is not advised, as the even the Gen3 M.2 NVME drives are 6-7X times faster than SATA variants...

If your mainboard has 2 M.2 drive slots, you can easily clone it thru assorted software means, or, if only one slot is available, a USB/M.2 adapter is only $15-$20 these days...

(NOte: if choosing a Corsair or Western Digital, or even having assorted variants of either product attached as an internal/external drive, you can still use Acronis' OEM versions of True Image, downloadable from Crucial and WD's websites, respectively; each makes cloning almost childplay. Familiarize yourself with Youtube tutorials if needed. )

Good luck!