[SOLVED] I only have one M.2 slot, but need more space

[Mikalfurnes]

h ave the Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI motherboard and it only has one M.2 slot. is there a way i can add one more? i have seen some external cases you put time in and connect them via a USB cable. will that result in loss of speeds? also, if i decide to switch out my 256 ssd with a 1tb sad, how can i migrate everything when there is only one slot?

 

[USAFRet]

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-Z170XP-SLI-rev-10/sp#sp

That motherboard has 6x SATA III ports. Simply add a couple of large SATA III SSD.

 

[Mikalfurnes]

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-Z170XP-SLI-rev-10/sp#sp

That motherboard has 6x SATA III ports. Simply add a couple of large SATA III SSD.

arent those really slow compared to M.2s?

 

[USAFRet]

arent those really slow compared to M.2s?

Not really, no.

The benchmarks show a big difference. In actual use, not so much.

The difference between a spinning HDD and a solid state drive is huge. Main;ly due to the near zero access time of the SSD.
The difference between SATA III SSD and NVMe SSD - Not so much. They still both have that near zero access time.

In my personal use, a lot of photo editing in Adobe Lightroom.
I have several Samsung SATA III SSD, and an Intel 660p NVMe drive.
The Intel sequential benchmark shows 3x the speed of the SATA III drives.

In actual use, there is zero difference. Timed and tested. If someone were to sit down at my system, and know that there were these two different types of drives...I defy anyone to identify the 660p in normal use. Outside of a synthetic benchmark...there is actually little if any difference.

Now...if you are transferring large sequential data back and forth, having 2x NVMe might be a good idea. I suspect that is not what you're doing.