Question M.2 SSD installation

[chunky3333]

I just bought myself an M.2 SSD for my system.

I installed it and booted windows10 from a USB drive. When i came to select my new M.2 drive, it didnt appear, nor did it appear in my bios. I am very confused as I have tried multiple times to change the position of the m.2 to make sure it is in properly and i have had no luck.

I am currently using an MSI Z170A motherboard with a WD Green M.2 2280 SSD.

I dont know what to do. Any suggestions?

 

[13thmonkey]

precisely which mobo.

you are aware that this is a SATA drive with M.2 interface, so no faster than a normal sata drive? It's not an NVME drive which is faster?

 

[chunky3333]

precisely which mobo.

MSI Z170A SLI

 

[13thmonkey]

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-SLI/Specification
I'm reading that the PCI-E only M.2 drives, so that probably menas NVME only and no SATA drives.

 

[chunky3333]

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-SLI/Specification
I'm reading that the PCI-E only M.2 drives, so that probably menas NVME only and no SATA drives.

It isnt even showing up in my device manager at all. So youre suggesting I return the product?

 

[chunky3333]

I dont understand because the specification says the mobo will support an m.2 2280 gen3 and my SSD is a 2280 gen3

 

[13thmonkey]

As far as I can tell your drive is a SATA III drive in a M.2 format, and your board supports M.2 PCI-E drives. I'm sure where gen 3 comes into it, there is SATA III and PCI-E 3.0, but these are completely unrelated.

 

[chunky3333]

As far as I can tell your drive is a SATA III drive in a M.2 format, and your board supports M.2 PCI-E drives. I'm sure where gen 3 comes into it, there is SATA III and PCI-E 3.0, but these are completely unrelated.

Thankyou for your help. So this is the product I bought: https://www.ebuyer.com/821723-wd-green-240gb-m-2-internal-ssd-wds240g2g0b (its just a basic ebuyer link dont worry )

Ahh yes i see it is SATA. If you dont mind me asking, what does this mean? Shouldnt it still appear in device manager and my bios when plugged into the M.2 slot?

 

[13thmonkey]

Some M.2 slots will see both Sata and PCI-E devices, some will only see one or the other, yours can only see the faster PCI-E m.2 disks.

Like these: https://www.ebuyer.com/store/Storage/cat/Hard-Drive---SSD/subcat/M.2-SSD?a05320=NVMe
Note that their speed is much much faster.

 

[chunky3333]

Some M.2 slots will see both Sata and PCI-E devices, some will only see one or the other, yours can only see the faster PCI-E m.2 disks.

Like these: https://www.ebuyer.com/store/Storage/cat/Hard-Drive---SSD/subcat/M.2-SSD?a05320=NVMe
Note that their speed is much much faster.

Thanks alot mate! Hopefully ill be able to get a return on my current one. I have just bought a 250gb NVME which hopefully will do the trick.

Cheers mate

 

[13thmonkey]

Ebuyer have been good to me like that in past with warranty returns, good company, made one of their telephone people cry by phoning in to tell them they were good.

 

[chunky3333]

Ebuyer have been good to me like that in past with warranty returns, good company, made one of their telephone people cry by phoning in to tell them they were good.

haha . Should be alright then.Ordered a gigabyte m.2 PCI-E so should do the trick.