I have two M.2 SSDs: a 128GB Western Digital PC SN520, and a 2TB Western Digital SN350 (both NVMe). I want to use the SN350 in an ASRock 970A motherboard but it's not detected by the BIOS, and I'm trying to determine if it's possible for me to fix this or not.
As far as I can tell, the drives are very similar, so I'm not sure why one would work but the other doesn't. These are the main differences that I'm considering as possible culprits:
- 128GB is PCIe Gen3 x2, 2TB is PCIe Gen3 x4
- 128GB is (I believe) M+B keyed, 2TB is M keyed
- 128GB is much smaller capacity, maybe this old board doesn't support 2TB NVMe
Here's what the motherboard spec has to say about the M.2 slot:
There is nothing in the PCIE4 slot, and a GTX 960 in the PCIE16 slot.
I've tested the 2TB disk in another PC and it's detected perfectly fine, so I don't think the disk is busted.
The slot looked clean, but I blew compressed air in it anyway to no avail.
By every measure I can think of, this drive should have no problems working in this motherboard. Any ideas on whether I am mistaken, or what I could do to fix it?
As far as I can tell, the drives are very similar, so I'm not sure why one would work but the other doesn't. These are the main differences that I'm considering as possible culprits:
- 128GB is PCIe Gen3 x2, 2TB is PCIe Gen3 x4
- 128GB is (I believe) M+B keyed, 2TB is M keyed
- 128GB is much smaller capacity, maybe this old board doesn't support 2TB NVMe
Here's what the motherboard spec has to say about the M.2 slot:
Apparently the slot is Gen2 while my card is Gen3, but my understanding is that they are backwards-compatible.- 1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s)**
**If PCIE4 is occupied, M2_1 will be disabled.
The M.2 socket does not support SATA M.2 SSDs.
There is nothing in the PCIE4 slot, and a GTX 960 in the PCIE16 slot.
I've tested the 2TB disk in another PC and it's detected perfectly fine, so I don't think the disk is busted.
The slot looked clean, but I blew compressed air in it anyway to no avail.
By every measure I can think of, this drive should have no problems working in this motherboard. Any ideas on whether I am mistaken, or what I could do to fix it?