Question Need more storage space!

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mrsmithjr

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Aug 17, 2017
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Hello, I need to add more storage space to my desktop pc. Looking for an SSD or one of those m.2 sticks, not sure which. My motherboard is msi z170a m5. It says this on my mobos specifications page: M.2 SLOT - 2 x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA)

Please recommend a compatible stick to me. I want to store lots of games on the drive so I think 2tb would be a good size. For the price, preferably under £100.
 
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If this was my computer, I'd clone the Windows Operating System from the MX300 SATA SSD on to the M.2 NVMe SSD for a significant speed increase.

Taking the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe PCIe3x4 drive as an example, it has Read/Write speeds up to 3500/3100MB/s, compared with the much slower 530/510MB/s Read Write speed for the MX300.

With a little care, you can use Macrium Reflect to clone the SATA drive on to the NVMe drive and keep the partitions on the new drive exactly the same size as the partitions on the old drive. That would leave 2TB minus 275GB free for your games on a new partion (1.725TB) created in the free space remaining on the NVMe drive.

Of course you'll have to learn how to drag and drop partitions from the source drive (SATA) to the destination drive (NVMe) in Reflect, otherwise you end up with an enormous C: drive and no room for a data partion, but it's not that difficult to master.

Booting Windows from an NVMe drive should be significantly faster than from SATA (3,500MB/s vs 530MB/s), but whether you find the improvement worthwhile is difficult to predict. SATA SSDs are faster than hard disks for booting, but NVMe drives are even faster.
 
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Misgar said:
If this was my computer, I'd clone the Windows Operating System from the MX300 SATA SSD on to the M.2 NVMe SSD for a significant speed increase.

Taking the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe PCIe3x4 drive as an example, it has Read/Write speeds up to 3500/3100MB/s, compared with the much slower 530/510MB/s Read Write speed for the MX300.

With a little care, you can use Macrium Reflect to clone the SATA drive on to the NVMe drive and keep the partitions on the new drive exactly the same size as the partitions on the old drive. That would leave 2TB minus 275GB free for your games on a new partion (1.725TB) created in the free space remaining on the NVMe drive.

Of course you'll have to learn how to drag and drop partitions from the source drive (SATA) to the destination drive (NVMe) in Reflect, otherwise you end up with an enormous C: drive and no room for a data partion, but it's not that difficult to master.

Booting Windows from an NVMe drive should be significantly faster than from SATA (3,500MB/s vs 530MB/s), but whether you find the improvement worthwhile is difficult to predict. SATA SSDs are faster than hard disks for booting, but NVMe drives are even faster.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for this information, i'll certainly look into doing that when the new drive arrives 👍
 
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mrsmithjr said:
Does it matter which m.2 slot I use on the mobo? it has two, M2_1 and M2_2
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Specification Z170A GAMING M5

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.
www.msi.com www.msi.com

Both M.2 ports are viable.
 
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mrsmithjr said:
Thanks a lot for this information, i'll certainly look into doing that when the new drive arrives 👍
Click to expand...
Cloning from your old drive to a new:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------
 
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I tried to fit the m.2 drive today but when i push it down it is hitting the standoff screw on the motherboard, the standoff screw seems to be too big for the drive, any ideas? Or maybe it's supposed to sit on the standoff?
 
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USAFRet said:
Cloning from your old drive to a new:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------
Click to expand...


I decided against doing this as I wanted to keep the installation simple, and Windows already runs quite fast on the SSD. Also means some extra storage space for games on the m.2 drive. Thanks for your help 👍
 
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USAFRet said:
So all is good now?
Click to expand...
Yes I think so, I have installed the drive, initialised and formatted it. Everything looks fine so far. One thing I haven't done is put a heatsink on it. I am gonna monitor the temps to see how it goes without one. It is at 51c right now which Samsung Magician software says is normal.
 
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