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Question Storage Assistance, Disk Managment

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Dimrock

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Jan 6, 2016
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Okay so this has been quite the experience for me. I've done computer stuff for over 10 years now but I've always just only been a hobbyist with it so there are plenty of things I don't know especially on the software side. (mechanic IRL so hardware is easier for me to understand)

Over a year ago my brother got a PNY CS900 500GB SSD, I attempted to help him format it but no matter what we did (tried all SATA ports on MB, used tested cables, etc) we could NEVER get it to show up in BIOS or Disk Management as unallocated space. It just acts like nothing was plugged in.
A year later he's been struggling with storage space an I decided maybe I didn't get it right the first time an wanted to try an have another go at the PNY. Tried updating his BIOS to the newest version which worked for me recently with identifying new RAM so I figured its worth a shot. Nothing changed. Decided the SSD was a brick an since it was purchased so long ago just put it aside.
For Christmas I bought him a SK Hynix plat P41 PCIe NVMe M.2, Installed properly an carefully, went into disk management to format it an SAME THING, no unallocated disk, nothing in BIOS boot. Again the computer just its picking anything up. Checked the SK Hynix website for support but didn't find any kind of driver or anything like that. I installed the SK Hynix disk management tool but the M.2 doesn't show.
I started checking the MB website an found a support list which doesn't show the previous SSD or current M.2, Up until today I didnt really realize storage required MB support. Obviously if theres no port to plug it in it wont support it but I guess my issue is I checked to make sure it had a M.2 port an that was it. I didnt look into what kinda M.2 port cause now im seeing things like PCIe NVMe an SATA NVMe which I think was my mistake..
I guess my question is am I on the right track thinking these products aren't compatible? An if thats the case maybe PNY always worked? Or is there some kind of software trick I can do? probably not, this has just been a super disappointing process since it was meant to be Christmas gift to fix a issue that were running right back into LOL

I can clarify any extra needed information to anyone willing to provide some info on this situation

Motherboard: GA-H110-D3A (rev 1.0)
M.2 Support List
SSD Support List
Always Worked SSD: Samsung Evo 960 500gb SSD
Didnt work SSD: PNY CS900 500GB Sata 3 6gb/s
Didnt work M.2: SK Hynix Platinum P41 PCIe NVMe M.2
 
As all of the supported M.2 drives are SATA, one would certainly guess off-hand that your M.2 slot is SATA only...

(The most desirable slot would be one that accepts both NVME and SATA, of course)

A $20-$30 USB 3.0 ?NVME adapter will at least let the NVME drive be utilized as external storage in the short term, so it does not merely sit in a drawer awaiting a fairly costly mainboard/CPU/RAM upgrade to gain NVME compatibility)

Update:

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...-d3a_e.pdf?v=56fcec9746870c8e09fc70e824f2d760

Page 6 or your mainboard's online manual clearly lists it's M.2 slot specs as SATA only, so I find it difficult to fathom a 960 EVO as having ever worked in an allegedly SATA only slot...

Perhaps a BIOS update would allow the PNY SATA M.2 drive to be recognized in BIOS...
 
mdd1963 said:
As all of the supported M.2 drives are SATA, one would certainly guess off-hand that your M.2 slot is SATA only...

(The most desirable slot would be one that accepts both NVME and SATA, of course)

A $20-$30 USB 3.0 ?NVME adapter will at least let the NVME drive be utilized as external storage in the short term, so it does not merely sit in a drawer awaiting a fairly costly mainboard/CPU/RAM upgrade to gain NVME compatibility)

Update:

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...-d3a_e.pdf?v=56fcec9746870c8e09fc70e824f2d760

Page 6 or your mainboard's online manual clearly lists it's M.2 slot specs as SATA only, so I find it difficult to fathom a 960 EVO as having ever worked in an allegedly SATA only slot...

Perhaps a BIOS update would allow the PNY SATA M.2 drive to be recognized in BIOS...
Click to expand...
The Samsung EVO an PNY are NOT M.2's they are regular Solid State Drives which is why the Evo works. The ONLY M.2 I've ever interacted with is this SK Hynix, if its the case my MB runs SATA NVMe not PCIe NVMe I'll just look out for that in the future an shop accordingly

What do you mean by most desirable is SATA and NVMe? Isn't it either "SATA NVMe" or "PCIe NVMe"? I always thought of SATA cables as just a cable for communicating the MB to the Product in question, I never realized with M.2 drives going straight into the slot on the MB that there would be two types of these connections, Ive also always associated PCIe with expansion slots so I assumed it was a way of expressing the M.2 drive when it is called a PCIe NVMe...
Maybe Im not understanding exactly what NVMe is..
 
Last edited:
Dimrock said:
if its the case my MB runs SATA NVMe not PCIe NVMe I'll just look out for that in the future an shop accordingly
Click to expand...
"SATA NVMe" is not a thing.

There is SATA protocol, or NVMe protocol.
Both SATA and NVMe can be in the M.2 format. That is just how it plugs in.

You can have an M.2 port that is SATA only.
Or NVMe only.
Or both.

But again, that is just the port.
 
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USAFRet said:
"SATA NVMe" is not a thing.

There is SATA protocol, or NVMe protocol.
Both SATA and NVMe can be in the M.2 format. That is just how it plugs in.

You can have an M.2 port that is SATA only.
Or NVMe only.
Or both.

But again, that is just the port.
Click to expand...
Understood, that's some of the clarification I needed.
I believe the M.2 port on my MB is SATA only, or that's what I'm now finding out. Prior to today I assumed all M.2 was the same.
So there are SATA M.2 an NVMe M.2? I guess when they say PCIe NVMe on the box its just a fancy way of saying NVMe?
I think the first google search I did lead my astray with the SATA NVMe an PCIe NVMe idea.
I found a Kingston article clarifying the types of M.2 a little more

My only other question would be, is it possible that PNY SSD from over a year ago always worked but it not being on the MB support list for SSD's cause it to not work or act like its a brick
 
Last edited:
USAFRet said:
Unlikely.
If it used to work but now does not, it is not because it is not on the approved list.
Click to expand...
No it never seemed to work out the box, was NEVER able to get it to show in BIOS or Disk Management to allocate the disk. IDK that's something I'll continue to mess with an if I really wanna fix it I'll start a topic dedicated to it maybe.
Thank you for your time an replies sir, you've helped me figure out my next decision an taught me stuff an I appreciate that
 
Dimrock said:
No it never seemed to work out the box, was NEVER able to get it to show in BIOS or Disk Management to allocate the disk. IDK that's something I'll continue to mess with an if I really wanna fix it I'll start a topic dedicated to it maybe.
Thank you for your time an replies sir, you've helped me figure out my next decision an taught me stuff an I appreciate that
Click to expand...
Ah.
If it NEVER worked or showed up, likely it was totally not compatible.
 
If you open a Command Prompt window as an Administrator, then type DISKPART and at the DISKPART prompt type LIST DISK do you see any of the problem disks in the list and is there an asterisk in the GPT column, something like this:

DISKPART> LIST DISK

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 1863 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 1 Online 931 GB 1024 KB *

You many not be able to format the disks because they don't have a partition table header, preferably GPT and not MBR.
 
Dimrock said:
The Samsung EVO an PNY are NOT M.2's they are regular Solid State Drives which is why the Evo works. The ONLY M.2 I've ever interacted with is this SK Hynix, if its the case my MB runs SATA NVMe not PCIe NVMe I'll just look out for that in the future an shop accordingly

What do you mean by most desirable is SATA and NVMe? Isn't it either "SATA NVMe" or "PCIe NVMe"? I always thought of SATA cables as just a cable for communicating the MB to the Product in question, I never realized with M.2 drives going straight into the slot on the MB that there would be two types of these connections, Ive also always associated PCIe with expansion slots so I assumed it was a way of expressing the M.2 drive when it is called a PCIe NVMe...
Maybe Im not understanding exactly what NVMe is..
Click to expand...
I meant the most compatible M.2 slot is compatible with both M.2 SATA drives and M.2 NVME drives... (Sorry for the confusion)
 
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