[SOLVED] Upgrade M2 SSD on ASUS Z97-WS mobo

Doctor Jellybean

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Dec 19, 2019
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I currently have a Plextor PX-G128M6e SSD, and wish to upgrade to a larger drive.

I'm looking at the WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD M.2 SATA - 1 TB drive. Is it compatible with my mobo? The NAND part makes me unsure.

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Yes, it will work. The "NAND" has nothing to do with compatibility, that is just how the data is structured internally.

The WD Blue is a SATA M.2 drive. No faster than its regular 2.5"cousin.
And slightly slower than your current Plextor.
 
Solution
Ok, due to the M2 connector on the motherboard sharing the bandwidth with the SATAEXPRESS connector , it looks like I may have to use a PCIE adapter card instead of using the M2 motherboard slot if I want to use the SATAEXPRESS for an additional hard drive.

The WD Blue SN500 has two cutouts in the connector, as my current Plextor. The majority of PCIE adapter cards seem to accept SSDs with one cutout?
 
Ok, due to the M2 connector on the motherboard sharing the bandwidth with the SATAEXPRESS connector , it looks like I may have to use a PCIE adapter card instead of using the M2 motherboard slot if I want to use the SATAEXPRESS for an additional hard drive.

The WD Blue SN500 has two cutouts in the connector, as my current Plextor. The majority of PCIE adapter cards seem to accept SSDs with one cutout?
The spec sheet does NOT say that the M.2 port shares with the SATA express.
 
Interesting. You appear to be reading it correctly.
The specs here don't mention that:
"*1 The PCIe x4_1, USB3_E56 and SATAExpress_E1 connectors share the same bandwidth. "

In any case, I'd still use the native M.2 port.
"When you use both connectors, the system automatically detects the devices connected to these connectors and set a higher priority to M.2 Socket 3 than SATA_EXPRESS_1 interface"

They'd both work, just that the M.2 takes bandwidth priority.