Question Upgrade my main SSD ?

[RickVS]

Thanks to this community, I was able to upgrade my 2016 gaming rig to Windows 11. My only (small) complaint is that applications are slower to load. The motherboard is the MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING motherboard. Right now, I have a SanDisk Ultra II SDSSDHII-960G 1 Tb SSD for my C: drive using SATA (550/500 MB/s read/write speeds). As to the M.2 slot which is currently empty, MSI specifies 1 x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA). I also have 2 other HDDs ( D: and E: ). As to storage, the motherboard can support:

-6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (2 ports reserved for SATA Express port)
-1 x M.2 Key M Socket supports type 2280/2260/2242 storage devices in both PCIE Gen3 x4 & SATA mode

Also, this: SATA5 and SATA6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 module in M.2 slot. I'm assuming this wouldn't impact my current SATA SSD and the two SATA HDDs. (if I install a new M.2 SSD, how many additional SATA drives would I be able to install?).

So, I'm looking at installing a PCIE 4.0 M.2 SSD. Specifically, the Samsung 990 Pro 2 Tb here: https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Internal-Expansion-MZ-V9P2T0B-AM/dp/B0BHJJ9Y77?crid=1RN23MTW0UZLS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.X4WDrbXWvIeKZWZq7p6nOzb1zHpMi_iuK7bGBV2vyEQ_7_1jymPXm23DT1yRzZKkbGBsNLK_8RghwD_65USkOzULwyC9ug7meFKewqhAYM7qxGomKpmGEOuHBtVighjCxulEw7fxZ5A98eZJ4WGwTo2WZnsoKjBc_umEmLSlmOAg_8pHRBb5djveEDaewYSyPyiXkAk8m6chwE6IT60lWqDnvKCZFXb5kKi-li8jeUs.-TaO2A2uXNL_B4kzVyEyLYK4zOX600DF_gabW6P0ToI&dib_tag=se&keywords=samsung+990+pro&qid=1754639258&sprefix=samsung+990+pro,aps,110&sr=8-1&th=1

Its speed is 7,450 MB/s which is more than 10 times faster than my current SSD. So my questions are:

1) If I install a new M.2 SSD, how many additional SATA drives would I be able to install given that SATA 5 & 6 ports would then be available? I have 3 SATA drives now.
2) Is there anything that I'm missing here? I'm assuming the MB would be able to take full advantage of the 990 Pro's speed.
3) If I move forward with this, is there a way for me to clone the current SSD onto the M.2 so I don't have to reinstall my OS from scratch again?
4) If I were able to clone the C: drive onto the new M.2 drive, can I do that if my original SSD is 1 Tb and the new SSD is 2 Tb?
5) I imagine if I could clone it, I would need an external M.2 drive enclosure that would enable me to clone the current SSD prior to actually inserting the M.2 in its slot. Is this right?

Thanks!

 

[Flayed]

Thanks to this community, I was able to upgrade my 2016 gaming rig to Windows 11. My only (small) complaint is that applications are slower to load. The motherboard is the MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING motherboard. Right now, I have a SanDisk Ultra II SDSSDHII-960G 1 Tb SSD for my C: drive using SATA (550/500 MB/s read/write speeds). As to the M.2 slot which is currently empty, MSI specifies 1 x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA). I also have 2 other HDDs (D: and E. As to storage, the motherboard can support:

-6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (2 ports reserved for SATA Express port)
-1 x M.2 Key M Socket supports type 2280/2260/2242 storage devices in both PCIE Gen3 x4 & SATA mode

Also, this: SATA5 and SATA6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 module in M.2 slot. I'm assuming this wouldn't impact my current SATA SSD and the two SATA HDDs. (if I install a new M.2 SSD, how many additional SATA drives would I be able to install?).

So, I'm looking at installing a PCIE 4.0 M.2 SSD. Specifically, the Samsung 990 Pro 2 Tb here: https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Internal-Expansion-MZ-V9P2T0B-AM/dp/B0BHJJ9Y77?crid=1RN23MTW0UZLS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.X4WDrbXWvIeKZWZq7p6nOzb1zHpMi_iuK7bGBV2vyEQ_7_1jymPXm23DT1yRzZKkbGBsNLK_8RghwD_65USkOzULwyC9ug7meFKewqhAYM7qxGomKpmGEOuHBtVighjCxulEw7fxZ5A98eZJ4WGwTo2WZnsoKjBc_umEmLSlmOAg_8pHRBb5djveEDaewYSyPyiXkAk8m6chwE6IT60lWqDnvKCZFXb5kKi-li8jeUs.-TaO2A2uXNL_B4kzVyEyLYK4zOX600DF_gabW6P0ToI&dib_tag=se&keywords=samsung+990+pro&qid=1754639258&sprefix=samsung+990+pro,aps,110&sr=8-1&th=1

Its speed is 7,450 MB/s which is more than 10 times faster than my current SSD. So my 3 questions are:

1) If I install a new M.2 SSD, how many additional SATA drives would I be able to install given that SATA 5 & 6 ports would then be available? I have 3 SATA drives now.
2) Is there anything that I'm missing here? I'm assuming the MB would be able to take full advantage of the 990 Pro's speed.
3) If I move forward with this, is there a way for me to clone the current SSD onto the M.2 so I don't have to reinstall my OS from scratch again?
4) If I were able to clone the C: drive onto the new M.2 drive, can I do that if my original SSD is 1 Tb and the new SSD is 2 Tb?
5) I imagine if I could clone it, I would need an external M.2 drive enclosure that would enable me to clone the current SSD prior to actually inserting the M.2 in its slot. Is this right?

Thanks!

With an m2 installed, you could have 4 SATA drives in total, so you would be able to add one additional drive.

Consider a different drive, this one is 30 quid cheaper and you won't notice any difference in performance :

PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: Western Digital WD_BLACK SN7100 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£111.67 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £111.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-08 09:06 BST+0100

I'm not sure about drive cloning I have never done it, perhaps someone else can offer advice.

 

[Misgar]

4) If I were able to clone the C: drive onto the new M.2 drive, can I do that if my original SSD is 1 Tb and the new SSD is 2 Tb?

Cloning is easy (once you understand the process) and find the correct software.

You don't need to buy a USB enclosure for the new M.2 drive on a desktop system.

Install the new M.2 drive and disconnect all your SATA drives, apart from the drive you're trying to clone. This is important and avoids problems wiping the wrong drive.

I use Macrium Reflect to clone disks, but there's Acronis True Image and your M.2 drive might come with a link to a web site where you can download cloning software.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/products/true-image/cloning/

You may find an option in the cloning software that automatically re-sizes your main C: drive, to fill the additional space on the new 2TB drive.

I've stuck with the old slightly more complicated process of "drag and drop" in Macrium Reflect, where I drag each partition in turn from the source (old) drive and drop it on to the destination (drive).

When my old drive has a 527MB Recovery partition at the end. I drag and drop this on to the new drive before I touch the C: drive partition.

When the Recovery partition has been dropped (but not copied) on to the new drive, I move the Recovery partition to the end of this new disk.

I am then left with a large contiguous space into which I drag and drop the C: drive partition, then I tell the cloning software to extend the C: partition to fill all the available free space.

This is far more complicated than letting the cloning software do it all for you, but it gives me the chance to change partition sizes manually.

After cloning comes the VITAL part. Before rebooting the computer into the M.2 drive, unplug the SATA cable from your old drive. This is important because it stops Windows from keeping the boot partition on the old drive when it starts the OS from the new drive.

You can reconnect the old SATA Windows drive after booting up successfully from the new M.2 drive. You can also reconnect all your other hard disks now.

Although your new M.2 NVMe Gen.4 will be faster, don't expect Windows to boot up 10x faster. It'll certainly be quicker, but the difference between SATA and M.2 boot times might only be 20 seconds.

The 7,450MB/s speed only applies to sequential transfers of large files (tens of MB) and Windows contains thousands of small files which take longer to open and close.

I don't know if you've spotted this, but since your mobo is only rated at 1 x 2280 Key M (PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA), if you install a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB it will be constrained to run at Gen.3 speeds.

There's no harm fitting a Gen.4 drive in a Gen.3 mobo, if you're thinking of buying a new mobo soon, but you won't get the full benefit of Gen.4 in a Gen.3 board.

The advertised speed of 7,450MB/s will be reduced to 3,750MB/s or thereabouts.

 

[USAFRet]

4) If I were able to clone the C: drive onto the new M.2 drive, can I do that if my original SSD is 1 Tb and the new SSD is 2 Tb?

-----------------------------
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 Magician (which includes 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.
-----------------------------

 

[RickVS]

Thanks for all of that detail. I look forward to working this through once the drive arrives.

"Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive"

I don't understand. An M.2 drive doesn't have a SATA cable / port, right?