[SOLVED] Which M.2 slots to use for mirrored drives

[manniongeo]

I'm building a new machine and intend to use a pair of M.2 NVMe drives in a mirrored configuration. My motherboard (MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4) has four M.2 slots, which the product documentation describes as:

• Slot 1: "From CPU"
• Slots 2 - 4: "From Z690 chipset"

I have a basic understanding of what this means from having read some documentation for my processor (Intel i5-12600K), but I don't know enough to understand the implications for how best to install these two drives.

• QUESTION: Should I install one drive in the "From CPU" slot and one in a "From Z690 chipset" slot, or install both drives in the latter type of slots - and why?

Again, these drives are going to be mirrored, if that matters. I'm leaning toward letting the motherboard do the mirroring, but I haven't read enough to decide for sure yet, so feel free to comment on mobo vs. OS mirroring, if it's relevant to the decision about where to physically install the drives (otherwise, I'll keep researching that general topic elsewhere).

Thanks in advance!

 

[USAFRet]

First off...Why 'mirrored'?
RAID 1 mirroring is not a real backup procedure.

What specific drives?

 

[manniongeo]

First off...Why 'mirrored'?
RAID 1 mirroring is not a real backup procedure.

What specific drives?

Respectfully, I'd like to keep this thread on-topic and avoid a discussion of the merits / misuses of mirroring. Suffice it to say, I've been a database / system architect for 20+ years and understand the appropriate uses of various RAID and backup/recovery technologies. Please assume, even if only for the sake of argument, that mirroring is efficacious here.

The drives are Western Digital SN750 SE. The volume they support is going to hold the OS and applications, with data residing elsewhere.

 

[USAFRet]

Asking the question was necessary, because far far too many people are of the opinion that RAID 1 mirroring is a viable backup mechanism.
Since you are apparently beyond that, we can move on...

For the SN750's, it does not matter which of the 4 M.2 ports.
Chipset or CPU...you'll see no performance or reliability difference.

 

[manniongeo]

For the SN750's, it does not matter which of the 4 M.2 ports.
Chipset or CPU...you'll see no performance or reliability difference.

OK, thank you!

I'm going to put one of them in Slot 1 because it comes with a heat sink. I'm not sure why just that one slot does, but I might as well make use of it.