[SOLVED] Why is M.2_2 not seen in RAID configuration?

[ScottinTexas]

I have an MSI X470 Gaming Pro Carbon. I have 2 M.2 500GB SSD I want to make a RAID array with. This will be my OS RAID. I am following the instructions for setting up the array from a You tube video. Each step has been fine except when I am supposed to go to Create Array it is disabled. Turns out it is only seeing one SSD. Using the mother board examiner it shows the second M.2 connector as being empty. When I set SAT Mode back to AHCI mode the second M.2 is recognized. I must be missing some setting, but it is not covered in the video. I want to set up a RAID 1 on these two SSDs.

Thanks for looking at this.

 

[USAFRet]

Why a RAID?
What type RAID array?
What specific M.2 drives?

 

[ScottinTexas]

1. Backup
2. RAID 1
3. Mushkin Helix-L 500GB PCIe NVMe 1.3

Also, when I select Raid, only the two WD 1TB drives appear. I need to unplug them for now. I don;'t want them to be part of the system RAID. I updated the BIOS and now when I boot I get a screen that is nothing like the original MSI BIOS UI. Its a gray and black MSI Click BIOS UI. During boot up it gives the option of entering the RAID setup. But it does not show the M.2 drives. I want the OS on M.2 and the rest on a RAID 1 with the 1TB HHDs.

 

[geofelt]

I might suggest that raid 1 may not be what you need for backup.
raid 1 protects specifically against a hardware failure of the drive itself.
It does not protect against other more likely damage such as ransomware, fire, raid hardware failure, inadvertent mistakes and so on.
For that, you need external backup.

As to why you are having difficulty, I can only speculate.
Most motherboards will have better performance on the primary m.2 slot compared to the aux slot.
Possibly there is a requirement for your motherboard raid hardware to use two identically performing drives.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Common misconception, but RAID 1 is not a backup. At all. It is for physical drive redundancy, not data redundancy.


https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X470-GAMING-PRO-CARBON/Specification

Your motherboard will have significant performance issues doing a RAID 1 with those drives.

• M2_1 slot (from AMD processor) supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD® Ryzen™/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD® Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (Athlon™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics) 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices
• M2_2 slot (from AMD X470 Chipset) supports PCIe 2.0x4 and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/2260/2280 storage devices

The second M.2 port is only PCIe 2.0x4. Hampering the speed of that drive in that port.
A RAID 1 runs at the speed of the slowest drive in the array.
So in the best of circumstances, you'd be crippling the performance of both drives down to PCIe 2.0 throughput.



And again...RAID 1 is not a means for backup.

Originally:
"I have 2 M.2 500GB SSD I want to make a RAID array with. "

But then, you state:
"I want the OS on M.2 and the rest on a RAID 1 with the 1TB HHDs. "


So...then which drives for this array?
(and its still a bad idea as far as data safety)

 

[ScottinTexas]

I used the words "back up" knowing that it is a duplicate of the drive. External "backupos" don't back up the system. I didn't realize there was a significant difference in speeds between the two M.2s.

I have 4 disks. 2 1TB and 2 500 GB the 500GB drives are for the OS only. Nothing else. The two 1 TB drives are so I can work from a 1TB drive with a duplicate being made the whole time. Two RAID 1 arrays. 1 for OS, 1 for all else. So I'll just set up the "all else" array for now. Just as soon as I can find out how.

Scott

 

[USAFRet]

External backups can easily backup the entire system. My systems here in the house do that every single night.
All drives, all systems, all automated.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

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