Can an M.2 slot ONLY support NVME and NOT support SATA?

hat · Dec 12, 2019

Title pretty much says it all. I can't get my M.2 SSD (https://www.newegg.com/team-group-ms30-512gb/p/N82E16820331232?Item=N82E16820331232) to be detected by either my motherboard (ASROCK B450M/AC) or the Windows setup. After some searching and poking around in the BIOS, there doesn't seem to be an option for manually setting the M.2 port to SATA, either. There's only gen 1, 2 or 3 PCI-E options... :banghead:

If that's the case, would an adapter like this work to connect it to a standard SATA port?

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newtekie1 · Dec 12, 2019

Yes, it is possible. Though, I'll also say that I don't think any of my motherboards have an option to force the M.2 slots to SATA mode. Reading through the manual for that board it definitely makes it sound like the M.2 slot is NVMe/PCI-E only.

Yes, that adapter should work.

Athlonite · Dec 12, 2019

your mobo supports SATA (NGFF) M.2 ssd's it even has the MP32 listed in the Storage QVL which is SATA so maybe it's D.O.A can you try it in another mobo

DeathtoGnomes · Dec 12, 2019

pci slot adapter card too

newtekie1 · Dec 12, 2019

Athlonite said:
your mobo supports SATA (NGFF) M.2 ssd's it even has the MP32 listed in the Storage QVL which is SATA so maybe it's D.O.A can you try it in another mobo

Maybe we're looking at different QVL pages, but I don't see any SATA drives listed for the B450M/ac:

ASRock > B450M/ac

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

NoJuan999 · Dec 12, 2019

newtekie1, you are correct.
That Motherboard does NOT support m.2 SATA SSDs, only NVME m.2 SSDs:

Storage
- 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
- 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) (with Matisse, Picasso, Summit Ridge, Raven Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge) or Gen3 x2 (16 Gb/s) (with Athlon 2xxGE series APU)*

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
Supports ASRock U.2 Kit

ASRock > B450M/ac

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

biffzinker · Dec 12, 2019

If your board had two M.2 slots one PCIe x4 off the Ryzen SoC, and another off the B450 chipset. Then you could of used the second slot which would of likely been wired for M.2 SATA.

Athlonite · Dec 12, 2019

newtekie1 said:
Maybe we're looking at different QVL pages, but I don't see any SATA drives listed for the B450M/ac:

ASRock > B450M/ac

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

Yes your right I was looking at a completely different mobo which duckduckgo bought up and I just stupidly clicked on without really reading which mobo it had linked to which turned out to be the B450-HDV which lists SATA M.2 ssd's as supported in it's Storage QVL

pbm86 · Dec 12, 2019

That enclosure for SATA M.2 seems like a inexpensive way to make it work on your motherboard. You can also use a PCI-E adapter, but it's probably more expensive. The enclosure should suffice.

Sybaris_Caesar · Dec 12, 2019

Can I just say some OT that how cool is that AsRock very clearly lists the specs on the motherboard page. Idk about other brands but I had to download the manuals for MSI boards to see detailed spec sheet.

NoJuan999 · Dec 12, 2019

Khonjel said:
Can I just say some OT that how cool is that AsRock very clearly lists the specs on the motherboard page. Idk about other brands but I had to download the manuals for MSI boards to see detailed spec sheet.

MSI lists there specification as well, you just have to know where to look.

Click on the Detail tab on this page:

B450 TOMAHAWK MAX | Motherboard | MSI Global

Best AMD AM4 B450 ATX motherboard, Turbo M.2, Extended heatsink, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Mystic Light, MSI MAG

www.msi.com

Sybaris_Caesar · Dec 12, 2019

NoJuan999 said:
MSI lists there specification as well, you just have to know where to look.
Click on the Detail tab on this page:

B450 TOMAHAWK MAX | Motherboard | MSI Global

Best AMD AM4 B450 ATX motherboard, Turbo M.2, Extended heatsink, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Mystic Light, MSI MAG

www.msi.com

Hmmm. Maybe they added this later or it was always there and I wasn't looking at the right place (my money's on the latter) but in the end I used this list. I really should've bought the AsRock Steel Legend, but alas it was unavailable.

Eskimonster · Dec 12, 2019

PCIe x4 adaptor cost 2 $ in china

Keullo-e · Dec 13, 2019

Eskimonster said:
PCIe x4 adaptor cost 2 $ in china

Does that support SATA M.2? At least in the pic it reads NVMe.

Flaky · Dec 13, 2019

Obviously not. To support SATA M.2 it would either have to have a sata controller, or a socket to plug sata cable.

erixx · Dec 13, 2019

Surprising story, because SATA has other edge connectors, but yes, a SATA would fit in an NVMe slot but not the other way around.

TheLostSwede · Dec 13, 2019

erixx said:
Surprising story, because SATA has other edge connectors, but yes, a SATA would fit in an NVMe slot but not the other way around.

Actually, no. They really screwed up the M.2 standard, as there are no less than five difference M.2 interfaces.
For storage, you have B and M key, where all NVMe drives are M key.
However, there are PCIe based AHCI drives as well, although they're not very common, but still uses the M key.
Then you have B key for SATA SSDs, which also isn't very common because...
Then, there's the bastard M+B key SATA drives, which shouldn't exist, yet they do, simply because you have motherboards that have M+B key slots, so they can accept SATA and NVMe drives in the same slot and this sort of breaks the standard when it comes to being able to guess what goes where and being sure it'll work.

On top of this, there's also the A and E interfaces, which are sometimes PCIe x1+USB+SDIO and sometimes USB+SDIO only. As far as I can tell, no-one has made an SSD for this interface.

Edit: The fifth interface would be solder down modules, mainly used for Wi-Fi modules.

erixx · Dec 13, 2019

It's easy to tell that you know all about this, hats off, but I was not wrong sir. It remains surprising, to me, that this standard mixing can happen as I explained.

TheLostSwede · Dec 13, 2019

erixx said:
View attachment 139249
It's easy to tell that you know all about this, hats off, but I was not wrong sir. It remains surprising, to me, that this standard mixing can happen as I explained.

That picture...
The first one is mSATA, but ok...
The second one is B+M key...

Most boards have an M keyed slot, into a B+M keyed SSD would fit.
This is also why it's impossible to know if it's PCIe only or PCIe and SATA from just looking at the slot.
There are no B+M slots afaik.

Keullo-e · Dec 13, 2019

TheLostSwede said:
There are no B+M slots afaik.

Haven't seen one, at least not yet. But yeah, that's kinda confusing if you don't research about what you're getting.

erixx · Dec 13, 2019

I bought a SDD enclosure months ago and the sellers on Amazon are all going crazy with warnings regarding the differences between SATA and Nvme M.2 ! The reason is of course confused people and complaints. The image is just from one of those. Nowadays a motherboard with connectivity for all the standards on sale is a real forest of slots! Don't lose the manual =8)

bonehead123 · Dec 13, 2019

When all else fails:

R.T.F.M..

'nuff said... :roll:

...

...

Keullo-e · Dec 13, 2019

bonehead123 said:
When all else fails:

R.T.F.M..

'nuff said............

"this crap is for women" said my relative about the manual when he bought a new printer.

TheLostSwede · Dec 13, 2019

Chloe Price said:
"this crap is for women" said my relative about the manual when he bought a new printer.

I rarely read manuals, but that's just stupid, as sometimes you have to reference them.

Keullo-e · Dec 13, 2019

TheLostSwede said:
I rarely read manuals, but that's just stupid, as sometimes you have to reference them.

Only for the motherboard headers if they're cryptic. Otherwise they're untouched.

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Can an M.2 slot ONLY support NVME and NOT support SATA?

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