asrock z97 extreme4 m2 and sata limitations

docp

Senior member
Jul 4, 2007
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0
76
hello,
i just managed to install intel m2 sad and boot windows with it but in return of 1 m2 port,i lost 3 sata ports.

2 ports on intel sata controller and one sata express which is useless as such.

why does it do so.
when m2 also running on same sata bandwidth.
 

freeskier93

Senior member
Apr 17, 2015
487
19
81
SATA-E uses a combination of PCIe lanes and SATA, most M.2 share the same PCIe and SATA lanes. On some higher end MBs the M.2 uses strictly PCIe lanes, there are a bunch of configurations M.2 can take, but typically for cost measures and/or PCIe lane limitations M.2 and SATA-E share lanes.

If you're using M.2 you should only be losing the two SATA ports used for SATA-E, I'm not sure why you'd be losing a 3rd SATA port.
 
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docp

Senior member
Jul 4, 2007
206
0
76
any ways to increase sata ports, it has 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots

this is what spec.says about m2 and sata,

The M.2 Socket, SATA3_4, SATA3_5 and SATA Express share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
6,799
1,103
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You used one M.2 and it disabled 3 SATA Ports (actually 2 standard size SATA ports + 1 smaller SATA Express port), but you still have 6 left. How many ports do you need?

rk30x4.png


You can always buy PCIE SATA adapters.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...sata iii card&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30
 
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Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
2
71
Yeah, in such case M.2 is shared with SATAe which in turn is shared with two SATA ports. So if actually "losing" SATAe and two ports, then four SATA ports would be "lost". So ensure the BIOS/UEFI is current and configured correctly.