Question Asus P8Z68 cannot get SSD M.2 on PCIE Adapter to install

[retiredat44]

Asus P8Z68 cannot get SSD M.2 on PCIE Adapter to install. I have M.2 SSD, it is an SP M.2 256GB SSD. It worked fine, pulled it out of my other newer motherboard to upgrade the size to larger. I wanted to put it in my older Asus P8Z68 motherboard in another computer with Win10. The P8Z68 does not have the M.2 slot so I put it in a PCIE adapter. No matter what I do, the computer Win10 will not recognize the M.2 SSD on the PCIE adapter. The Asus P8Z68 Gen 3 Pro doe snot have CSM to set in the Bios, and has the latest Bios. yes, it is about 5 years old now, but I should be able to use the PCIE adapter. I have a Sata SSD that I tried with it and no problems. But the PCIE adapter just will not work and I did everything I could using directions of several forums and websites. I have the SP SSD (Silicon Power brand SSD) Tool Box, and it does not see the PCIE M.2 mounted on the PCIE adapter with Win10 either. Anyone have any directions on how to get it to be seen by Windows 10 ? Thanx

 

[Shmee]

It is not meant to fit into a SATA cable. Yes, it will fit in an m.2 slot, but the adapter you bought is likely not compatible with SATA based m.2, only PCIe based ones.

There are different types of m.2 SSDs and slots, and many slots/adapters only support either PCIe or SATA protocols and not both. For more information, you should research the m.2 format, NVMe, PCIe, and SATA.

 

[Thibs38]

Oh okay I understand now, I was confused with sata m2 and pcie m2 sorry, you are right my adapter is not meant for sata m2 sorry for bothering you, I hope that I didn't fry my pci slots or ssd

 

[Arkaign]

You're probably fine, lack of power is the better of the two options between too much and too little ☺️

That's a rare bird, the old SATA type m.2. A lot of that is because there was already an arguably more sensible format for small laptop SATA based SSDs called mSATA, and the m.2 interface standard largely corresponded with the rise of much faster PCIe based nVME.

It's also a case where the costs vs benefit can sometimes be worth looking at before buying stuff. I'm not saying this to pick on you, I've made a number of similar judgement errors and there's definitely something to be said for making use of what you already have.

That said, I mean a used 128gb m.2 nVME (2-3x faster even for pretty basic ones) is about a $20 buy, and a brand new 256gb m.2 nVME with 2000+ mb/s is $35 new on Amazon (with of course similar prices for just outright SATA 2.5" SSDs that require no adapters for your 6 series board, which is the most economical way to go about it).

I have a spare 128gb m.2 nVME drive, brand new pull from a system that I was deploying for the firm. Our loadset calls for minimum 480gb, and we always reformat new units with base clean windows rather than accept OEM bloat, so the drive has something like 30 minutes of uptime on it. If you want, I can give you a direct swap, we can cross ship and you'll have something that will work with your PCIe m.2 adapter. I also refurb a lot of units for a local charity resale shop and food bank, so I'd probably eventually find something that could use a SATA type m.2.

 

[blckgrffn]

You're probably fine, lack of power is the better of the two options between too much and too little ☺

That's a rare bird, the old SATA type m.2. A lot of that is because there was already an arguably more sensible format for small laptop SATA based SSDs called mSATA, and the m.2 interface standard largely corresponded with the rise of much faster PCIe based nVME.

It's also a case where the costs vs benefit can sometimes be worth looking at before buying stuff. I'm not saying this to pick on you, I've made a number of similar judgement errors and there's definitely something to be said for making use of what you already have.

That said, I mean a used 128gb m.2 nVME (2-3x faster even for pretty basic ones) is about a $20 buy, and a brand new 256gb m.2 nVME with 2000+ mb/s is $35 new on Amazon (with of course similar prices for just outright SATA 2.5" SSDs that require no adapters for your 6 series board, which is the most economical way to go about it).

I have a spare 128gb m.2 nVME drive, brand new pull from a system that I was deploying for the firm. Our loadset calls for minimum 480gb, and we always reformat new units with base clean windows rather than accept OEM bloat, so the drive has something like 30 minutes of uptime on it. If you want, I can give you a direct swap, we can cross ship and you'll have something that will work with your PCIe m.2 adapter. I also refurb a lot of units for a local charity resale shop and food bank, so I'd probably eventually find something that could use a SATA type m.2.

It's still confusing some times. Not that long ago NewEgg had a Shell Shocker on a Western Digital Blue M.2 sata drive it was like $65 for a 1TB stick drive! ... but it looked so much like a NVME drive I just about bought it. Many boards (maybe not the newest) support a M.2 sata drive in one of the "nvme" slots but you lose a SATA port 🤷‍♂️

A gigabyte Brix system I bought in the last year had a drive slot that was M2 SATA *only* and I just about sent back as defective for not detecting my NVME drive until I RTFM and realized that I was doing it wrong. I mean, you just put in the ram and drive and start it up? How could I be doing it wrong?!? 🤦‍♂️

TLDR, I am certain a M2 Sata drive can find a useful home

 

[Thibs38]

You're probably fine, lack of power is the better of the two options between too much and too little ☺

That's a rare bird, the old SATA type m.2. A lot of that is because there was already an arguably more sensible format for small laptop SATA based SSDs called mSATA, and the m.2 interface standard largely corresponded with the rise of much faster PCIe based nVME.

It's also a case where the costs vs benefit can sometimes be worth looking at before buying stuff. I'm not saying this to pick on you, I've made a number of similar judgement errors and there's definitely something to be said for making use of what you already have.

That said, I mean a used 128gb m.2 nVME (2-3x faster even for pretty basic ones) is about a $20 buy, and a brand new 256gb m.2 nVME with 2000+ mb/s is $35 new on Amazon (with of course similar prices for just outright SATA 2.5" SSDs that require no adapters for your 6 series board, which is the most economical way to go about it).

I have a spare 128gb m.2 nVME drive, brand new pull from a system that I was deploying for the firm. Our loadset calls for minimum 480gb, and we always reformat new units with base clean windows rather than accept OEM bloat, so the drive has something like 30 minutes of uptime on it. If you want, I can give you a direct swap, we can cross ship and you'll have something that will work with your PCIe m.2 adapter. I also refurb a lot of units for a local charity resale shop and food bank, so I'd probably eventually find something that could use a SATA type m.2.

Thanks for proposing to swap the ssds, you have to know that mine was the boot drive from a broken laptop, so it is at least 3 years old. Also, the adapter I bought was like 5€ on aliexpress so it is no big deal 😅