M.2 Question

[craptastic95]

My friend and I are debating about the keying for the m.2 on my motherboard. It is an M key. If I buy an SSD, with an M+B key, would it still work for me?

[Lemtea]

Yup

https://rog.asus.com/articles/maximus-motherboards/buying-an-m-2-ssd-how-to-tell-which-is-which/

[Livin]

6 minutes ago, craptastic95 said:

My friend and I are debating about the keying for the m.2 on my motherboard. It is an M key. If I buy an SSD, with an M+B key, would it still work for me?

The bigger thing I would look at is what type of SSD it is vs. what the board supports.  Is it an NVMe or SATA SSD?  What board (and slot on the board) are you trying to put it in?  Just because it physically fits doesn't mean it will work.

[Jurrunio]

depends on the board and SSD model. B+M key SSD can either be SATA or PCIe x2, while M key slot on a board can be PCIe x4, x2 or SATA.

[Glenwing]

The point of the keying is to prevent devices from fitting in slots that aren't compatible. An M.2 device with M and B notches will allow it to fit in M-keyed slots and B-keyed slots, so that means it will work in either of them. If it didn't work in M-keyed slots, it would have the M part filled in to prevent it from fitting in those slots.

[Livin]

6 minutes ago, Glenwing said:

The point of the keying is to prevent devices from fitting in slots that aren't compatible. An M.2 device with M and B notches will allow it to fit in M-keyed slots and B-keyed slots, so that means it will work in either of them. 

Not necessarily.  I had a build where the board only supported PCIe drives in the M.2 slot (with an M-key) and accidentally purchased a SATA based drive (with an M+B key) only to figure it out after trying to install Windows and not seeing any destinations.  Most newer boards have at least one slot for each type of drive, but if you're going back to Z97/X99 that unfortunately wasn't always the case.

[Glenwing]

7 minutes ago, Livin said:

Not necessarily.  I had a build where the board only supported PCIe drives in the M.2 slot (with an M-key) and accidentally purchased a SATA based drive (with an M+B key) only to figure it out after trying to install Windows and not seeing any destinations.  Most newer boards have at least one slot for each type of drive, but if you're going back to Z97/X99 that unfortunately wasn't always the case.

That's true, it's up to the manufacturers what capabilities to support. I interpreted the question as asking whether M+B keyed devices were categorically incompatible with M-keyed slots.

[craptastic95]

So I have an MSI B250I Gaming Pro C. I want fit a 500 GB WD Drive.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/ref=sr_1_13?crid=1STZ34Z0SV9XN&keywords=500gb+ssd&qid=1550026663&s=gateway&sprefix=500%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-13

 

Would you guys be able to help me figure out if it is compatible? 

[Livin]

 

3 hours ago, craptastic95 said:

So I have an MSI B250I Gaming Pro C. I want fit a 500 GB WD Drive.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0B/dp/B073SBX6TY/ref=sr_1_13?crid=1STZ34Z0SV9XN&keywords=500gb+ssd&qid=1550026663&s=gateway&sprefix=500%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-13

 

Would you guys be able to help me figure out if it is compatible? 

MSI lists "1 x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA on back side)" for your M.2 slot, so you should be fine.  That will handle either a SATA or up to x4 PCIe drive.