Question about NVMe vs. SATA SSD's and SATA ports

[vano411]

So I've got a headless Plex Media/NAS at home. Here's the spec sheet:

• CPU: Intel Pentium Gold G5500
• Motherboard: ASRock H370M-ITX/ac
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8 GB
• SSD: Silicon Power 128GB A55 M.2 SSD
• Storage: 4x Western Digital Red 4 TB (SnapRaid + MergerFS) 
• Case: Fractal Design Node 304 
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 550W

Running out of storage so I was looking to get two additional 4TB drives in there.

 

The motherboard has a total of six SATA ports, as well as an M.2 port. The spec sheet indicates that if the M.2 port is occupied with a SATA-type device, then one of the SATA ports will be disabled. My current M.2 SSD is a SATA device.

 

My question is, if I replace that with an NVMe drive (which the board does support), will it then allow me to use all six SATA ports?

 

Sorry for asking here. I've tried reaching out to ASRock themselves numerous times with this question but they are apparently not in the business of replying.

[Electronics Wizardy]

From the looks of it, a pcie drive won't disable any sata ports.

[Kilrah]

They wouldn't have specified "occupied with a SATA-type device" if it was "occupied with any type"...

[vano411]

I figured as much but wanted to be sure. Would hate to spend $300+ on equipment to then find out I can't use any of it.