Can I even run this M.2 MX500?

[Energycore]

Hey y'all!

 

So yesterday night I kind of impulse-bought a 1TB M.2 MX500 because I needed more storage, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the SATA option.

 

I forgot that I'm running a pretty old motherboard (Chipset H61) that can't even do AHCI (and the BIOS is old style not UEFI), so now I'm left wondering if I can even run it.

 

I have installed the M.2 Drive through a PCIe 2.0 x1 adapter (I know 500MB/s max but it's plenty for now) and I can't get it recognized in the Device Manager or in the BIOS.

 

Is there actually a way to get it recognized? Can I solve my problem by using a SATA adapter instead of a PCIe?

 

Other specs:

Spoiler

Intel Xeon E3 1240 (Sandy Bridge i7 equivalent)
PowerColor R9 290 "Really effing loud" Edition

Motherboard: GA-H61M-S2V-B3

Corsair 2x4GB DDR3

Other Storage Devices: 120GB Trion 150 + 1TB WD RE+ + 240GB SSD Plus

Corsair CX450M

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

a mx500 is a sata ssd, so a pcie adatper won't work, you want a sata to m.2 adapter.

 

 

[svmlegacy]

4 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Hey y'all!

 

So yesterday night I kind of impulse-bought a 1TB M.2 MX500 because I needed more storage, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the SATA option.

 

I forgot that I'm running a pretty old motherboard (Chipset H61) that can't even do AHCI (and the BIOS is old style not UEFI), so now I'm left wondering if I can even run it.

 

I have installed the M.2 Drive through a PCIe 2.0 x1 adapter (I know 500MB/s max but it's plenty for now) and I can't get it recognized in the Device Manager or in the BIOS.

 

Is there actually a way to get it recognized? Can I solve my problem by using a SATA adapter instead of a PCIe?

 

Other specs:

  Reveal hidden contents

Intel Xeon E3 1240 (Sandy Bridge i7 equivalent)
PowerColor R9 290 "Really effing loud" Edition

Motherboard: GA-H61M-S2V-B3

Corsair 2x4GB DDR3

Other Storage Devices: 120GB Trion 150 + 1TB WD RE+ + 240GB SSD Plus

Corsair CX450M

 

Most motherboards of the 1155 platform are UEFI even if it has the old style configuration (Gigabyte held on for a bit), but none AFAIK have NVMe support. There is however, BIOS mods that can be done to get it to recognize. I'll see if I can pull some sources if you're up for that.

[svmlegacy]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

a mx500 is a sata ssd, so a pcie adatper won't work, you want a sata to m.2 adapter.

^^^^^^ Right.

[Jurrunio]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

a mx500 is a sata ssd, so a pcie adatper won't work, you want a sata to m.2 adapter.

 

 

Not all PCIe to M.2 cards only run PCIe, but it's definitely worth checking whether the adapter runs SATA or not

[schwellmo92]

The MX500 is a SATA drive, you’ll need to check if your motherboards M.2 a lot supports SATA.

[Energycore]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

a mx500 is a sata ssd, so a pcie adatper won't work, you want a sata to m.2 adapter.

 

 

Almost 100% sure this is the problem. I'm upset because that means I'm running a fourth SATA Cable into my motherboard, but could be worse I guess.

 

This will all be fixed in the Great Upgrade of 2020 (coming blizzard soon)

[Kisai]

10 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Hey y'all!

 

So yesterday night I kind of impulse-bought a 1TB M.2 MX500 because I needed more storage, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the SATA option.

 

I forgot that I'm running a pretty old motherboard (Chipset H61) that can't even do AHCI (and the BIOS is old style not UEFI), so now I'm left wondering if I can even run it.

 

I have installed the M.2 Drive through a PCIe 2.0 x1 adapter (I know 500MB/s max but it's plenty for now) and I can't get it recognized in the Device Manager or in the BIOS.

 

Is there actually a way to get it recognized? Can I solve my problem by using a SATA adapter instead of a PCIe?

 

Other specs:

  Reveal hidden contents

Intel Xeon E3 1240 (Sandy Bridge i7 equivalent)
PowerColor R9 290 "Really effing loud" Edition

Motherboard: GA-H61M-S2V-B3

Corsair 2x4GB DDR3

Other Storage Devices: 120GB Trion 150 + 1TB WD RE+ + 240GB SSD Plus

Corsair CX450M

 

If it's PCIe, the BIOS needs support to run it.

If it's SATA, the BIOS needs AHCI to run it in SATA mode. If there is no BIOS support, a PCIe drive is just a PCIe device and will not be seen outside the OS, where as a SATA device REQUIRES BIOS support to boot, or can be booted from a PCIe SATA card that has it's own boot rom (that may need to be enabled.)

 

Though I'd say cut your losses. If it's a SATA model, you just need a PCIe/SATA bracket and connect a SATA header to it. If it's a PCIe model (which looks like the MX500 isn't) there should still be a reference to it in device manager.

 

[Energycore]

10 minutes ago, Kisai said:

If it's PCIe, the BIOS needs support to run it.

If it's SATA, the BIOS needs AHCI to run it in SATA mode. If there is no BIOS support, a PCIe drive is just a PCIe device and will not be seen outside the OS, where as a SATA device REQUIRES BIOS support to boot, or can be booted from a PCIe SATA card that has it's own boot rom (that may need to be enabled.)

 

Though I'd say cut your losses. If it's a SATA model, you just need a PCIe/SATA bracket and connect a SATA header to it. If it's a PCIe model (which looks like the MX500 isn't) there should still be a reference to it in device manager.

 

It's 100% a SATA device. In fact the 2.5" form factor of this SSD came out first. I just bought the M.2 because it was significantly cheaper + I wanted less clutter with all them SATA cables. Turns out I'm gonna need a SATA adapter (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6PMZLW) and a cable anyway

 

So to be clear, if I run this through a SATA adapter into one of my SATA ports it should be recognized by the BIOS as a SATA device correct?

[Kisai]

Just now, Energycore said:

It's 100% a SATA device. In fact the 2.5" form factor of this SSD came out first. I just bought the M.2 because it was significantly cheaper + I wanted less clutter with all them SATA cables. Turns out I'm gonna need a SATA adapter (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6PMZLW) and a cable anyway

 

So to be clear, if I run this through a SATA adapter into one of my SATA ports it should be recognized by the BIOS as a SATA device correct?

Correct. M2 SATA is just SATA. The power comes from the PCIe card and the SATA requires a connection to the MB SATA port.

[NewMaxx]

You absolutely need a M.2-to-PCIe adapter that supports SATA drives specifically, however there are further two types of adapters that manage that. One has no storage controller on the adapter and therefore requires a SATA cable from the adapter to your motherboard. The other has a storage controller and can send data through the PCIe slot.

[Kisai]

45 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

You absolutely need a M.2-to-PCIe adapter that supports SATA drives specifically, however there are further two types of adapters that manage that. One has no storage controller on the adapter and therefore requires a SATA cable from the adapter to your motherboard. The other has a storage controller and can send data through the PCIe slot.

There are quite a few PCIe boards out there.

This model with no chips on it and no SATA connector on it, is actually PCIe-only

 

 

This model that has two cards on it, and a SATA port, only one slot is SATA, the other is PCIe. You have to be careful, because both listings I pulled these images from, say AHCI and NVMe PCIe.

 

Pretty much ALL listings on amazon are like this. There are two key things to look for:

a) SATA PORT, if you want to connect a SATA drive. Note the key's on the above image for the SSD, you can't simply flip the card over.

b) PCIe x 4 = Properly keyed for PCIe. If it's only PCIe x1 then it's almost certainly SATA.

 

[NewMaxx]

In any case, you can look for one with a chipset like the ASM1061 like this. Worth noting is that generally these controllers are x1 SATA 2.0 so you'll be limited to 5 Gbps with 8b/10b encoding.