A second m.2 SSD in a MSI B360M MORTAR

[ErdokovyZ]

I bought a prebuilt PC (https://www.alza.hu/alza-gamebox-core-rtx3070-d6326736.htm#parametry) with a MSI B360M MORTAR motherboard. I added a 2.5" SATA3 drive from my old PC. I also have my old boot drive, an nvme m.2 ssd (Samsung SAMSUNG 512GB PM961) and since the mobo has two m.2 slots I thought it would be nice to put it in for some extra storage. However I read the manual but did not understand the following notes:

 

"Intel® RST only supports PCIe M.2 SSD with UEFI ROM."

"SATA2 port will be unavailable when installing SATA M.2 SSD in M2_1 slot."

"M2_2 slot will be unavailable when installing a PCIe device in PCI_E4 slot."

"M2_2 slot only supports PCIe mode"

 

Could someone explain what those mean and their implications?

 

Thanks!

[HanZie82]

8 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"Intel® RST only supports PCIe M.2 SSD with UEFI ROM."

No oldskool BIOS when using M2 SSD and Intel RST?

8 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"SATA2 port will be unavailable when installing SATA M.2 SSD in M2_1 slot."

Installing SATA SSD in M2 slot1 will disable the SATA2 port.

8 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"M2_2 slot will be unavailable when installing a PCIe device in PCI_E4 slot."

Installing a PCIe device in PCIe slot 4 will disable M2 slot2 completely.

8 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"M2_2 slot only supports PCIe mode"

Cannot use SATA SSD on M2 Slot2 only NVME/PCIe SSD's

 

 

 

[minibois]

27 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"Intel® RST only supports PCIe M.2 SSD with UEFI ROM."

Nowadays everything will have an UEFI ROM, instead of CSM/legacy, so nothing to worry about here

 

There are two types of M.2 SSD's. M.2 SATA and M.2 PCIe (also known as NVME).

M.2 SATA is generally around 500MB/s read/write and typically has a connector with three 'teeth', Example:

Top = SATA, Bottom =  PCIe/NVME

(Although this keying is not exclusive, so for example the top could be PCIe still).

 

The SSD product page will typically list if it's SATA/PCIe too.

27 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

"SATA2 port will be unavailable when installing SATA M.2 SSD in M2_1 slot."
"M2_2 slot will be unavailable when installing a PCIe device in PCI_E4 slot."

"M2_2 slot only supports PCIe mode"

With that background information, these notices mean:

- If you are using a SATA M.2 SSD in the first M.2 slot, SATA port 2 will not work (SATA ports are used for HDD's, SSD's (excluding M.2), optical drives, etc.

- You can only use the second M.2 slot or the fourth PCIe slot, not both at the same time (PCIe slots are used for graphics cards, network cards, sound cards, etc., but typically people only use the first PCIe slot, for the graphics card)

- The second M.2 slot only support the M.2 PCIe variety of SSD's

[ErdokovyZ]

Nevermind, I can't read...

 

Thank you guys now I get it!
 

[HanZie82]

5 minutes ago, ErdokovyZ said:

Thank you guys! So if I move the 2.5" HDD from SATA4 to SATA3 and plug in the old SSD then everything should work right?

Both should work.

 

Only SATA2 would be disabled, but only when you have SATA SSD in M2_1
But thats not the case for SATA3 and SATA4

[ErdokovyZ]

So I installed the second SSD, all 3 drives work now.... however the wifi card stopped working. It's in this slot:

I bought a USB wifi dongle but it would be interesting to find out what's going on. I went through the manual but there is no mention of that particular slot anywhere... I'm guessing it's somehow related to that SATA2 being offline in some configurations.