Can you use two M.2 SSD in this MBO?

ssal

Active Member
This is regarding ASRock B450M PRO4 AM4 AMD Promontory B450 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD. The specs said this:

"Equipped with M.2 slot that supports both SATA3 6Gb/s and PCIe Gen3 x4 Ultra M.2 interface that pushes data transfer speeds up to 32Gb/s, and is compatible with ASRock's U.2 Kit for installing some of the world's fastest U.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD"​

But when I spec 2 of this:

I got a warning from PCPartPicker that said this:
"The motherboard M.2 slot #2 shares bandwidth with a SATA 6.0 Gb/s port. When the M.2 slot is populated, one SATA 6.0 Gb/s port is disabled."
Does that mean I CANNOT use 2 M.2 SSD drives in this MBO?
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Why not just get one larger M.2 NVME drive and be done?

It has two M.2 slots but one only supports SATA. There's a few SATA Drives that fit into that form factor and are limited similarly to a 2.5" SATA drive as far as bus bandwidth.
 

ssal

Active Member
The reason for two separate M.2 SSD (if possible) is to have one for the OS, programs/apps and cache. I can image this drive to save it in the HHD. If the system is attacked by virus, like ransom/blackmail, I can restore the the system drive from the image without too much problem.

I also want to have another M.2 SSD for the dedicated video project, which requires fast I/O when editing.

If I cannot use 2x M.2 SSD, I will have one SATA SSD and one M.2 SSD.

I put together the this build. Can someone check it out and see if I am doing it right? I am a total newbie in building my own machine.
 

ssal

Active Member
Why don't you just partition it?
When I edit video, it uses cache. Ideally, it should be a separate drive so the I/O are separated from the I/O of the video itself. But I guess I can put it in a separate partition of the same drive with a little compromise.

When virus attacks, does it localize in the partition of the OS only?
 

ssal

Active Member
How do I partition the M.2 drive into 50% OS and 50% data before I install the OS in it?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
How do I partition the M.2 drive into 50% OS and 50% data before I install the OS in it?
By using the installation media. Have no other drives attached to the system while installing windows. When you get to the point where it asks you where to install, click on new and create the partitions you want.
 

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
By using the installation media. Have no other drives attached to the system while installing windows. When you get to the point where it asks you where to install, click on new and create the partitions you want.
In addition, if that doesn't work you can use Diskpart.
 
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