How To Add Storage To Your PC w/ Only ONE M.2 Slot. Works On Any Motherboard!
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- So I’ve had my computer for years, and over that time, I’ve used almost all of my storage. My problem was - I wanted fast storage, but I only have one M.2 slot. That’s where an NVME M.2 to PCIe storage card comes in.
In this video, I’ll go step by step on how to add an M.2 to an occupied one-slot M.2 setup.
Product Links #ad:
SABRENT NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe on Amazon:
amzn.to/3Qo8tNN
WD 2TB M.2 SSD:
amzn.to/3M8Cpek
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Click the like if this helps and you wanna cookie 🍪
Hi there, thanks for the tutorial and recommendation for the Sabrent PCIe to NVMe!!!
You’re welcome! Let me know how it goes 👍
@@OptionsFinest Great tutorial!! Thanks for the helpp, successfully installed!
@@SolRose5 Wooohoo! I'm glad it worked out, enjoy!
Thanks for including the bit about how to set it up in windows :)
You’re welcome! Really happy I helped. You made my day 🫶
I know this is an older video, so hopefully you see this. Does this wipe your original drive when you first take it out of the motherboard? I am not super familiar with working on PC's, so I am just curious if this would wipe my drive in the process or not.
Perfectly normal question. No it wouldn’t wipe your drive if you removed it and replugged it in. Your system recognizes your drive since it’s already formatted and when it’s starting it searches for the drive with windows on it with all available drives.
Just make sure you turn the system off, switch the psu off physically, and unplug the power cord. After you do that you can start messin with the parts 👍
Feel free to reply with any other questions I’ll keep an eye out 🫡
Awesome! Thank you for the quick response, man. I rewatched the video again today and see that you basically mention that towards the end, so apologies for asking about something you already covered. This thing looks like the solution I was looking for as far as adding more fast storage to my PC, so I will be looking into getting it down the road. Thanks for the great straight-forward video! I will be saving it to come back to when it comes time for me to install one myself
would this work on the msi b450 tomahawk max? i think the secondary pcie slots are 2.0 if im not mistaken?
watt to if i have 2 storeges 1 full the other emty and idk have to use the emty one? plz help
Can I put the new ssd to in ryzer and the old one still in the slot
Hi! Thank you for this info. Was your old drive your C (OS) drive? I put my new ssd drive in the old m.2 slot and put my old C drive in the riser in my pcIx8 slot, as you did. However, my computer would not boot up. When I switched the new drive to the riser and put the old one back in the m.2 slot, it booted up just fine. Is there something I am missing that prevented the computer from booting up with the new drive in the m.2 slot? Sorry if I am missing something obvious. I don't do this stuff very often. :)
Thanks for your patience! Hopefully you figured this out but if you didn't let's figure it out.
Yes my old drive was my OS drive that I replaced and moved. No worries! I don't think you've missed anything, it looks like the drive isn't being recognized as the boot drive anymore. Have you tried putting the new drive into the riser and leaving your OS drive in it's original spot?
@@OptionsFinest Yes, that is what I ended up doing. I was afraid that the riser would slow things down for my new ssd, but it seems to be working well, as I play MMO's and they are now stored on this new ssd and the speed is fine. It has given my 7 year old Aurora R6 an extended life. Thanks again for the help and the recommendation on which riser to use.
@@seabeegirl32 Awesome! You’re so welcome, I’m so glad it worked out well for you. Take care and enjoy!
How is performance? Since your system files are running on the smaller ssd sitting in the adapter is there any falloff in performance?
I haven’t seen any performance drop at all. Honestly I had a regular HDD and SSD before this so the speed jump was enough for me to nice a big difference.
Also, keep in mind, you’re plugging this into a x16 slot which is made for your GPU mainly. Your gpu processes wayy more data at intense speeds all the time, so it’s not gonna have a problem with this.
Does this affect the cooling for the gpu?
My smaller drive is defaulted to windows but it’s full and makes my pc crash is there a way I can default my windows drive to one of my bigger ones or do I have to buy another ssd?
my PCIe slot is x1, can the adapter you used still be used on mine? or will i have to buy a different adapter that'll fit in that PCIe x1 (my mobo is a GA-A320M-H)? Also because its x1 do you think itll effect the old SSD anyway like being slower? Thank you if you answer these questions!
The one I linked is mainly for x16 slots. Your mobo's 1x PCIE slot operates at PCIE 2.0 speeds or 1 gb/s. This video is primarily for x16 slots that are free. I'd recommend looking into getting a new board, but in the meantime, you can use this for the 1x slot, it's cheap, so a good temp solution. To sum it up, you're sacrificing speed w/ 1x slot but this gives you the opportunity to get a good m.2 with the 1x slot adapter and save for a better mobo. Once you get that new mobo, you can ditch the 1x slot & install your m.2 in your new board and be good to go.
If you want a 1x one, here's a good one: amzn.to/40FxXdF
And an m.2 I have personally: amzn.to/40EVr2F
Lmk what you decide!
@@OptionsFinest thank you so much this is very helpful! yea having a new mobo would be my new end goal now but this is a very good temp solution due to having used up all my space already. I will order both thank you again, btw this video was really good and i love how quick it was
@ awesome man I’m glad it was helpful & it’s always great to have an end goal! That’s the good thing about having a computer you have tons of options. And that means a lot to me I work hard on my videos that’s why there’s so few 😭 lmk which mobo you get when the time comes 🤙
can i just transfer all the files from my old ssd to the new one and remove the old ssd?
Yes you can. Once both SSDs are connected to your computer, you’ll be able to see them and you can simply click and drag from your old SSD into your new one.
If you want your Windows install transferred that’s a different process. And if you’re moving games I’d recommend reinstalling them through launchers instead of moving them.
I hope that helps!
@OptionsFinest or if using steam client for your games libary then use the migrate in steam to move your games over threw the steam client very simple to do and you want have any issues.
music is too loud against your voice.
Aw shoot I’m sorry.. I’ll remember for next video.
Was there anything that you think you missed that I could clear up?
My motherboard only has one NVME slot, I don't want to lose my data on the current C DRIVE, its 256 gb but I would like to upgrade to SSD 1 TB. Would I have to clone the drive?
Yes. I’m actually considering doing a video cloning my drive bc the one I added has more space but my smaller has windows on it. It’s really tough to do if you don’t have an extra slot for another storage decide. You may be able to get a concerter for an ssd sata to m.2 device. I bet those exist.
Have you figured out what to do yet?
The blue things are heatpads you must put it on the ssd to reduce heat it’s like thermal paste for your cpu😁
Got itttt! Well hopefully this bad boy doesn’t get extremely hot😭
My motherboard is Gigabyte B450M DS3H WiFi will this work on that?
same, im about to upgrade my SSD from WD 240GB to Kingston 1TB NVME SSD
You think i could get this working with my MSI B450M Pro-VDH plus thats micro ATX ??? I'm really lost I'd love it if you could help me out
So sorry for the late response. Do you have an extra pcie slot?
hi im just asking if you know what 2tb m.2ssd would work for my motherboard please reply im really stuck
I have a ASRock b530m mother board will any m key m.2ssd work im new to pc and want 2tb because 500gb went so fast would ur method work for my motherboard 😢
I looked up your mobo, and if I'm not wrong, it has 1x GPU slot (PCIe 4.0) then 2x PCIe 3.0 slots. So for this mobo it'd be a little more expensive bc you only have one PCIe 4.0 slot. BUT you could use the PCIe 3.0 slot underneath your GPU. This is more expensive, but here's that riser that allows you to fit multiple M.2 drives:
PCIe 3.0 rizer: amzn.to/3PdMd89
M.2 SSD for rizer: amzn.to/40934z6
These are both parts that I would recommend in your situation. You of course can always plug these into a future build if you're worried that. Let me know what you think!
im fully upgrading my pc and I could really use ur help would you happen to have discord so we can message and i can send pics of the specs and info please
@@OptionsFinestIm getting a better mb gpu cpu and psu
@ Nice. Yeah, you’re far better off that way
i don,t have a pcie slot next to my graphics card what should i do please help
get a new motherboard
At that point your hands are somewhat tied. Unless you have a slot for like a small WiFi card and you can get an adapter from that to a pcie you’d be out of luck :/
@@OptionsFinest sorry i mean i have small pcie slot next to my graphics card but I have a graphic card which cover that one small pcie slot
just get a regular sata ssd
If you don't want to get a new mobo, this is also an option. Reason I made this video was because m.2 drives are usually faster but at the end of the day, storage is the main concern.
Did your sabrenet when installing under the graphics card fits good? Mine fits but it is kind of tight against the graphics card, I am worry that with time yhe pressure will bent the connectors.
It fit a bit tight for mine too. If that’s your only available card slot then it’ll have to do, but if not, try moving it to the 3rd slot if you can for better spacing.
Is there any difference in performance between these two slots?
Yes. x16 slot is fastest but the read on that one is way higher than an m.2 is capable of.
@@OptionsFinest so, I should put my SSD in x16 slot as I want more performance? Even If it have a normal m.2 slot
No in terms of that, put it in its normal m.2 slot. Just to answer your original question, the x16 slot has higher performance but you obviously use that slot for your graphics card. If you have an m.2 slot on your board that’s free, just use that. It doesn’t make sense to plug the ssd into the x16
my pc has two slots for the m.2 and i already have a one tb stick in my computer but can i add another one to the other slot without losing my data?
Yes ofc. That’s what they’re there for. Your main M.2 will remain in its primary role, so if that’s your boot drive nothing will change, don’t worry my man. 🤙
@@OptionsFinest I believe you but are you sure the other m.2 slot looks smaller than the main is that just because of the heat sink on the main
Sorry I started PC building last year and built my PC in January so im still learning everything
@@Goofy-ox6hz No worries bro, that's why I have this channel, to help people out with tech, pcs, and everything in between because I was in the same spot you're in like 6-7 years ago now. Wow crazy to say 'out loud' lmao.
And yes, I'm sure. I have 3 M.2 slots on my new motherboard and 1/3 look different for that exact reason. 2x have no heat sink cover, 1x does. It looks scary because the other one in your build is most likely exposed but they're the same. Trust yourself, these parts are delicate but you'd be surprised how strong they really are. Can't tell you how many times I've dropped a part or pressed too hard on something thinking I messed up and it was just fine.
Rule of thumb: Be gentle inserting the m2 into the slot if you're still nervous. If it feels like it's really not going in right, try again from a different angle or look harder at where you're aiming it. If it REALLY doesn't go in, then it's not an m2 slot at all but I doubt that's the case, like I said trust yourself. And if you plan on getting a new m2 it would mean a lot if you used one of my links on the video!
Once you get it, come back and tell me how it went bro, always check comments on here! Hope I helped
@@OptionsFinest I'll ty I'll tell you how it goes when I do it
Hey any update on this?
is there anyway i could do this on a laptop
Most likely not. Unless you open up the back and there’s somehow an extra PCIe slot
@@OptionsFinest i see. thanks for the explanation. my laptop came with only 1 slot of 512gb m.2 ssd so im kinda desperate to have more than 1 ssd (at the very least having another sata ssd).
Of course. I can understand that, I’ve been there. Then I’d definitely recommend opening the back to try and see if you have another PCIe slot.
Another method which could be more effort but worth while is you could buy a 1TB external drive and another m2 drive (prob at least 2TB at this point), move all of your info from your 512 GB m2 onto your 1TB external drive, then take out your 512 and install the 2TB. You can use the external drive to re-install windows on your new m2 drive then move all the data from the external drive onto your new 2TB m2. From there you can choose to keep the external drive or return it. You don’t get to have an extra slot but this way you don’t have to be desperate for space 😅
@@OptionsFinest 2tb m.2 is expensive as hell tho😂 trying to find a used unit at my place is really rare too. guess i had to save up some more money then.
i didnt notice if my laptop had extra pcie slot when i upgraded my ram but i sure was surprised to see only one storage slot on this thing. it was hp victus 15. i should've gone with lenovo, same specs but with extra storage slot (i didnt check for any of these tho back then) but i just loved the victus aesthetic.
@@justarandomonlineperson8094 Same situation buddy.
Too bad you didn't do a speed test to show the difference. I took a 75% hit when I went to a riser card though it's still way faster than a regular SSD.
Or at least the same as the regular m.2 place depending on what pcie you have
In my Gen 4 slot I get 6500MB/s. 2nd Gen 4 slot which goes through the chipset is 1/2 that. The pcie adapter is a Gen 4 which is in the upper 4x slot gets cut in half again. I was hoping it would be faster but I can live with it.
speed is very depending on Motherboard and generation 10th gen intel and 11th gen intel night and day for speeds as Z490 vs Z590 you will get faster speeds on NVME but overall your not gonna know much of a difference on most SSD speeds unless your video editing or constantly transferring large files, Gen 3 NVME speeds are gonna be fine for most people, hell Gen 2 and Gen1 PCIE speeds for NVME adapters yes i got bored and tested NVME on an old Core2Quad same speeds 4x nvme as a Sata3 SSD moral of the story NVME alot safer than HDD for reliable storage and HDD for archival storage
My board is just an average B550 so that could be part of the problem.@@travisdonotsuscribegototjs9323
I didn’t notice any noticeable difference personally. It’s actually my boot drive and it still starts up quick as ever
What if i dont have another slot to plug the adapter in
You mean you don’t have another PCIe slot?
I doubt this will work on my setup because i have those weird gigabyte motherboards that has a lower first pcie slot and my videocard occupies 2 slots and clearance between the 2nd pcie x16 is very close to my gpu.
Aw man those are the worst sometimes. You could get one of those pcie extenders where you plug it in and it has length for you to mount the base of the extended pcie slot with your gpu, or in this case pcie m.2.
Did you decide on anything?
Can you please clarify:
Why move the old M.2 to the PCIe slot? Why not just put the new M.2 there?
Because I’m able to expand the main slots capacity while still using the old one.
The main slot had a 500gb m.2 and I replaced it with a 2tb m.2 then put that 500gb m.2 into the PCIe slot extender. Hence the video title ya know.
Basically lets anyone gain more storage without having to buy a whole new mobo
@@OptionsFinest that's not what I meant. I was asking if you had a reason for not just leaving the original M.2 where it was, and putting the new one in the adapter in the PCIe slot. I did that exact thing last Friday. I left the original 500GB M.2 in its original place, and put a new 1TB M.2 in a Sabrent adapter and stuck it in the PCIe slot. AND IT WORKED JUST FINE. Just like you, I gained more storage while still keeping the old storage.
So what am I missing here?
Oh, and also, you NEED to use one or two of those blue heat-transfer pads between the M.2 and the heat sink. (I wound up stacking the two thinner ones for a perfect fit.)
The heat sink is useless without the pad(s), and you might as well just leave it off.
OH I see what you mean. I opted for that way because I prefer putting the M.2 with more space in the designated spot. More of a mental thing. I doubt the speed really makes a difference since you're placing the other m.2 in a pcie riser which are made to process literal graphics cards.
I've heard about these blue pads being vital! I recently upgraded my whole build and gave the parts to a family member and I'm pretty sure they use it for basic browsing now so this whole setup for the extra m.2 is sitting in a box somewhere. xD Ah the life cycle of tech, feels like I'm Andy giving away all my toys.
Thanks
You’re welcome! I’m guess that this worked for you?
What happen if you just put the new ssd on 16x
As long as you have an onboard cpu processor you’ll see the ssd on your file explorer
Do I got to redownload windows?
Nope, as long as you plug in your old drive again your computer will recognize it looking for the boot drive once you turn it back on.
Keep me posted!
Will this work on an x16 running at 3.0
Yessir, it will.
Sorry, that's not local Windows storage, bro, it's a bit complicated for me too...
I h ave an itx board, and they only have one PCIe slot so... ye xD
Oh man, I’m sorry you’re living on hard mode 😭 External hard drive for you brother 🙏🏼
if you have room for 2.5 drives, look up "m.2 to 2.5 adapter". although some people would say, might as well use a 2.5 ssd instead.
@@Zhajn I think this only works for sata-mode M.2 form factor (not PCIE M.2 drives)
Sorry, that's not local Windows storage, bro, it's a bit complicated for me too...
What do you mean?