Yes. Always do this.
im out of the loop, what can storage can i put in
- Thread starter Bolerus
- Start date
Yes. Always do this.
Two reasons for an M.2 drive not to be recognised by the Windows installer. Either the drive is dead or you need NVME drivers to supply to the installer.
You need to work out what size drives you need. If you have say 250GB on your OS drive, consisting of installed programs and Windows and say 1TB of pictures, music, documents, etc, then perhaps a 500GB SSD and 2TB hard drive would work out. But always try to buy the biggest SSD you can afford, of a known good make and model - which is why I went for the Samsung 990 Pro.
From your earlier post, you use about 450GB on the system drive and about 1.5TB on the other drives. So at the bare minimum, buy a 1TB SSD and a 2TB hard drive - or another 2TB SSD for the data if you're like me and like to keep your data on a separate drive.
I must admit, I'd like to put my data on a 2TB SSD. But the price prohibits me, especially given that the drive will be infrequently accessed and also hammered with torrents every so often.
You need to work out what size drives you need. If you have say 250GB on your OS drive, consisting of installed programs and Windows and say 1TB of pictures, music, documents, etc, then perhaps a 500GB SSD and 2TB hard drive would work out. But always try to buy the biggest SSD you can afford, of a known good make and model - which is why I went for the Samsung 990 Pro.
From your earlier post, you use about 450GB on the system drive and about 1.5TB on the other drives. So at the bare minimum, buy a 1TB SSD and a 2TB hard drive - or another 2TB SSD for the data if you're like me and like to keep your data on a separate drive.
I must admit, I'd like to put my data on a 2TB SSD. But the price prohibits me, especially given that the drive will be infrequently accessed and also hammered with torrents every so often.
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Yes! Definitely disconnect all other drives before installing Windows.
Soldato
Shouldn't need nvme drivers
To install windows
My sm951 was one of the early nvme m2
Still installed fine way back then
Without adding drivers during install
A 3rd reason could be faulty installation media
Bad flash drive
Or corruption in the windows media
Yeah if it's possible to only have 1 drive connected
During install
That's my preference too
Easy with sata drives just disable in bios
Or pull the cable off
No easy way to disable m2 nvme drives though
Which is a PITA when you have 5 lol
To install windows
My sm951 was one of the early nvme m2
Still installed fine way back then
Without adding drivers during install
A 3rd reason could be faulty installation media
Bad flash drive
Or corruption in the windows media
Yeah if it's possible to only have 1 drive connected
During install
That's my preference too
Easy with sata drives just disable in bios
Or pull the cable off
No easy way to disable m2 nvme drives though
Which is a PITA when you have 5 lol
I was thinking bad usb install, because it does start the install. But since I put the M2 in I have also noticed the the system doesn't always start properly. Sometimes (about 50%) it locks at the Flash screen. Can't get into bios (no response from del or f12 for boot menu). And it never progresses.
That may well be what went wrong, as the windows install for to a point where it said something like can't proceed to next reboot step
I'm thinking M2 is bad afterall but bit concerned now. If I buy a bigger one and get same thing which would be down to the motherboard I guess. Or could it be graphics card perhaps
Soldato
I would make a new usb
And try again
Corruption on the usb definitely seen before
Forgot if you mentioned the make of m2
But usually there's a software to run
Drive short and long test on them
Another option do a secure erase on it
Either in bios if your bios has that option
Or manufacturers software
Or find a free older version of parted magic
It's secure erase tool definitely works
Secure erase isn't like hdd it doesn't do a load of over writes
Literally takes a few seconds
Sends a voltage spike to the flash I think
And basically does a factory reset on the m2
And try again
Corruption on the usb definitely seen before
Forgot if you mentioned the make of m2
But usually there's a software to run
Drive short and long test on them
Another option do a secure erase on it
Either in bios if your bios has that option
Or manufacturers software
Or find a free older version of parted magic
It's secure erase tool definitely works
Secure erase isn't like hdd it doesn't do a load of over writes
Literally takes a few seconds
Sends a voltage spike to the flash I think
And basically does a factory reset on the m2
I use Parted Magic on Ultimate Boot CD to wipe my drives. It's an older version, but it seems to do the job.
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Soldato
Yeah parted magic definitely does it right
Tested a load of them
Going way back to when secure erasing a nvme m2
Was a royal PITA
Some of the manufacturers tools didn't do it properly
Corsair toolbox being one of them
Though they may have fixed it by now hopefully
Tested a load of them
Going way back to when secure erasing a nvme m2
Was a royal PITA
Some of the manufacturers tools didn't do it properly
Corsair toolbox being one of them
Though they may have fixed it by now hopefully
im just concerned that my issues have come from motherboard ( or could it even be graphics card - do the slots share resources) and buying a big nnme may mess me up, i am having lock ups and thing now ( took the m2 out, but still happening)
Have you made sure your BIOS is up to date? Try with just the M.2 drive.
According to the manual the slots do not share resources.
so, I went for it and bought a 1tb gen 4 crucial m2. from a very quick supplier
it came this morning, chucked it in ( disconecting all others first ) and installed windows...
all went fine so far. first start up, windows loaded in about a second.. so quick i doubted the pc was off.
wow.
I the plan is, wiindows and game installs on that drive, data on the 500 ( its actual 480) ssd. might keep the biggest of the slow drives in for now, till i replace with a 1tb ssd in a couple of months ( or knowing me - next week)
Thank you for all your advice folks, much appreciated
it came this morning, chucked it in ( disconecting all others first ) and installed windows...
all went fine so far. first start up, windows loaded in about a second.. so quick i doubted the pc was off.
wow.
I the plan is, wiindows and game installs on that drive, data on the 500 ( its actual 480) ssd. might keep the biggest of the slow drives in for now, till i replace with a 1tb ssd in a couple of months ( or knowing me - next week)
Thank you for all your advice folks, much appreciated
Soldato
Told you that you would be
Kicking yourself
For not doing it sooner
Mine doesn't boot as fast as that
Though with 5 x m2
And 4 x ssds
It's probably checking a load of stuff
During boot process
Plus I have fast boot turned off
Had it cause issues with not detecting my keyboard
With it turned on
If you have any old laptops
Adding a solid state drive in those really
Gives them a new lease of life
And yes you never get the full amount
Advertisers seem to count GB as 1000 not 1024
Plus some can be reserved
For over provisioning
Kicking yourself
For not doing it sooner
Mine doesn't boot as fast as that
Though with 5 x m2
And 4 x ssds
It's probably checking a load of stuff
During boot process
Plus I have fast boot turned off
Had it cause issues with not detecting my keyboard
With it turned on
If you have any old laptops
Adding a solid state drive in those really
Gives them a new lease of life
And yes you never get the full amount
Advertisers seem to count GB as 1000 not 1024
Plus some can be reserved
For over provisioning
Do it! Do it now! But make it a larger one.
My basket at OcUK:
Total: £123.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)
bah im getting little mini lock ups.
ill click on a window to type and it will be like its ignoring my mouse or keyboard, clicking again seemed to make it work,
was initially in one of the games, then i noticed it in facebook chat
thinking it might be related to my KVM, i put a timer in the background, 1 hour counting including miliseconds, and when it happens that stops / jumps
I have installed graphics card drivers, and done Windows updates
any body have any other quick suggestions.
It does seem to be intermittent . hasnt happened at all in last 5 minutes ( have no games etc in background at the moment)
ill click on a window to type and it will be like its ignoring my mouse or keyboard, clicking again seemed to make it work,
was initially in one of the games, then i noticed it in facebook chat
thinking it might be related to my KVM, i put a timer in the background, 1 hour counting including miliseconds, and when it happens that stops / jumps
I have installed graphics card drivers, and done Windows updates
any body have any other quick suggestions.
It does seem to be intermittent . hasnt happened at all in last 5 minutes ( have no games etc in background at the moment)
Soldato
Lost track
Clean windows install?
Or clone/backup image?
Could try boot into safe mode with networking
See if still happens
Though if it's intermittent it may not happen
When you actually want it to
Or boot a live OS either windows or something like Ubuntu
To try to see if it's a software issue
Could try refresh explorer
I have a shortcut on my task bar for that
If windows seems unresponsive I hit that
Clean windows install?
Or clone/backup image?
Could try boot into safe mode with networking
See if still happens
Though if it's intermittent it may not happen
When you actually want it to
Or boot a live OS either windows or something like Ubuntu
To try to see if it's a software issue
Could try refresh explorer
I have a shortcut on my task bar for that
If windows seems unresponsive I hit that
Was a clean windows install.
I have given up for the night... Next thing would be disconnect the other drives. Formatted but left the 480 SSD and the 500drive...
I did notice in bios that the memory has 1 stick in A2 and one in B2.... Would have thought either both in A or in A1 and b1. But never had this issue before so doubt that's the issue.
Does it matter if my remaining cables hard drives are sequential (eg Sata slot 1 and 2)
I have given up for the night... Next thing would be disconnect the other drives. Formatted but left the 480 SSD and the 500drive...
I did notice in bios that the memory has 1 stick in A2 and one in B2.... Would have thought either both in A or in A1 and b1. But never had this issue before so doubt that's the issue.
Does it matter if my remaining cables hard drives are sequential (eg Sata slot 1 and 2)
Soldato
Shouldn't really matter
If they're sequential or not
Though never say never when it comes
To computers
If they're sequential or not
Though never say never when it comes
To computers
Check the event logs, particularly the System Event Log.
Never thought of that. And that would have been the first thing id have checked at work..... Sigh always different when it's your own system
left it running all night ( left everquest on so there was some stuff going on) and this morning ( so far ) it seems fine
if it was just teething problems i can handle that, will monitor and see what happens
if it was just teething problems i can handle that, will monitor and see what happens