Using two SSD's

Tim Crump · 3 Apr 2018 at 11:47

Hi everyone.

I want to use two SSD's on my new PC.

My build is:

AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.4 ghz 8-core
Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard
NightHawk 32GB DDR4 - 3000 memory
Samsung - PM961 128gb M.2-2270 SSD
Crucial - MX300 525gb 2.5" SSD
Zotac-GeForce GTX 1060 3GB mini
Corsair-Corbide 400C ATX Mid tower case
SeaSonic - FOCUS plus gold 550W
Dell - P2417 24" x2

My two SSD's are bolded.

The reason I'm using 2 SSD's is because I'm gonna be running 6+ VM's.

How do I go about using one for boot and one for rapid storage or when I put them in will the computer know which one to use for when? I've never set up a new computer before and havent' a clue what im doing but it'll be fun and challenging.

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,

Tim.

LeMson · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:04

Only have the one you want to boot from plugged in when setting up windows or whatever you are booting from, when the comp is all set up updated and everything, then you can just plug in your storage drive and then format it if it needs it.

Tim Crump · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:08

I take it the crucial one is the better out the 2 so use that for boot up? @LeMson , thanks for the reply bro

LeMson · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:36

Smaller one for windows, bigger one for storage

bledd · 3 Apr 2018 at 17:00

Oddly enough, that's very similar to my setup.

I have a 960 Evo as my boot drive and a Crucial M300 575 as my Steam drive, for games.

When installing Windows, I would only connect the smaller drive (so the boot files don't get written to the wrong drive). Once it's up and running, shut down, then install the second drive.

Then when in Windows, go to Disk Management and add the drive.

Pocah · 3 Apr 2018 at 19:21

What bledd said.
I achieve the same by ensuring that I stop the BIOS on its's first boot and changing the boot sequence so it ONLY names the primary SSD. Thing is that if the BIOS boots and gets confused it can install a boot manager, which you don't want. And thing about the M.2 sockets is they are in the wrong order. Well, they are on the motherboards I use. The M.2 sockets are last. The SATA are first. So the BIOS will try to boot to the secondary SSD first and may well have a fit unless you remove it from the boot sequence. I learnt the hard way once when it made a right mess of my hard drives lol. I mean no matter what you do it will work, but you don't want boot managers galore.

DarkHorizon472 · 3 Apr 2018 at 19:45

I did it exactly as Bleed explained, simplest and most reliable way to do it.

You may want to get a larger SSD for your Windows drive just in case running the VM's creates any additional files etc. on that drive and it also means better future proofing. I haven't virtualised anything for a long time now so this may not be an issue.

Tim Crump · 8 Apr 2018 at 16:38

@bledd @Pocah @DarkHorizon472 ok so iv set up everyting and everything is working perfectly. However, iv linked the crucial ssd card to power supply and "SATA 6G_6" input on the motherboard and i cant find it anywhere in bios or windows. PLEASEEE can someone help me install this and get it working on my PC ASAP. Any help is so appreciated

Mujja · 8 Apr 2018 at 16:46

Try SATA6G_1 to 4

From the specs page the M2 socket share bandwidth with the SATA ports 5 & 6.

SATA6G_5/6 ports cannot be used when a SATA mode M.2 device is installed

Tim Crump · 8 Apr 2018 at 16:54

@Mujja yo man thank you loads!! it now shows in my BIOS. what do i need to do now though because it doesnt show on windows? This is my first ever time messing about with bios and a new pc!! Also do i need to "partition" or whatever that means. Thanks for any help my bro

Mujja · 8 Apr 2018 at 17:53

If the SSD is not visible in Windows, right click the Start Menu and select Disk Management.

Select the SSD, initialise and format etc.

Tim Crump · 8 Apr 2018 at 20:17

@Mujja yes mate done this, it now shows up in windows however, nothing is getting saved to it or anything. It's just an empty storage lol. How do i get things to save to it? should i be having downloads and all my documents in that one or not?

bledd · 8 Apr 2018 at 22:54

Assuming it's set as D:\ or E:\

When you next install a game or Steam or something, set Steam to install on D:\Steam\, then everything else you want on there (big applications), D:\Program Files\PROGRAMNAME etc..

For Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads.

Do this..

https://www.pcworld.com/article/302...braries-to-a-separate-drive-or-partition.html

Right click the folder, properties, location, 'Move'

I tend to leave Desktop where it is and just never save anything to it.

Tim Crump · 9 Apr 2018 at 10:22

@bledd so iv done this and it merged my downloads and documents, iv deleted download folder and it seems to have completely dissapeared ffs, any ideas?

bledd · 9 Apr 2018 at 10:27

You should specify them as D:\Documents\ etc.

Can't search right now, but you may be able to fix your issue in the registry..

Or just create a new user account and use that instead.

Tim Crump · 9 Apr 2018 at 10:27

how do i get downloads back? lmao, its a completely new build so there were only a few things on there nothing big

Pocah · 9 Apr 2018 at 11:14

Wait. I'm getting confused. How can it be showing up in windows? Where did you install Windows?

As bledd said, you should start with JUST the smaller drive in place and install windows to that. Did you do that or did you install it to the second larger drive?