Second generation M.2 SSD compatible with MSI B360M MORTAR
Second generation M.2 SSD compatible with MSI B360M MORTAR
I purchased a ready-made PC (link provided) paired with an MSI B360M MORTAR motherboard. I added a 2.5" SATA3 drive from my previous system. I also kept my old boot drive, an NVMe M.2 SSD (Samsung 512GB PM961), and since the motherboard has two M.2 slots, I considered adding more storage. However, after reading the manual, I realized some restrictions: "Intel® RST only supports PCIe M.2 SSD with UEFI ROM." This means my NVMe drive won’t work properly. The SATA2 port will be blocked when installing an M.2 SSD in the M2_1 slot. Installing a PCIe device in the PCI_E4 slot will disable it. The M2_2 slot only allows PCIe operation. These notes affect compatibility and performance of your setup.
On older BIOS setups with M2 SSD and Intel RST, adding an SATA SSD in the M2 slot1 will block the SATA2 connection. Placing a PCIe device in the PCIe slot 4 will fully disable the M2 slot2. Only NVME or PCIe SSDs are allowed on M2 Slot2.
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. 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
Both options should function. Only SATA2 is turned off, except when using an SATA SSD in M2_1. That doesn’t apply to SATA3 or SATA4.
I put the second SSD in, and all three drives are now functioning properly. The Wi-Fi card, however, stopped working. It’s located in this specific slot. I bought a USB Wi-Fi dongle, but it would be useful to investigate what’s happening. I reviewed the manual, but it doesn’t reference that particular slot anywhere... I suspect it might be connected to the SATA2 being offline in certain configurations.